Environment & Our Mood

 Let’s know the connection between the Environment and Our Mood

Environment

Ever since your childhood, almost everyone would have stressed the importance of a clean environment. By clean environment - they meant a tidy place. However, there is a lot more to know about the environment around you, it’s not just about tidying up.

Undoubtedly maintaining a neat and clean environment is the first and foremost of all. Unless and until you pay attention to the magical factors that we are about to discuss in this article - you are about to miss a boon that is just one step away from you.

Glide down, to get an idea of how the environment could impact your physical, social and psychological health.

Is your mood low- check what’s around you!

You are positive and energetic when you are at a particular place(say home/office). In short, say:

1. Balcony

2. Terrace

3. Cafeteria

4. Friend’s room

5. Play area

6. Gym

7. Temple

 Some of these places raise up your mood. Have you ever thought, why do you feel so - excitement may be one of the reasons. 

Remember- little but effective factors like

1. Color

2. House plants

3. Light

All these around you have an impact on your mood. 

Sometimes you might suddenly feel low without any reason, probably the color or light is playing that game with you.

Scroll down to check if you have experienced this before/give it a try if you haven’t experienced it before.

Colour and Light

Studies conducted in the real-life work environment, clearly show that 

the light and color of the workplace had an influence on the mood of people working there. 

Mood declines with bright and dark light whereas the right lighting and color improve mood. 

As per Times of India, 

1. Blue is a soothing color that lets you manage stress at ease.

2. The Green color allows you to calm down and stay refreshed.

3. The Pink color is apt to promote peace.

The London Image institute states,

1. Yellow gives a feeling of hope and happiness.

2. Purple gives a sense of creativity, fantasy, and royalty.

In reality, as you know every story has two sides- too much yellow could cause anxiety, agitation especially when people are already stressed.

Red is stimulating as well distracting. White is boring and uninteresting on the other hand Blue color had a drowsy and sleepy effect. It’s all backed by research. 

Now that you have an idea about colors and light. Next time be sure to “say no to the current trend and yes to psychological health”. Choose the paint colors wisely when you want to paint your house.

House plants/Indoor plants

House plants not only make your living space beautiful but they have a soothing effect on your moods. Have you ever noticed/felt it before? 

Imagine sitting in a hall with a houseplant after a long day would let you feel refreshed. You will have a feeling of ta-da finally "I could relax".

It’s proven that interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress. 

Benefits of Indoor plants

Add beauty to your interior design and also get these bonus benefits at an affordable price,

Indoor plants are

1. Therapeutic

2. As house plants reduce stress - it also improves productivity

3. Feel the refreshing air inside your house

4. Increases focus

5. Reduces fatigue

List of affordable house plants

1. Aloe vera

2. Pothos

3. Spider plant

4. Snake plant

5. Anthurium

Final thoughts

Hope this article gave you excellent science-based solutions - To lift your mood up without spending a lot on courses and counseling. Keep an eye on the color of paint and light going forward. Get rid of stress without stressing your pockets much. Start growing indoor plants to reap those remarkable benefits. Good moods go hand in hand with a good environment.

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author: Janani Chandrasekar 

All photos credited and designed by Pexels

MUSIC AND OUR MIND

Music is defined as any vocal or instrumental sound combined in a way so as to produce beauty of harmony, emotion and expression. Music is something that transcends the boundaries of body or mind and connects one’s soul to another. Music has no language. It sometimes becomes the mode of transport for feelings to be conveyed from one person to another while other times it acts simply as a medicine. Yes! You heard it right. Music is a kind of medicine as well as the correct kind of music causes a sense of calmness, a feeling of happiness and thus reduces stress and restlessness in one’s mind.

POWER OF MUSIC AS A HEALER:

As American physicist Debashish Mridha once said, “Music can heal wounds that medicine cannot touch.”, music has a way of connecting our hearts to ourselves and to the world around us. Hence it has been used as a therapeutic intervention since the late 18th century. Today, music therapy is a method which is scientifically proven/validated.

Music therapy is often employed quite effectively to treat various illnesses (primarily owing to mental disturbances). Autism, depression, Alzheimer’s, etc. several such diseases if not cured fully, can at least be stabilized to a large extent through music. The music therapy sessions mostly include creating, singing, and listening to music, and hence it opens up avenues for communication that transcend the limitations of verbal expression. Music therapy can induce the following improvements or changes to a person suffering from certain mental turbulences:

• Induce positive changes in emotional states.

• Since music connects the worlds to us, it helps one to enhance more control over life by increasing awareness of one self and the outside world.

• Development of a sense of relaxation from worldly troubles.

• Improves concentrating power for a longer duration of time.

• Since, all of the above improvements can be brought to one’s life through music, it can also help to resolve conflicts and lead to stronger bonds of relationships.

MUSICAL BEATS AND OUR BRAINS:

When we walk into a disco, we find people dancing, banging their heads and moving their body almost in synchrony to the thumping music. In this simple example we find that our unconscious mind is somehow controlled by rhythmic sounds, causing us to move simultaneously in a regular manner. This simple example has a much deeper meaning to it. According to psychologist Annett Schirmer “Rhythmic sound, not only coordinates the behavior of people in a group, but also it coordinates their thinking-the mental processes of individuals in the group become synchronized”. This simple finding shows the extent of power of music, which easily taps into the brain circuits of people controlling their emotions and even their physical movements. This type of examples can also be found amongst people in a tribe who dance synchronously on drum beats, people dancing on a religious function, or people dancing due to excessive happiness during several religious or secular occasions.

Researchers from the Society for Neuroscience meeting in New Orleans, attached electrodes to the scalp of subjects to determine if the brain’s electrical activity was somehow affected by the beats of the sound and they found that rhythmic sound synchronizes brain waves. Thus, music impacts thinking and working of the brain to an extent we may not know of.

CONCLUSION:

As we have seen, music necessary controls our brain functions and thus enable us to think better and as a result it can help us to boost our energy, calm our mind, improve sleep and most importantly improve our mental conditions. Specially in this pandemic affected world where we might find ourselves lonely most of the times, music can be the best companion one can have. So, throw all the negativity away and let all your emotions flow with music as music is the best healer. Happy listening!

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author Ranit Laha

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash

GOOD FOOD, GOOD MOOD!

Food is the essence of life. Having good nutrition can help you to deal with stress and mood disorders quite effectively. The fact that good food (nutrition) is directly proportional to good mood is not a mere statement but a well-proven certitude. Researchers recommend “fixing the food before anything else”, when dealing with anxiety or feeling low; as there’s always a connection between our gut and our brain. 

CONNECTION BETWEEN FOOD AND MENTAL HEALTH:

Generally, we associate eating habits with our physical health rather than our mental health. Hypoglycemia, commonly known as “low-blood sugar”, is often the cause of our anxiety or and confusion.  We do not relate these emotional changes with food, however it is in fact strongly related.

    Suppose you’ve not had your food for a long duration of time due to work pressure and when you have a break you go have some junk/unhealthy food. This can cause disruption in the balance between the good and bad bacteria in your gut, and cause gradual mood disorders. Now you'd blame your bad mood or irritation on your job or work, while the main reason is your afternoon lunch, not anything else. A poor diet can worsen such symptoms of mood disorders, leading to depression.

You, may have also noticed that what or how much you eat, depends on your mood. Some foods can uplift your mood and concentration, while others might have the opposite effect for the same food.

SEROTONIN-THE MOOD REGULATOR:

Serotonin is the hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings and happiness, which in turn affects the entire body. The anti-depressants we take, work by controlling this hormone/neurotransmitter. Serotonin helps in sleep regulation, helping to cause ‘quality sleep’. Our body converts serotonin to melatonin while going to sleep and hence having enough serotonin in the brain is necessary to fall asleep.

Now, how is the secretion of serotonin related to the food we eat? 90% of the serotonin in our body is produced in the gut and thus the health of the gut and balance of bacteria within our gut, impacts our resilience towards stress and anxiety. When stressed, the body’s ANS (Autonomic Nervous System), which controls the involuntary organs in our body like the heart, lungs, stomach, etc. behaves abnormally and we tend to feel disgust, irritation, anger and various such emotions. Serotonin helps regulate these ANS functions and cause us to remain stress free. So, “When our stomachs are happy, so are we”.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A HEALTHY DIET FOR MENTAL DISORDERS? :

A study conducted in the year 2019 examining the diets of older adults, found a direct relationship between anxiety and high-carb diet. While a similar study conducted in the year 2017 found that, for treatment of depression more often than not, dietary counselling was far more effective.

Researchers say that, besides our brain affecting how our stomach feels, the stomach health too in turn affects the functions of the brain. It can cause a sense of calmness as well as cause alarm, sending suitable nervous signals up towards the brain. So, while uncovering all these relationships between gut health and mood disorders a new field of science, known as nutritional psychology came into existence.

According to this study, it’s found that having healthy foods can make us feel better and stress-free and hence more concentrated in our day-to-day activities. Certain foods contain Vit. B12, tryptophan etc. which increase synthesis of serotonin. These foods are called brain foods and examples of such are: -

• Pineapples

• Salmon Fish

• Cheese

• Soy, nuts, seeds

• Kiwis

• Tomatoes

• Bananas

• Whole Grains

• Poultry

There are certain categories of food items which you should avoid at all circumstances to improve your gut health and they are the quite obvious ones and are as follows,

• Processed foods/Junk Foods- The foods that contain preservatives and such chemicals can tamper with your gut health to a really larger extent.

• Inflammatory foods- Certain high-sodium foods are more likely to cause an inflammatory response in your system, and if you have any underlying food sensitivities (foods which might cause allergic reactions), such foods are supposed to be avoided.

One thing to remember however is "Don’t be too strict". : Most importantly don’t be too harsh on yourself regarding your food choices. It’s not necessary to eat right all the time. Your day should be 75 percent right choices regarding food while the remaining 25 percent should be the choices which your stomach or brain craves for, as nothing can pacify your stressful mind more than food!

Eating well helps you feel more energetic and hence cleanses your head of all negativity. With increased serotonin secretion, you’ll sleep better and these several scientific, and emotional factors that connect nutrition and brain health if followed will give you more energy to do and achieve your dreams. So, happy eating!

Visit Cureya's Website to know more. Free consultation services with top medical and health professionals. 

Check out www.cureya.in and www.cureya.in/shop

Credit Author Ranit Laha

All photos credited and designed by Unsplash