Mental Health and Physical Health: What's the Connection?
Rachael is a New York-based writer and freelance writer for Verywell Mind, where she leverages her decades of personal experience with and research on mental illness—particularly ADHD and depression—to help readers better understand how their mind works and how to manage their mental health. Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Luis Alvarez / Getty Images A growing body of research makes it clear that mental health and physical health are deeply connected, with studies showing that an improvement or decline in one can lead to an improvement or decline in the other.1 But how exactly does one influence the other? What exactly is happening in the body to allow changes in one to change the other? To understand why mental health and physical health are so closely linked, it’s important to remember that the distinction between the two is less important than we may assume. Our thoughts, moods, and
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