How did you spend World Health Day?

Unless you’ve been hiding from the news, there’s a good chance that you have already been thinking about health a lot in the past month. Aside from actually catching Coronavirus, the pandemic has made us change the way we eat, sleep, work, and exercise. It’s completely changed the way we look after ourselves. So what’s the deal with World Health Day? Why bother making a fuss about it?

If you had to guess, chances are that you could perhaps think of one or two types of health.

Probably:

i) physical health (keeping fit and eating well)
ii) mental health (not letting things get on top of you)

But did you know that there are actually lots of different types of health?
Here are a few of them:

Social health

Social health is about healthy relationships — with your friends, your family, people you work with, your neighbours, your teachers, your social worker, your college tutors.

This is really important, because we have always lived in tribes and communities. Even if you don’t like people, you still need people.

So what can you do to maintain healthy relationships?

Here are some ideas:

Don’t forget: if you’re struggling with relationships at home, at school, at uni, or anywhere else, you can always talk to Meic.

Financial health

#TRUEFACT: This week is the start of the new financial year!

If you have pocket money or a job, earning money is definitely a good way to prepare for your future. It can be quite easy to lose track of the pennies and pounds, so remember that “with great power comes great responsibility.” (#Spiderman)

Whether you’re already a master of your money, or forever borrowing fivers you know you’ll never pay back, it’s never too late.

Here are some tips to help keep your fortunes in fine fettle:

Intellectual health

Boredom can really affect mental health. So it’s important to keep challenging yourself, and take your brain for a walk!

These are a few ideas to get you started:

Environmental health

Almost everybody has heard of Greta Thunberg. The teenager has inspired MILLIONS of young people, schoolchildren AND adults to think about climate change.

While the whole climate change landscape is quite frightening because of lots of big, scary reasons, it’s also important to remember how important the environment is for your health. Not just the Earth’s environment, but your home, your room, your wardrobe; after all, there’s a reason why they say “a tidy house, tidy mind”.

So while you might be stuck inside this Spring, try these ways to get in touch with your surroundings, and keep things green:

How healthy are you?

It is really hard to be healthy all the time, so it’s more about getting a balance that works for you. (Nobody — not even your superhero cat — can do all this every day without exploding.)

If you’d like information or advice about any of this stuff (or anything else!), chat to Meic. It’s free, anonymous, and doesn’t even show up on a phone bill.

 Or if you’re after Cardiff-specific info, check out our info pages. You can access them 24/7/365.