Longevity and Mental Health

To create
a longer life,
you need to truly desire to be here.

If you do not enjoy your life, if you do not feel a sense of happiness or even joy in your day to day experience, you are not able to fully cultivate a
longevity mindset.
But don’t give into fear, there are more resources available to help you feel your best than ever before.

As we discuss in our longevity mindset content
- If you’re not enjoying your life, then you’re much less likely to want to ‘stick around’. Why would you want to have a long life, if you’re stressed, unhappy and disconnected? 

Most of us are quite familiar with the issues related to wellness and mental health. But terms such as ‘stress’ and ‘anxiety’ are thrown around without much care to their true origins.

Simply put -
longevity and mental health
go hand-in-hand.
Thankfully, there is now a vast amount of scientific research and
truly amazing resources
on the topic of mental health, including clear understanding of how important a healthy state of mental wellbeing is for living longer.

To simplify your process in exploring how to improve your mental health for longevity, we have chosen Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework to guide you.

Meeting your needs

Prioritizing connection

Knowing yourself

Finding purpose

[disclaimer]
The following information should not be considered as advice, it should not be used to treat, assess or diagnose a psychological condition, nor should it be used as an alternative to obtaining professional advice from a qualified allied health practitioner, psychologist, psychiatrist or medical practitioner.

Meeting your needs  

The foundation of being
mentally well
is ensuring that our needs for our physical body and our sense of self are met. In fact, many of the essentials within this first step are directly related to the
four other other lifestyle factors
- sleep, nutrition, fitness and environment. Additional to these are the needs for shelter and clothing.
In our current world of abundance, most of us can gratefully account for these basic needs in our life already. But should any of them be lacking, addressing these
fundamental physiological needs
are where you must start, should you not already have access to them.
In addition to our
physiological needs,
we also must attend to our needs for safety. This includes a personal sense of security, which is most often threatened in modern society by domestic violence or by crime. We also have a need for steady employment (financial resources) and to have an appropriate level of personal property and security of that property, as well as our health. 

When you consider the well documented impacts of loneliness along with its sharp increase in frequency across the developed world, the importance of prioritizing connection in your life is quite clear.

Prioritizing connection   

We know that
loneliness decreases the efficacy of the immune system,
increases risks of high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and anxiety. All of which are known to
shorten our lifespan.

However, when we flip this around, we discover that the converse is even more powerfully true. Strong social connection is one of the primary factors for enabling a longer life. With the world’s longest lived, healthiest people most often have strong connections with others. 

By prioritizing connection, and dedicating the time and energy required to establish, foster and deepen our relationships, we can not only have a happier life, but a longer one as well.

We have our unique relationship to our self and with the world around us. Each of us brings an individual history of trauma, pain and predisposition to unhealthy habits or coping mechanisms.

Knowing yourself & taking ownership

Knowing your inner landscape by taking stock of these factors and learning to see how they operate in your life is essential to using them as fuel for your personal growth. 

Taking ownership of these behaviors, coping mechanisms and predispositions is a key step in
maturing your state of mental wellness.
The role of a quality therapist and a life coach cannot be overstated in this process, as it can be difficult to navigate this on your own. Creating honesty and accountability through your close personal relationships for these behaviors is also a key step.

Finding purpose & cultivating a Longevity Mindset   

One cannot advance meaningfully in their
longevity journey
without a strong sense of purpose. Knowing why you want to be alive each day, is essential for putting in the work to stay that way. 
A fascinating reinforcement of this fact is the statistics on mortality risk post-retirement, particularly amongst men. After decades of deriving purpose (and social connection) from their work, most individuals face their
highest risk of death
in the five years following retirement. Retiring later in life reduces this risk significantly.
Finding your purpose in life is no easy feat, and each person has their own unique journey to connecting with purpose. We explore this concept in our
longevity mindset course,
and place it at the center of the fundamentals behind living your longest, healthiest life.

Mental Health: Basics

Coming soon!

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