How Personal hygiene and Mental health are connected?
Hygiene is a sequence of practices done to conserve health. It is the guide to a healthy life.
Basically, hygiene is the term that refers to surroundings and practices that helps to keep up health and prevent the spread of various diseases.
Personal hygiene is an act of keeping up the cleanliness and grooming of the external body. Maintaining personal hygiene is very important for more than one reason that is health, personal, social, psychological or just as a way of life.
Keeping up good standards of hygiene helps to keep bad odours, infections and illnesses away. Personal hygiene is one of the most guaranteed ways to keep yourself and others away from illnesses.
Why it is important to maintain good hygiene?
It is important to maintain good hygiene as:
1. It prevents you from acquiring various kinds of diseases
Good hygiene actually reduces your risk of acquiring diseases and illnesses that commonly spread through different types of bacteria and viruses.
Failing to wash your hands and body routinely can cause the bacteria to multiply and it increases your risk of developing various infections and other health problems as good hygiene is a key to prevent you from diseases.
2. Higher self-esteem and self-confidence
Being clean and well-dressed can help you to feel more confident and comfortable both mentally and physically.
Feeling dirty and unfresh not only puts your physical health at hazard but it can even trigger negative thoughts. Poor hygiene affects your mood, your interaction with others and the way you feel about yourself.
Good hygiene increases your self-esteem and self-confidence, makes you more positive and appealing and attractive to others.
3. Professional and social approval
Spending time around those who fail to maintain good hygiene can be disagreeable due to components such as bad body odour, bad breath. This even increases your risk of acquiring various kinds of diseases and infections.
Even poor hygiene have a great negative impact on your social life and relationships including business relationships. Many employers need employees who practice good hygiene habits.
4. Pain Elimination
Practising good personal hygiene prevents you from acquiring painful infections and diseases. If you suffer from chronic pain then it can decrease your overall quality of life and even lead to obesity and pain killer addiction.
Good hygiene helps you to stay in good health so that you can avoid encountering the pain that is caused by different medical conditions.
Suppose if you stay in wet and sweaty socks for a longer time then what would happen?
Naturally, it increases the risk of developing various fungal nail infections that causes pain and inflammation. So, practising good personal hygiene is so important.
How to maintain personal hygiene?
1. Hand washing
We use hands to do so many tasks. So, naturally, our hands are the biggest carriers of microbes.
Especially, during these times of crisis, of course, one needs to wash their hands on a regular basis so as to avoid the spread of the virus.
If you wash your hands on a regular basis then it keeps illnesses such as cold, cough, gastroenteritis at bay.
2. Dental care
Caring for your teeth and practising and following good oral hygiene is also very important so as to keep bad breath, tooth decay and many infections at bay.
So, make it a habit to brush your teeth twice daily.
3. Bathing
Do take shower every single day with cold water as it increases your blood circulation and also increases your alertness.
4. Wear hygienic clothes
Germs and dirt clench to your clothes too. So, wash your clothes after each use so as to remove all the impurities and germs.
If you will not wear hygienic clothes then it can even lead to fungal infections.
One thing to be noted is that personal hygiene is not at all difficult. Once, you have a personal hygiene routine in place, then it becomes the habit instantly.
Along with personal cleanliness, one needs to take care of social cleanliness too.
Just imagine will you like to work in that place where everything is scattered here and there, where piles of paper are scattered on the floor?
Of course, not. Right!
Everyone wants to work in that place where all the things are organised properly. It is scientifically proven that disorganisation and clutter have a negative effect on our brains.
It actually, reduces one’s ability to focus and it also reduces the working memory.
Even it is proved that people living in houses where everything is cluttered here and there, they are actually more prone to depression and anxiety.
So, always remember to keep everything in the right place.
Is there any link between personal hygiene and mental health?
Yes, there is a strong link between personal hygiene and mental health.
We all know, that the quickest way to a healthy body is to have a healthy mind. One of the main causes of bad hygiene(whether it is mental or physical) is negative thoughts.
If you can’t stop thinking negative thoughts then the reason is completely psychological.
Cleaning your mind will clean your body too. If you are able to get rid of those unwanted thoughts that come in your mind then naturally you will be away from negativity as those negative thoughts are the main cause of anxiety and depression which ultimately leads to bad personal hygiene.
So, if you practice mediation techniques daily then it improves both- your mental health and as well as personal hygiene.
CONCLUSION
Good hygiene is a state of mind that’s really accurate of mental health and it’s accurate of personal hygiene too.
The main reason why people lack cleanliness is due to anxiety, depression and mindlessness and for that meditation helps a lot as it boosts one’s self-esteem and self-confidence, makes us value the body and mind more, makes us aware of our environment and our actions which ultimately leads to good hygiene habits.
So, we can easily say that there is a direct link between personal hygiene and mental health.
If you like my work, you can have a look at my personal blog here Shaggy Writes
That’s it, hope you found this post useful. I would be more than happy if you send your feedback, suggestions. Moreover, I love to make new friends and we can be friends.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaggywrites/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaggywrites/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaggywritess
