Your mental health is significantly influenced by your consumption habits, including what you consume and how you consume it. Effective treatment of mental health disorders extends beyond psychotherapy and medications. These are just the first steps.
To truly improve your mental health, it is crucial to also address the food and media you consume and your consumption habits.
At Agentic Mental Health, we help you develop lifestyle and eating habits that can enhance your mental well-being.
We understand that mental health is a complex and multifaceted aspect of overall well-being. Our team addresses your nutritional needs and habits that may be affecting your mental health and contributing to your symptoms.
The nutrients in the food you consume significantly impact your brain chemistry and mental health. Your antioxidant system, crucial for overall mental health and preventing mental health conditions, relies on proper nutrition to function effectively.
Moreover, the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein vital for brain cell survival, growth, and plasticity, as well as for learning and memory, also depends on your nutritional intake.
Adding specific nutrients to your diet can help treat mental health issues and support overall brain health.
Consuming processed, high-energy, and nutrient-poor foods can lead to deficiencies of nutrients necessary for brain health and proper nervous system function.
Poor eating habits, such as prolonged hunger, emotional or binge eating, and inadequate sleep, can also impact both your mental health and worsen the symptoms of mental health conditions.
At Agentic Mental Health, we work together with you to improve your nutritional intake and eating habits for better mental health.
An important aspect of a good mental health diet is recognizing the types of consumption that may alter brain chemistry, leading to poor mental health.
Mind-altering or psychoactive substances interact with your central nervous system and change your brain function. They can cause mood and behavioral changes and alter your thoughts.
Although they might provide pleasurable sensations, alertness, and other good feelings initially, they can also cause unwanted effects. These effects include anxiety, depressive thoughts, mood swings, fatigue, panic, and impaired cognitive function.
Commonly abused substances, such as alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine, can contribute to the development of mental health conditions.
Social media is not just another way to connect. It is a type of consumption - a digital diet that can significantly impact your mental well-being.
Your media consumption habits, including the types of media you engage with, how long you spend on screens, and your overall digital routines, can have a profound effect on your mental health.
Screen time refers to the amount of time you spend on electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and televisions.
Too much screen time, especially on social media platforms, can increase the levels of the stress hormones - cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can cause anxiety and a sense of overwhelm.
Extended screen time can also disrupt your sleep patterns. The blue light emitted from these devices can interfere with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycles.
Poor sleep quality leads to fatigue and irritability during the day and exacerbates your mental health symptoms.
Spending excessive time online, endlessly scrolling through social media feeds, and consuming negative news, is known as doomscrolling. The more you engage in doomscrolling, the more your brain releases cortisol and adrenaline, which leads to increased stress and mental and physical exhaustion.
The constant exposure to negative information focused on distressing or alarming content can be addictive and detrimental to mental health. Many people do not even fully realize the extent to which doomscrolling affects them.
Doomscrolling also prevents you from paying attention to your thoughts and feelings, leading to a form of avoidance behavior. This habit can contribute to high stress levels and emotional exhaustion, making it difficult to focus on the positive aspects of life.
At Agentic Mental Health, we understand that a healthy lifestyle is crucial for both physical and mental well-being. When creating your treatment plan, we focus on addressing all aspects of your life that can impact your mental state and symptoms.
Our team takes an in-depth approach to assess your mental health and lifestyle habits, including your overall diet, eating habits, sleep routine, physical activity levels, and screen time. This comprehensive assessment helps us identify factors that might be affecting your brain health and mental state.
After thoroughly understanding your habits and dietary intake, we create personalized treatment plans, which may include:
When relevant, we can also partner with Registered Dieticians to provide specific guidance on nutritional intake and develop a personalized dietary plan for our patients.
Our individualized approach ensures that we work closely with you to address your specific habits, conditions, and needs.
At Agentic Mental Health, our skilled team supports your mental health and helps you regain control over your life and happiness. We understand the crucial link between mental health diet and mental well-being, and we provide personalized care to address this connection.
To book a consultation, call us at 434-284-5980 or schedule an appointment online.
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We're committed to providing the best possible care for our current patients. This means we're temporarily unable to accept new patients.
To join our waitlist, please fill out the form below and we'll reach out as soon as a spot becomes available. We value your well-being and want to connect you with the right support when we can.
