Good physical health and well-being includes having good mental health. Just as sleep, exercise, eating healthy, avoiding substance abuse and smoking are good for our physical health, they are also good for our mental health. Other strategies that we can do to improve our physical and mental well-being include the following:

1. Have a support system: A positive support system can help you feel less overwhelmed and isolated. Furthermore, helping, sharing, cooperating, and collaborating provide us opportunities to be cared for by others, as well as to care for others.

2. Think positive: By changing the narrative or story, we can improve our feelings about ourselves or our circumstances. Positive emotions, like gratitude and love help buffer against negative emotions. Also, encouraging oneself to try and preserving until success is attained help promote resiliency.

3. Recognize that positive and negative emotions are part of the human condition: Both are opportunities from which to learn and grow.

4. See the big picture: When we can see ourselves as part of something much larger, we tend to focus less on the distressing details. Also being able to generate multiple solutions to a problem allows us to experience a freedom from hopelessness.

5. Become mindful: Mindfulness or self-awareness is the process of focusing on what is happening in the moment, allowing our brain to increase the number of signaling connections and better control processing of pain and emotions.

Resiliency is the term used to describe factors that allow us to cope with adversity, which could lead to anxiety or depression. It includes fostering positive attitudes and emotions, as well as the appropriate expression of emotions. Resiliency also includes opportunities to experience competence, social connectedness and good physical health, including access to adequate sleep, exercise, and medical care.