May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The purpose of this month is to raise awareness and educate people about mental illnesses. Mental disorders can affect an individual’s ability to perform at school or work, function in social settings, maintain relationships and participate in other important life activities.
At Vitality, we take a holistic approach to health when designing incentive programs to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives. Not only do we offer extensive resources to help individuals improve exercise and diet, we also provide an abundance of tools to help people cope with stress and improve their mental well-being.
If you’re a Vitality member, log in to your Power of Vitality account to learn what elements of the Vitality program your employer offers. Here are some of the resources you might find:
- Mental Well-being Review — This series of short questionnaires is an extremely beneficial diagnostic tool that will help you understand the current state of your emotional health and mental well-being. Based on your responses, we will provide you with a personalized profile and practical recommendations to help you understand and improve your overall mental health.
- HealthyMind* — Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for your health, while regular meditation has many benefits including lower stress levels, better focus and reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. The HealthyMind program helps you establish healthy habits in both areas. Earn Vitality Points by turning on the “Sleep Timer” in your Vitality app, or by downloading a partnered meditation app, agreeing to share your data with Vitality, and practicing your mindfulness.
- Goals — Through the Vitality Program, you can earn points for setting and attempting to reach personal goals. These goals can include anything from exercising daily to weight management, but you can also set goals to focus on your mental health. Visit the goal section of the Power of Vitality website to set goals like “Think Positively,” “Reduce my Stress” or “Free My Mind from Worry.”
- Action Sets and Decision Points — Vitality also provides a lot of great, easy-to-digest educational resources. If you visit the “Action Sets and Decision Points” section and add a “Mental and Behavioral Health” filter at the top of the page, you’ll find a list of mental-health related topics. Each topic features educational information to help you understand that area of mental well-being and provides practical suggestions to help you improve.
If you don’t already do so, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all of our Mental Health Awareness Month content. You can also join us in the Vitality Virtual Training Club—an online community of people committed to health and one other.
As an additional application, we also invite you to take a few moments today to think about some of the reasons you have to be thankful. You may even find it beneficial to make a list of those things. Practicing gratitude, especially during stressful times, can help your mental well-being tremendously.
*HealthyMind is not available for all groups, though we encourage all Vitality members to practice good sleeping and mindfulness habits when able. Some charges may apply with use of partnered meditation apps.
