Minority (Holistic) Health Month

“Without health and long life, all else fails.”- Dr. Booker T. Washington

April is National Minority Health Month. Learn what we, our families, and our community can do to celebrate our culture and be holistically healthy!

Mental Health

The World Health Organization states, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This means that health includes mental health. It also means that mental health is not simply the absence of disorders or illnesses. Mental health is a state of well-being. It involves how we think, feel, and behave. Our ability to cope with life, work, and contribute to society is part of our mental health. Our mental health encompasses our emotional, psychological, and social health.

Emotional health and wellness are our ability to cope with life stressors, adapt to change, adjust to difficulties, and our ability to manage challenges. It is our awareness, understanding, and expression of emotions. How we feel can affect our day-to-day experiences, and how we navigate through those feelings impacts our health and relationships. Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. How are you doing emotionally?

Ways that we can celebrate our culture and promote emotional health and wellness:

1. Obtain good quality sleep

2. Stay active (walking, yoga, frisbee, catch)

3. Spend time with family and learn more about you and your family of origin

4. Engage in hobbies or interests

5. Be creative (make that pillowcase, shirt, or wood feature)

6. Unplug for a few minutes daily (put the phone down!)

7. Take time throughout the day to pause and breathe

8. Have fun! (When is the last time you had deep belly laughs?)

9. Volunteer (you see that lady’s yard looking extra rough, help her out!)

10. Connect with a therapist and work on our expression and regulation of emotions

Psychological health is often used interchangeably with mental health. Psychological well-being is significant at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood and aging. Different factors can impact our psychological health, including biological factors (genes and brain chemistry), life experiences (such as abuse or trauma), family history, and lifestyle (such as diet, physical activity, and substance use). Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. How are you doing psychologically?

Ways that we can celebrate our culture and promote psychological health and wellness:

1. Write and post self-affirmations throughout our space (on a mirror, bedroom wall)

2. Connect with others who share like-minded values

3. Go for a mindful walk and engage your senses

4. Learn more about our cultural ethnic background (who’s our tribe, who are our people?)

5. Participate in customs and traditions of our ethnic background and celebrate our experiences

6. Sit outside and observe the surroundings

7. Touch the ground with our hands or bare feet and allow the earth to ground us

8. Get active

9. Start a garden in the kitchen, patio, or balcony

10. Meditate

Social Health

Our social health is connected to our mental health. We interact with others at our work, home, school, neighborhoods, and communities is part of our mental health. Social health wellness is about nurturing ourselves, others, and our relationships. Since birth, our relationships help us learn to navigate our world. Positive social connections support health and wellness. Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. How are you doing socially?

Ways that we can celebrate our culture and promote social health and wellness:

1. Have snuggle time with our dog

2. Volunteer at a local food bank

3. Offer services or financial support to a nearby senior housing center

4. Sign up for that art class we’ve been eyeing for a while

5. Participate in a studies class on another country or racial/ethnic group

6. Join a First Time Mom Group

7. Meet up with our co-workers for a non-work event

8. Attend the Private Paint Party with our girlfriends

9. Advocate for improved infrastructure in our community

10. Assist with the programming at our child’s school

Physical Health

One of the best ways to nurture our physical health naturally is through our food. Numerous studies demonstrate that foods such as dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, bok choy, kale, collards), fruits, legumes (beans, lentils), and nuts/seeds promote health and reduce the risk of many illnesses. What types of foods are part of your cultural/ethnic background that have prolonged the health and wellness of your ancestors? What are some specialties or delicacies your granny, grandma, grandmother, or Abuela made in her kitchen? What types of aromas do you recall from your childhood? How can you interweave your relationship with food with health and wellness? Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. What is the impact of your diet on your health and well-being?

Another way to positively impact our health and wellness is through physical activity. Movement promotes health and reduces the risk of chronic conditions and diseases often more prevalent among ethnic, racial, and minority groups. Engaging in consistent physical activity makes us feel better mentally, sleep better, and function better. Physical activity can be done alone, with a partner, or in groups. It allows us to have that connectedness with community, or can we do it in solitude. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that we obtain a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week.

An example of this would be a brisk walk for 30 minutes 5x weekly or bike riding for about 22 minutes 7 days a week. If you like to dance, run, jog, or swim, feel free to engage in those activities instead! Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. How are you doing physically?

Ways that we can celebrate our culture and promote physical health and wellness:

1. Make a recipe from our childhood with fresh fruits and veggies from our garden

2. Yoga

3. Hike a nearby trail

4. Share and make a family meal together 1x weekly

5. Jog with a partner

6. Establish meat-free Mondays and select produce from the local farmers’ market

7. Dance to music and beats of our culture or another’s

8. Get with Nana to make one of her special meals

9. Break out the roller skates and show the neighbors we still have skills

10. Chase the kids around the house, yard, or park

Spiritual Health

Spiritual wellness provides us with systems of beliefs, faith, ethics, morals, principles, and values. Undeniably, COVID-19 has impacted our spiritual health. The way that many of us worship, engage in religious practices, express our traditions, or connect spiritually has changed. With the need for the social distance for safety, some of us switched to virtual services, while others discontinued them altogether. Our yoga communities were disbanded due to the cease cessation of face-to-face classes. Our churches, temples, mosques, and centers made the difficult decisions to limit the size of attendees, offer alternative experiences, or temporarily close. Take a moment to pause, breathe, and observe. How are you doing spiritually?

Ways that we can celebrate our diversity and promote spiritual health and wellness:

1. Participate in customs/traditions/beliefs from our community

2. Invite others to attend ceremonies or special events from our culture

3. Join a small group at church

4. Designate a space where we can engage in practices that allow us to think, feel, pray, and meditate (closet, altar, etc.)

5. Volunteer at a local rescue mission

6. Engage in community mentoring for Big Brother/Big Sister or a neighborhood school

7. Travel to a country of interest

8. Have a regular yoga practice

9. Meditate in our faith background

10. Spend time in nature without any devices