Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. The WHO constitution states: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities.

Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life. On this basis, the promotion, protection and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities and societies throughout the world.

Determinants of mental health

Multiple social, psychological, and biological factors determine the level of mental health of a person at any point of time. For example, violence and persistent socio-economic pressures are recognized risks to mental health. The clearest evidence is associated with sexual violence.

Poor mental health is also associated with rapid social change, stressful work conditions, gender discrimination, social exclusion, unhealthy lifestyle, physical ill-health and human rights violations.

There are specific psychological and personality factors that make people vulnerable to mental health problems. Biological risks include genetic factors.

Mental health promotion and protection

Mental health promotion involves actions that improve psychological well-being.  This may involve creating an environment that supports mental health.

An environment that respects and protects basic civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights is fundamental to mental health. Without the security and freedom provided by these rights, it is difficult to maintain a high level of mental health.

National mental health policies should be concerned both with mental disorders and, with broader issues that promote mental health. Mental health promotion should be mainstreamed into governmental and nongovernmental policies and programmes. In addition to the health sector, it is essential to involve the education, labour, justice, transport, environment, housing, and welfare sectors.

Specific ways to promote mental health include:

early childhood interventions (e.g. providing a stable environment that is sensitive to children’s health and nutritional needs, with protection from threats, opportunities for early learning, and interactions that are responsive, emotionally supportive and developmentally stimulating);

support to children (e.g. life skills programmes, child and youth development programmes);

socio-economic empowerment of women (e.g. improving access to education and microcredit schemes);

social support for elderly populations (e.g. befriending initiatives, community and day centres for the aged);

programmes targeted at vulnerable people, including minorities, indigenous people, migrants and people affected by conflicts and disasters (e.g. psycho-social interventions after disasters);

mental health promotional activities in schools (e.g. programmes involving supportive ecological changes in schools);

mental health interventions at work (e.g. stress prevention programmes);

housing policies (e.g. housing improvement);

·violence prevention programmes (e.g. reducing availability of alcohol and access to arms);

community development programmes (e.g. integrated rural development);

poverty reduction and social protection for the poor;

anti-discrimination laws and campaigns;

promotion of the rights, opportunities and care of individuals with mental disorders.

Mental health care and treatment

In the context of national efforts to develop and implement mental health policy, it is vital to not only protect and promote the mental well-being of its citizens, but also address the needs of persons with defined mental disorders.

Knowledge of what to do about the escalating burden of mental disorders has improved substantially over the past decade. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating both the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of key interventions for priority mental disorders in countries at different levels of economic development. Examples of interventions that are cost-effective, feasible, and affordable include:

treatment of depression with psychological treatment and, for moderate to severe cases, antidepressant medicines;

treatment of psychosis with antipsychotic medicines and psychosocial support;

taxation of alcoholic beverages and restriction of their availability and marketing.

A range of effective measures also exists for the prevention of suicide, prevention and treatment of mental disorders in children, prevention and treatment of dementia, and treatment of substance-use disorders. The mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) has produced evidence based guidance for non-specialists to enable them to better identify and manage a range of priority mental health conditions.

WHO response

WHO supports governments in the goal of strengthening and promoting mental health. WHO has evaluated evidence for promoting mental health and is working with governments to disseminate this information and to integrate effective strategies into policies and plans.

In 2013, the World Health Assembly approved a "Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020". The Plan is a commitment by all WHO’s Member States to take specific actions to improve mental health and to contribute to the attainment of a set of global targets.

The Action Plan’s overall goal is to promote mental well-being, prevent mental disorders, provide care, enhance recovery, promote human rights and reduce the mortality, morbidity and disability for persons with mental disorders. It focuses on 4 key objectives to:

strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health;

provide comprehensive, integrated and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings;

implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health; and

strengthen information systems, evidence and research for mental health.

Particular emphasis is given in the Action Plan to the protection and promotion of human rights, the strengthening and empowering of civil society and to the central place of community-based care.

In order to achieve its objectives, the Action Plan proposes and requires clear actions for governments, international partners and for WHO. Ministries of Health will need to take a leadership role, and WHO will work with them and with international and national partners, including civil society, to implement the plan. As there is no action that fits all countries, each government will need to adapt the Action Plan to its specific national circumstances

Befuddled by all the clashing nourishment exhortation out there? These straightforward tips can tell you the best way to design, appreciate, and adhere to a solid eating routine. 

Young lady sits in yard adjacent to mother, both eating natural corn, the mother grinning as she watches her little girl enjoy it 

Covid update 

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, eating well food stays a significant piece of keeping up your wellbeing. While there are no particular nourishments that can help shield you from the infection, a nutritious eating regimen can support your safe framework or assist you with fending off side effects. You will be unable to impart dinners to companions and friends and family, yet there are loads of different approaches to eat well and backing your wellbeing at this troublesome time. 

What is a sound eating routine? 

Eating a solid eating routine isn't about exacting restrictions, remaining ridiculously slim, or denying yourself of the nourishments you love. Or maybe, it's tied in with feeling incredible, having more vitality, improving your wellbeing, and boosting your mind-set. 

Smart dieting doesn't need to be excessively muddled. In the event that you feel overpowered by all the clashing nourishment and diet exhortation out there, you're in good company. It appears to be that for each master who discloses to you a specific food is beneficial for you, you'll discover another maxim precisely the inverse. Truly while some particular nourishments or supplements have been appeared to beneficially affect mind-set, it's your general dietary example that is generally significant. The foundation of a sound eating routine ought to be to supplant prepared food with genuine food at whatever point conceivable. Eating food that is as close as conceivable to the manner in which nature caused it to can have a colossal effect to the manner in which you think, look, and feel. 

By utilizing these basic hints, you can slice through the disarray and figure out how to make—and adhere to—a delicious, fluctuated, and nutritious eating regimen that is as useful for your psyche as it to your body. 

The essentials of good dieting 

While some outrageous eating regimens may recommend else, we as a whole need an equalization of protein, fat, sugars, fiber, nutrients, and minerals in our weight control plans to continue a solid body. You don't have to kill certain classifications of food from your eating routine, yet rather select the most beneficial alternatives from every class. 

Protein gives you the vitality to get moving—and continue onward—while likewise supporting mind-set and intellectual capacity. A lot of protein can be destructive to individuals with kidney malady, however the most recent examination proposes that a considerable lot of us need all the more excellent protein, particularly as we age. That doesn't mean you need to eat more creature items—an assortment of plant-based wellsprings of protein every day can guarantee your body gets all the basic protein it needs. 

Fat. Not all fat is the equivalent. While terrible fats can wreck your eating routine and increment your danger of specific sicknesses, great fats ensure your cerebrum and heart. Indeed, solid fats, for example, omega-3s—are fundamental to your physical and enthusiastic wellbeing. Remembering more sound fat for your eating regimen can help improve your disposition, support your prosperity, and even trim your waistline. 

Fiber. Eating nourishments high in dietary fiber (grains, organic product, vegetables, nuts, and beans) can assist you with remaining ordinary and lower your danger for coronary illness, stroke, and diabetes. It can likewise improve your skin and even assistance you to shed pounds. 

Calcium. Just as prompting osteoporosis, not getting enough calcium in your eating regimen can likewise add to tension, wretchedness, and rest troubles. Whatever your age or sexual orientation, it's fundamental to incorporate calcium-rich nourishments in your eating regimen, limit those that exhaust calcium, and get enough magnesium and nutrients D and K to assist calcium with carrying out its responsibility. 

Sugars are one of your body's fundamental wellsprings of vitality. Be that as it may, most should originate from mind boggling, crude carbs (vegetables, entire grains, organic product) instead of sugars and refined carbs. Scaling back white bread, baked goods, starches, and sugar can forestall fast spikes in glucose, vacillations in temperament and vitality, and a development of fat, particularly around your waistline. 

Doing the change to a sound eating regimen 

Changing to a sound eating regimen doesn't need to be a win or bust recommendation. You don't need to be great, you don't need to totally kill nourishments you appreciate, and you don't need to make a huge difference at the same time—that typically just prompts cheating or abandoning your new eating arrangement. 

A superior methodology is to make a couple of little changes one after another. Keeping your objectives humble can assist you with accomplishing more in the long haul without feeling denied or overpowered by a significant eating regimen upgrade. Consider arranging a solid eating regimen as various little, sensible advances—like adding a plate of mixed greens to your eating routine once every day. As your little changes become propensity, you can keep on including more solid decisions. 

Setting yourself up for progress 

To set yourself up for progress, attempt to keep things straightforward. Eating a more beneficial eating routine doesn't need to be convoluted. Rather than being excessively worried about tallying calories, for instance, think about your eating regimen as far as shading, assortment, and newness. Zero in on dodging bundled and prepared nourishments and settling on more new fixings at whatever point conceivable. 

Plan your very own greater amount suppers. Preparing more suppers at home can assist you with assuming responsibility for what you're eating and better screen precisely what goes into your food. You'll eat less calories and maintain a strategic distance from the compound added substances, included sugar, and unfortunate fats of bundled and takeout nourishments that can leave you feeling tired, enlarged, and touchy, and worsen side effects of sorrow, stress, and tension. 

Roll out the correct improvements. When scaling back undesirable nourishments in your eating routine, it's critical to supplant them with solid other options. Supplanting perilous trans fats with sound fats, (for example, exchanging seared chicken for barbecued salmon) will have a beneficial outcome to your wellbeing. Exchanging creature fats for refined starches, however, (for example, exchanging your morning meal bacon for a doughnut), won't bring down your danger for coronary illness or improve your state of mind. 

Peruse the names. It's critical to know about what's in your food as makers regularly shroud a lot of sugar or unfortunate fats in bundled food, even food professing to be sound. 

Zero in on how you feel in the wake of eating. This will help encourage solid new propensities and tastes. The more advantageous the food you eat, the better you'll feel after a feast. The more shoddy nourishment you eat, the more probable you are to feel awkward, queasy, or depleted of vitality. 

Drink a lot of water. Water helps flush our frameworks of waste items and poisons, yet huge numbers of us experience life got dried out—causing sleepiness, low vitality, and cerebral pains. It's not unexpected to confuse thirst with hunger, so remaining very much hydrated will likewise assist you with settling on more beneficial food decisions. 

Balance: imperative to any sound eating routine 

What is control? Basically, it implies eating just as much food as your body needs. You should feel fulfilled toward the finish of a dinner, yet not stuffed. For huge numbers of us, control implies eating short of what we do now. In any case, it doesn't mean disposing of the nourishments you love. Having bacon for breakfast once per week, for instance, could be viewed as balance on the off chance that you tail it with a sound lunch and supper—yet not in the event that you tail it with a container of doughnuts and a wiener pizza. 

Do whatever it takes not to think about specific nourishments as "forbidden." When you boycott certain food sources, it's normal to need those food sources more, and afterward feel like a disappointment in the event that you surrender to enticement. Start by diminishing segment sizes of undesirable nourishments and not eating them as frequently. As you lessen your admission of undesirable nourishments, you may wind up wanting them less or considering them just periodic extravagances. 

Think littler parts. Serving sizes have expanded as of late. When feasting out, pick a starter rather than a course, part a dish with a companion, and don't organization supersized anything. At home, obvious signals can help with parcel sizes. Your serving of meat, fish, or chicken ought to be the size of a deck of cards and a large portion of a cup of crushed potato, rice, or pasta is about the size of a conventional light. By serving your suppers on littler plates or in bowls, you can fool your cerebrum into believing it's a bigger segment. On the off chance that you don't feel fulfilled toward the finish of a feast, include more verdant greens or adjust the dinner with natural product. 

Take as much time as is needed. It's critical to back off and consider food sustenance as opposed to only something to swallow down in the middle of gatherings or while in transit to get the children. It really takes a couple of moments for your mind to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat gradually and quit eating before you feel full. 

Eat with others at whatever point conceivable. Eating alone, particularly before the TV or PC, regularly prompts thoughtless gorging. 

Cutoff nibble nourishments in the home. Be cautious about the nourishments you keep within reach. It's all the more testing to eat with some restraint in the event that you have undesirable tidbits and treats primed and ready. Rather, encircle yourself with sound decisions and when you're prepared to compensate yourself with an uncommon treat, go out and get it at that point. 

Control passionate eating. We don't generally eat just to fulfill hunger. A significant number of us additionally go to food to ease pressure or adapt to disagreeable feelings, for example, trouble, forlornness, or weariness. Yet, by learning more beneficial approaches to oversee pressure and feelings, you can recover command over the food you eat and your sentiments. 

It's what you eat, yet when you eat 

Have breakfast, and eat littler suppers for the duration of the day. A sound breakfast can kick off your digestion, while eating little, solid suppers keeps your vitality up throughout the day. 

Abstain from eating late around evening time. Attempt to have supper prior and quick for 14-16 hours until breakfast the following morning. Studies recommend that eating just when you're generally dynamic and giving your stomach related framework a long break every day may assist with directing weight. 

Add more leafy foods to your eating regimen 

Leafy foods are low in calories and supplement thick, which helps you to keep fit.