Mental health is integral to living a healthy and balanced life. Our mental health encompasses our psychological, emotional, and social well-being. This means it impacts how we feel, thinks, and behave each day. Our mental health also contributes to our decision-making process, how we cope with stress, and how we relate to others in our lives.

Emotional and mental health is important because it’s a vital part of your life and impacts your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. Being healthy emotionally can promote productivity and effectiveness in activities like work, school, or caregiving. It plays an important part in the health of your relationships and allows you to adapt to changes in your life and cope with adversity during emergencies.

There are steps you can take to improve your mental health every day. Small things like exercising, eating balanced and healthy meals, opening up to other people in your life, taking a break when you need to, remembering something you are grateful for, and getting a good night’s sleep, can be helpful in boosting your emotional health.

Amid the outbreak of COVID-19, GDP developed in-house IEC material on the importance of maintaining good mental and physical health and tips to do so during the lockdown. The material was designed with child-friendly illustrations and content in regional languages to ensure that the message gets across. These materials were posted on GDP’s social media handles (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram) to raise awareness of the general public on maintaining good mental and physical health.