Mental Wealth

imartin2k | 410 points

For myself. This is what I've been doing and working for me.

From the outside, generally, stay away or just observe from far away:

- People who post political/religious/racial comments every 5 mins or so on social media, whether their view aligns with yours or not

- People who are too passionate about one thing

- People who don't keep their identity small in public, be it digital or real life

- People who have black and white thinking

- Social media

From the inside:

- Exercise (I do Karate)

- Have other creativity outlet (I do Aquascape, play electric guitar, bass, and sing, aside from programming)

- Read a lot various subjects, anything that spike your curiosity (I read programming books, theological books, finance, aquascaping, music, philosophy, economy)

- Have some other non thinking hobbies occasionally (I play games, go out with my spouse, watch movies)

- Help your communities (I am quite active to my church)

I still need to work on these:

- Eat healthier food

- Have more consistent sleep cycle

Generally if I have to sum it. Keep your public identity small, but keep your private identity large. You can definitely tell I grew up in Asia.

christiansakai | 4 years ago

In this article the author covers a few areas to consider in managing mental health:

Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Exogenous Compounds (from coffee to melatonin to Prozac, and anything in between)

These are certainly important factors, and I think we need to look much more broadly at underlying factors than just these (or just drugs).

I've been reading about mental health issues for years with my own ups and downs, and the best book I've read on this topic so far is Lost Connections by Johann Hari.

In the book he describes the ways modern life has disconnected us from a lot of what humans find meaningful, and given that it's not surprising that rates of depression and anxiety have skyrocketed. For me, learning what those underlying causes are has meant I could start making a conscious effort to address them in my own life. It's a lot of work, but it's been far more effective than just trying to make myself feel better by improving my mood with exercise, sleep etc.

I think as a society we've become so good at dealing with symptoms, but we're afraid to spend the time to look deeply and investigate causes. Politicians think that riots are the problem and if they stop the riots with force the problem goes away. But riots are just a symptom of a sick system.

jordwest | 4 years ago

I find articles like this one where 100% of the onus for coping with mental health problems is put on the individual quite annoying. There's nothing in the article about getting help from other people, or how to cope with problems that you can't fix easily. It's kind of a toxic attitude because it makes others believe people with mental health issues just aren't trying hard enough and completely ignores individual circumstances or our ability to help ourselves. It's all very well to tell people with mental health problems that they should sleep better, eat better and get some exercise, but that ignores the fact that mental health problems can physically stop people doing that.

If fixing your mental health was simple then it wouldn't be such a prevalent problem.

onion2k | 4 years ago

Recently I had an epiphany and I felt as if I had cracked the code to living a good life - 1. Exercise everyday 2. Eat and drink clean.

As cliche as it sounds it felt like if I took care of these two things, everything else will take care of itself. Since last 15 days, I feel reinvigorated once again as I focus on these two things. There is a long way to go to fully undo all the damage, but I feel I am on track.

vgchh | 4 years ago

>When it comes to mental health, our society approaches it like we did with physical health 50 years ago. We only think about it when something is wrong.

I'm not sure about the broader society, but I think this mentality is still prevalent in both physical and mental health these day.

My mother was a very health conscious person (to the level of insanity) but one attitude she showed that I think lead to long term mental/physical health improvement is what your attitude towards medicine is. She saw medicine never as a solution but a temporary band-aid and if you use one medication more than once, it is a indication that something in your life is terribly wrong. I don't share that absolutist attitude, some situations are only solvable with medical interference. But where you draw this line seems to have an profound effect.

I've observed that people that consider medicine (both for physical & mental health) as a part of the solution to a problem they have in life never achieve to get out of their trouble. If you're living a unhealthy lifestyle, any health complications are amplified and taking medicine might suppress it for now, but unless you change the underlying life-style, it will slowly make things worse. Same goes for mental health; If your mental life style is unhealthy (bad social interaction, information consumption that most lead to negative emotions etc), any amount of anti-depressant won't get you out of trouble. You're only delaying it.

NalNezumi | 4 years ago

Improving access to nature would go a long way to improve city dwellers sense of mental health and well being. Especially making it easier for owning a cottage.

1) I live in Canada, a giant country. But camping is super expensive, $50/night camping. Its unaffordable for any length of time. And many provincial parks sell out.

2) Buying a small piece of land and hand building a tiny cottage is basically outlawed in Ontario. You need building permits and build at least 800 sqft. 100K is probably the base price for the land alone.

3)Despite all the land, there is no program for providing allotment gardens to citizens. Having a small patch of land you can grow vegetables on is rare. But its a thing in many European countries.

4) Where I live all the forests have been cut down, and turned to giant farms long ago. Almost all land is private. You can't just go and wonder.

TV, Video games and Computers are cool and all, but its obviously not something you should be spending most of your day on. But it seems like thats the only affordable entertainment option left for many people.

People are bored, cooped up in tiny apartments because of Covid. I can see why people are rioting in cities. And since so many people seem to be stacking up at zero or negative wealth. Capitalism seems to be under direct attack now, and some serious cracks are forming. The politicians need to revaluate the situation.

Lots of land in North America, why not have a program where poor citizens can get a small lot somewhere, and let them build a small cottage there. Without it costing 100s of thousand and thousands a year in taxes. A place they can take their kids to.

jungletime | 4 years ago

Could shorten this by starting with what wealth is. You can measure relative wealth roughly by how long you can reasonably plan into the future. This is what separates it from money.

The author's notion of Mental wealth, using that definition, would be how long can you can reasonably plan to be self assured and make decisions using that frame of mind. An hour? A day? Still looking forward to a positive time period? Even if you are depressed or grieving, you can have mental wealth by accepting those circumstances and recognizing you are making decisions with that as a factor.

Extending that model, mental poverty could be when you are essentially paralyzed or a slave to intrusive thoughts, where you cannot go a few minutes without being interrupted by fears, memories, or imagined conflicts. It's hard to separate the notion of "you," from your thoughts, and there is a part of our mind that needs to convince us they're the same thing, but recognizing that the mind that produces these thoughts can be just like a finger or an appendage that is injured without taking all of you with it is a big leap toward mental "wealth."

Viewed this way, you are not your stubbed toe, or even your broken leg, and the part of your mind that is in pain and cutting you off from the present is not all of you either. You may need to compensate for it until it heals, or even adapt to the injury, but it doesn't mean you should stop making decisions and plans. Recognizing when you aren't making decisions and plans, and exercising the ability to actively decide to do so could be the foundation for building this mental wealth. I like the author's model, it could be useful.

motohagiography | 4 years ago

I only skim read the article, but I think it's missing a key section which is "strong relationships". Having the right people around you and having a sense of connection with those people can have a dramatically positive effect on your well-being. Aside from that I agree that it's good to invest in your mental health like you would physical. Definately take the time out to learn how to look after your own mental well-being and you will probably see benefits translate to all areas of your life.

fellow_human | 4 years ago

It always surprises me how little value is given to positive human relationships and community when considering mental well-being. It's in my opinion the second most important thing after sleep.

alltakendamned | 4 years ago

This article spills a lot of ink to say that you should focus on your Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress, and Drugs in that order. It provides a few tips for each topic:

1) Sleep

Tip: "my biggest pro-tip [...] wake up every morning at the same time"

2) Diet

Tip: "Get your food allergens checked and make sure you’re not consuming foods that your allergic to on a regular basis (I used Everlywell.com for their at home food allergy test recently, and it was great)."

Tip: "Consuming multiple alcoholic drinks before bed can absolutely wreck your sleep, which is the first foundation to mental wealth."

3) Exercise

"I’m going to zero in on the anti-inflammatory effects of high intensity aerobic exercise 3 times a week (which incorporates improvement to mood, detoxification, and anti-inflammation). [...] this is all about using a stair-master or elliptical, cycling, or high intensity running for anywhere from 15-30 minutes, etc. 3x per week. Cycling has been shown to be superior to running for the aerobic effects, so I use our family’s Peloton for 20 min HIIT rides at least 3x a week, preferably more. [...] Try this for 4 weeks and see what it does for your mental health (and your sleep)."

4) Stress Management

Tip: "[find] time to sit quietly for 15 minutes in the morning, with your cup of coffee or tea in-hand, to do three primary things has been extremely helpful for me:

(i) Gratitude journaling of 5 things that I’m grateful for (nothing is too small here, from the sunrise to the laugh of my daughter will make the list),

(ii) 2-3 minutes of breathing exercises (google 4-7-8

breathing for a really simple breath work exercise),

(iii) Lastly, 5 minutes outline my to do list for the day."

5) Exogenous Compounds

Tip: "any of these, from the innocuous to the Schedule II prescription, should be last on the list of your personal “mental wealth” audit."

edraferi | 4 years ago

I wouldn't put much stock in Ayurveda or even worse, Traditional Chinese Medicine, except some of the treatments which have been proven to work. There's a reason why western medicine is superior - it follows evidence-based modern scientific and research principles, not hogwash.

frequentnapper | 4 years ago

I think the author is mistaking cause with effect.

When the things mentioned (Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Exogenous Compounds) go out of balance, that "unbalancing" may well be a symptom (consequence) of the mental issue and not the cause as is implied in the article.

You can invest all you want decades in advance in creating balanced habits in those areas and still be disrupted down the line with negative mental health events.

glaberficken | 4 years ago

By the title, I thought this would be about the idea of defining wealth by your mental state, mood, or knowledge, and not yet another "let's apply overly-rational financial analysis to everything but not actually question the bigger systems at play" article.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. - Benjamin Franklin

keiferski | 4 years ago

> my experience has taught me that there are five foundations towards a concept I will call ‘mental wealth’ — sleep, diet, exercise, stress management, and exogenous compounds (anything from coffee to alcohol to prescription medication).

I think these are accurate but a glaring omission is the overarching element of "how good is your life". You can take care of your physiology (and you should) but that won't get you too far if, for example, you're also stuck at a dead end job or if you're completely isolated and have no friends and no intimate partner.

s1t5 | 4 years ago

Genuine question: how would someone define "mental health" or be able to determine if someone is mentally healthy? Even for myself, I really have no clue whether I'm mentally healthy or not.

axegon_ | 4 years ago

I think there are some more

- fresh air and sunlight (high CO2 indoors is detrimental to cognition and sun is needed for the circadian rythm and vitamin D and other stuff)

- social contact (appropriate to personality), so friends, family and romantic relationships to the extent and intensity that one's personality needs them

- career success and stable finances: makes one feel useful and takes away a lot of stress and frees up mental energy to think about all the other things mentioned in the article

- winding down sometimes, unplugging from phones, TV etc. One way is meditation, but can also be just sitting with a cup of tea thinking about nothing particular

- learning and trying new things, new foods, new languages, new books or genres

- challenging oneself and overcoming discomfort, physically such as cold showers, or mentally such as public speaking or whatever seems scary/hard

I think the overall idea is a scaffolding of routine and stable structure in life punctuated with deliberate, planned and conscious reaches out of the comfort zone. Like yeah waking up every day is great and much better than a whacky schedule. What's probably even better is having exceptions and whacking up your sleep for one or two weeks per year for a festival or a hike or a few days of intense creative work.

The point is to return to the default every time, but religiously sticking to a rigid routine where you cancel and refuse anything that may conflict with it is only to be recommended to people with really low change tolerance like certain autists. Even they should play with their own limits even if those limits are at a different place.

bonoboTP | 4 years ago

It's a good list. Another contributor to mental health is "doing things that you enjoy". That can trade off against some of the other items. So, eating a delicious (but unhealthy) meal gives you points in the happiness column but takes some away from the diet column.

bufordtwain | 4 years ago

I agree with the premise: be proactive about mental health.

However, this should be read with some skepticism. The author relies on their own authority as someone who "has been thinking about mental health for 19 years." I was intentional about not googling whoever this is, perhaps they're a medical professional or something. But if that were the case, I would hope they would cite better sources than describing themself as "someone that has paid close attention to this cross-lattice work of interweaving disciplines for a while now". Skimming over buzzwords like "detoxification, and anti-inflammation" is a red flag. The article's first side bar goes on to talk about how "the first medical professionals were surgeons saving a soldier’s life". This is line is particularly disconcerting, but the entire "sidebar" sounds like conjecture. The whole article sounds like conjecture, which should NOT be sold as a source of authority on a topic like health. That is how we get essential-oil anti-vaxxers.

Timpy | 4 years ago

This.Post.Is.Gold.

It's now been a few years after my burnout/depression episode and finally someone put my thoughts into words.

I came into the same conclusion after learning about depression, doing therapy, and among other things/research/trying things.

So I refused to take pills, but instead make a lifestyle change. I also started developing Habinator app (see: habinator.com), which is a tool to help to make a change.

I'm glad that there are professional smart people who see the bigger picture in (mental) health and not the short term fix. It would be great if the decision makers and people with money would also see this.

Bellamy | 4 years ago

I've been working on an app that allows me to send messages to my past and future selves, as well as posting today's thoughts (for reading by my future self). I had initially created it over a weekend as a fun side project, but it turned out to be a great tool for self reflection. An ios beta is coming out next week, fill out this form if you'd like to try it out:

https://forms.gle/C9KebsV2u64Wqvc56

AlexanderZ | 4 years ago

Quite a nice article.

However, I'd absolutely change the order of things to pay attention to. The first one of the mentioned ones should be 'Stress Management'.

If you get this one right, you'll have better sleep, more time (and willingness) for exercise, as well as less of a need for any substances to get you through the day.

Also, he doesn't mention metacognition at all. Paying attention to one own's thought processes is a big part of staying sane in the long term.

jgilias | 4 years ago

If the author has an rss I’d love to add it to my reader. Liked the article and has given me things to think about. Allergy testing sort of stuck out for me most.

quickthrower2 | 4 years ago

What I rarely see, if ever, is writing and guides on what to do with yourself when life throws a wrench at you. I find it's not difficult to eat well, sleep well, exercise well when times are alright. But then if something bad happens to me, all of that goes out the window and it can be quite difficult to go back. I think most of us have difficulty with these things on smaller or larger scales.

vlasev | 4 years ago

That was quite a long article. It could’ve been made much shorter and still conveyed the points. I was surprised that the author is ok with alcohol in moderation but seems to be against coffee (that’s the sense I got).

The mention of older medicinal systems being focused on prevention and listing Dr. Andrew Weil put me off. IMO, these should be last on your list when you’re looking for help or solutions.

AnonC | 4 years ago

The article contradicts itself.

The first half talks about how to treat mental health like we treat physical health, and we treat physical health in a transactional "businesslike" way.

The second half of the article proposes doing exactly the same: extreme measurement of pathologies and solutions instead of going for what feels right to your body.

mFixman | 4 years ago

The idea of health wealth is good IMO. In ye olde times in China I read that you paid your doctor while you were well. If you went sick the doctor went into action to protect his recurring revenue treating you to the best of their ability.

perlpimp | 4 years ago

Extrapolating personal health observations to a general population is one of the most annoying types of misinformation the internet tends to amplify. Use site:.gov on Google as a better source of medical advice, folks

shadytrees | 4 years ago

I was curious and did some research about the "Everlywell" food allergy test this article recommends, and the evidence behind it seems INCREDIBLY weak. From what I'm reading the product seems to be some Shark Tunk funded non-FDA reviewed no-oversight pseudoscience. Apparently many "at home testing kits" are not FDA regulated at all.

Worse, it seems that many doctors and organizations think they can actually do harm given the misinformation they provide:

......

"Patients who ask Dr. Robert Wood, an allergist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, whether they have a food sensitivity would never undergo an immunoglobulin G test. Immunoglobulin G tests “are completely useless and do dramatic harm” because they may compel patients to unnecessarily avoid broad swaths of a healthy diet, Wood said.

“In all my years of practice, I have never sent an immunoglobulin G test because they have no ability to predict food sensitivity,” he said.

That’s because immunoglobulin G stems from the body’s normal immune response to exposure to many substances, including food. High levels don’t indicate a problem; they simply point to foods a person recently has eaten.

For these reasons, a 2008 European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology task force recommended against testing for a type of immunoglobulin G to evaluate for food intolerance. In the report, the group wrote that the test was “irrelevant for the laboratory work-up of food allergy or intolerance and should not be performed in case of food-related complaints.”" [0]

......

"Dr. Neha Shah, a rheumatologist and immunologist at Stanford University, is one doctor who is skeptical.

"What we don't have is proof that having a high IgG level against a particular food item means that that food is causing your symptoms," says Shah.

"A lot of this kind of huxterist testing is keying off of the placebo effect," says Dr. Norman Paradis, a clinical lab expert who teaches at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, referring to the industry in general and not to a particular product. "[1]

......

"The presence of IgG is likely a normal response of the immune system to exposure to food. In fact, higher levels of IgG4 to foods may simply be associated with tolerance to those foods.

Due to the lack of evidence to support its use, many organizations, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology have recommended against using IgG testing to diagnose food allergies or food intolerances / sensitivities" [2]

......

The author should seriously consider removing this from their article.

[0]: https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/23/everlywell-food-sensitiv...

[1]: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/28/6141252...

[2]: https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/alle...

elpin | 4 years ago

felt like a generic article when I started reading, but turned out to be incredible. thanks so much for writing.

hejja | 4 years ago

> the Western medical system evolved from medical treatments during warfare

What's the historical basis for this claim?

AlexCoventry | 4 years ago

Detox is a pseudoscientific concept.

david_draco | 4 years ago

So just to make sure I'm clear: the author of this post is (according to the "about" page on the linked site) is "an angel investor, founder, podcaster, author, and general startup-helper" who is wildly speculating about the causes of and solutions for one of the most complex and nuanced areas of medicine out there.

Then he indulges in exactly the kind of casual, "if you just do this you'll be _fine_" sort of reasoning from armchair diagnosticians that leads people _actually_ suffering from mental illness to think, "oh man, I guess I'm just undisciplined and all of this is _my fault_."

I'm sorry, but no. Just stop. Your "helpful tips" equate the _symptoms_ of mental health issues (lack of sleep, inability to focus and plan, over-consumption of alcohol, etc.) with the fixes that are available to you if you "just try harder'.

Telling someone deep in debt that smarter decisions made long ago would have avoided their current problems may be _accurate_ but is neither helpful nor compassionate. Likewise, telling anyone who'll listen that acute mental health crises can be prevented proactively by "simply following these few tips" does less than nothing for those suffering right now: in fact, it worsens the perception that their illness is their own fault, it's too late to make any improvement or progress, doctors will just try to sell them snake oil so why bother, etc., etc.

Perhaps if the author had said something like, "I too have struggled with mental health and found the following things made a difference for me. YMMV, and of course you should only attempt self-fixes in combination with treatment by a qualified professional, etc. etc." He did none of that, nor is he a trained psychiatrist or counselor, which makes his "hard-earned wisdom" suspect to me.

"Be more like me and you too can be successful/happy/rich/etc." is not a terribly useful kind of advice. Likewise "the trained experts in the field don't want you to know this, but the solution to $really-hairy-problem is just to $follow-my-convenient-five-point-plan."

In case my umbrage at the tone and content of this article wasn't clue enough: I have been diagnosed as bipolar, with concurrent major depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder. Many of the symptoms and aggravating factors were buried or even encourage by the "startup life" and I'm deeply skeptical about VCs and founders who purport to care about the mental health of their peers and employees while making a constant push to "hustle", "put in the hours", "not settle for a lifestyle business", etc.

Throughout my career my manic periods have consistently been the most productive weeks and months of my working life, but the corresponding depressive episodes usually resulted in me being fired or walking away from an otherwise-decent job because no one understood or bothered to ask why a "high performer" had suddenly become flaky and uncommunicative. Advice on how to "prevent" mental illness from those who have neither suffered from it or been trained to treat it is _not_ going to make things better for me or folks with similar experiences.

rcoder | 4 years ago

Really nice article

halfimmortal | 4 years ago

Excellent post

lala26in | 4 years ago

I really don't think the best way of building up mental health reserves is to approach this thinking like an entrepreneur or an investor. To be honest that sounds like the broken record that is the Silicon Valley or general capitalism BS machine.

Instead, I would advocate participating in communities, working for social and environmental justice, volunteering and acting in a spirit of generosity that is directed away from the self. You can do this in many ways and one of them is to participate in non-toxic open source communities that build together and give away the product freely.

glutamate | 4 years ago