During the first session of the “Q&A Forum 2023, Let’s Speak Clearly”, organized and moderated by Dr. Ingrid Vargas Huicochea, Research Coordinator of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health (DPSM) of the UNAM School of Medicineand transmitted by YouTubea panel of experts provided numerous tips on the ways of self-care, understanding its meaning, practicing it and how to take responsibility for it.
The Dr. Olga Robelo Zarza, head of the Department of Communication in Mental Health of the DPSM, mentioned that “it is important to understand that we we are integral beings, that well-being is not only the biological part, but is a set of elements which are your thoughts, how do you recognize your body, what do you do to take care of it, how is your relationship with yourself and with society, in short, different elements that make you feel good regarding yourself”.
For his part, Dr. Vannya Torres, medical nutritionistconsidered that “well-being is a situation where the person feels at peace, since in addition to valuing physical, mental and social health more, we must also turn to see each other and ask ourselves what of everything we do to take care of our integral health , we carry out to procure our internal peace”.
Likewise, the Dr. Alejandra Méndez, internist and Director of the Sansce Clinic, indicated that “today the way in which we have to approach the people who come to us as health professionals has two important concepts, the first is that care should be focused on the needs of the patient, and the second is that we must promote health education in the people who consult us”.
At the time, Dr. Tomás Zepeda, pediatrician and academic at UNAM, highlighted that the sensation of well-being is a sensation of care, since “sometimes it goes hand in hand with sensations of comfort, taste or satiety, but sometimes we are surprised that this sensation of well-being caused by certain food or activities, it is not entirely good and they lead us to a false well-being”. From his experience in caring for the pediatric population, he mentioned the relevance of allowing children to “be children” in order to really bring them closer to a condition of well-being.
Finally, the coach Edgar Mata, certified sports trainercommented that “in gyms there is a distortion of what is healthy and of what it means to be fitness due to the negative influenza that social networks can cause, affecting the health of the people who follow them”, which is why he highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary work with different health professionals, since it is difficult to find a balance between the nutritional, physical, clinical and psycho-emotional factors.
Vicky Enrimar
