-
Benjamín Domínguez Trejo points out that 70 percent of Mexicans can handle stress well and 30 percent cannot
-
“Making mental health and well-being for all a global priority” is the motto of the dworld day on the matter, which is commemorated on October 10
Performing a daily physical activity for 30 or 40 minutes, feeling loved, supported, not discriminated once morest -known as perception of social support-, and practicing slow breathing, are psychological factors that contribute to lowering or modulating inflammatory activity, related to immunological changes intense caused by stress.
This is stated by the academic of the UNAM Faculty of Psychology, Benjamín Domínguez Trejo, who on the occasion of World Mental Health Day – to be commemorated on October 10 – points out that stress is the mental component that affects approximately 30 percent of the Mexican population, which suffers from hypertension, cancer, diabetes and other non-communicable and communicable diseases such as COVID-19.
The tall ones Stress levels, he continues, are associated with intense immunological changes and one of them is the inflammatory response: the higher this is, the more vulnerable and biologically fragile we are. “Our body is weaker to defend itself.”
Therefore, it highlights the importance of knowing factors that can contribute to modulate it in the Mexican population. One of them is physical activity.
“People who walk more than six thousand steps a day, which is around 30, 40 minutes of walking, have lower levels of inflammation. This is a practice that anyone can do, incorporate it into their habits to improve their immune defenses.”
The evidence is increasingly solid that having a perception of social support has great repercussions for the preservation of our physical and emotional health.
“A person who feels unfairly treated has higher levels of inflammation and in this sense, is more vulnerable,” adds who for more than three decades has collaborated in the evaluation and support to care for the mental health and well-being of cancer patients. .
He assures that one of the great lessons is that even a person with advanced cancer can have high levels of mental health, since the human capacity to adapt is enormous. Specialists can support them by recognizing factors that contribute to adaptation in a less complicated way, to the impact of sources of stress, both physical and psychological.
Another simple procedure that any individual can practice is slow breathing, including performing yoga. “It is a resource that allows you to go from a state of high stress to one of serenity, in minutes, without having to resort to drugs,” adds Domínguez Trejo.
The university expert points out that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that those who inadequately handle situations with medium or high levels of uncertainty suffer more negative consequences on their emotional and physical health.
According to Domínguez Trejo, there are no actions that allow one to think that in the near future stress can be reduced, rather, it will continue to grow.
“Stress is synonymous with life, according to Henri Laborit; it is the fact that we are biologically alive, that we have to grapple with changes that occur all the time under our skin and in the environment of which we are a part.
“It is that continuous struggle, the very fact of being alive produces stress, in some cases, at unmanageable, prolonged or intense levels. Added to them are our fears, the way in which we prepare ourselves for uncertainty”, adds the expert in the application and design of non-invasive psychological treatments for health problems -chronic pain, post-traumatic stress, addictions-.
Improve measurement tools
This year the motto to commemorate the event is: “Making mental health and well-being for all a global priority.”
One of the pending tasks in the matter, the specialist points out, is to measure, with increasing precision, which people are more fragile for stress management in Mexico and who have those “tools” that allow them to go through high tension situations. and get out of them, even being able to help others.
“We know that around 70 percent of Mexicans can handle stress well and 30 percent cannot, but that needs to be studied, measured, and our measurement tools improved. This is a great challenge, especially for a country like ours, in which resources for scientific research are bargained for,” he says.
According to the National Survey of Self-Reported Well-being (ENBIARE 2021), 15.4 percent of the adult population in Mexico reported having symptoms of depression, and in women it increased to 19.5 percent. Additionally, 19.3 percent also reported signs of severe anxiety.
Meanwhile, 31.3 percent of adults expressed minimal or some degree of anxiety, according to the Survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
Domínguez Trejo emphasizes that mental health problems are still poorly understood. In the United States, for example, it is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the population with serious and disabling problems are not treated in a timely manner, and in our country, the scenario is more difficult.
“One of the benefits of this event is that it talks regarding mental health, the impact or the benefit of being able to share the evidence we have and of which we are convinced, that the data reveals to us that it is useful for the majority. of people”, assures the doctor in general experimental psychology, who is in favor of having useful, cheap, friendly tools to use them on a daily basis in the care of this type of health.
