Mental Health Awareness Month – It’s time to check in on yourself and your friends!   Let’s all get some self-care and become mentally aware It cannot be overstated: mental health matters. Currently, 1 in 5 U.S. adults experiences mental illness each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health. What’s really unsettling is that mental health issues frequently go unidentified and untreated. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s take stock of our mental health and prioritize one of the best methods for beginning one’s mental health journey—self-care. The Mind-Body Connection: Why Self-Care Matters It can be easy to think of the mind as separate from all other components of the self. However, mental health is tied to our physical, psychological, spiritual, social, and emotional well-being. Because of this, mental health can affect nearly every aspect of life from how we engage with stressors and make decisions to how we interact with others. Also, mental health can influence how our bodies cope with illnesses. In fact, poor mental health can increase the risk of chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and stokes. Self-care, on the other hand, can mitigate such health issues. It can also