Coping with an accidental injury can be extremely stressful. For example, according to a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study, 39.2% of people who survive motor vehicle accidents go on to develop post traumatic stress disorder. In the construction industry alone, there are tens of thousands of people who get hurt on the job and struggle to get back in their field afterwards.
These numbers may be skewed by a large amount of people who never get the help they need. Either way, they reveal a disturbing truth: many people struggle with accidental injuries of all kinds. Boosting mental health during recovery can not only speed up the recovery process, but can put you in a good position for years to come.
Tips to Deal With an Accidental Injury:
Exercise
You may have heard that exercising can help improve your mental health. This isn’t folklore; there’s some science behind this. Mental health goes hand in hand with exercise, and can be a major stress reliever. No matter what your age or physical abilities are, there’s exercise plans that work for you. Exercising helps produce endorphins in the body, the neurotransmitter that stimulates your body’s opiate receptors. When you’re consistent with exercise, you’ll effectively boost the production and create a barrier against the negative stressors that create toxins in the body.
Talk to a Lawyer
One factor that may be contributing to your stress and negatively impacting your mental wellness is not having the proper representation. As a result, you may feel as though you’ve been cheated by your insurance company, or the company or individual responsible for the injury. This is especially true if you haven’t received compensation for your injury and have had a hard time rebuilding your life after the accident. These feelings can stay harbored for many years if you don’t work with a legal team. According to the Barnes Firm, a team of construction accident lawyers in Los Angeles, you should reach out to legal teams that specialize in dealing with cases related to your type of injury.
Meditation
Meditation is one of the most effective ways to boost your mental wellness. Meditation makes it possible to broaden your conscious awareness and help you and encourage inner peace by learning how to control your breathing. With regular practice, you can train your mind to react better to your daily stressors. Many people don’t realize that there’s a strong connection between your physical and mental well-being. In fact, there’s a reason why people with chronic stress tend to have lower back pain.
But the benefits of meditation are clear, no matter what you’re going through in your life. And once you’ve gotten a handle on it, it provides you with lifelong self-therapy techniques. With long-term use, it can enhance your self-awareness, reduce stress, and promote your emotional health.
However, many people never reap the benefits because they don’t believe they’ll be successful with the practice. But the fact is, most likely won’t achieve any sort of nirvana in a single day. Meditation takes practice. Just as antidepressants take weeks before you feel any sort of difference, regular meditation practice is the key to reaping the myriad of benefits.
Keep a Journal
Maintaining a regular journal is a great way to self-analyze and learn to cope with the stress and anxiety that comes after an accidental injury. Some studies have even suggested that if you write on a consistent and routine basis, you may be able to strengthen immune cells in your body called T-lymphocytes. These cells exist in the bone marrow and help protect the body from cancers and infection. However, it doesn’t just help you physiologically; it’s also a very effective stress management tool. As you write, you can start to learn how to form coherent thoughts and process the way that you’re feeling.
When you’re able to efficiently release some pent up emotions, you allow yourself to decipher the way you feel in a productive manner. Furthermore, you may be able to notice patterns in your behavior that you haven’t noticed before.
For instance, perhaps you’re compounding the stress you’ve accrued since your accident by engaging in negative habits, like drinking too often. With the high-level overview that a journal provides, you can fix some of those patterns of behavior that hold you back from progressing in the right direction.