A Helping Hand: Illness and Physical Appearance
Published June 26, 2007
Can being bipolar have an effect on your body and physical appearance?
Anything our minds and brains endure is going to have an impact on our bodies and how we look. This doesn't, however, mean a person who has bipolar disorder is in any way doomed to appear a certain way.
While many say "He/she is bipolar," the reality is that someone has bipolar disorder. They are not the disorder itself. We are whoever and whatever we choose to be. Disorders, illnesses, and injuries alter the choices we have and may limit what we're able to do, but they don't stop us from having choices nor do they keep us from making choices about who we are and what we do.
A healthy diet, regular exercise, keeping up with one's medications and treatment plan (therapy, checkups, and/or rehabilitation), pursuing one's interests, and staying on top of one's responsibilities all play a role in how we look and feel.
Knowing your limits and exerting the control you have over your own life also goes a long way in maintaining overall health. A healthy diet isn't necessarily going to include food from all food groups. If you're not a big fan of fruit, make sure you get more vegetables. No one ever died from too much of their favorite vegetable. Read labels and pick things that are best for you. Your body will get the message that you’re caring for it and it will respond positively to this kind of attention.
If you're not able to get to a gym, walking or bicycling is every bit as good as anything you do on a machine - and both are better for clearing the mind because it gets you out into your environment. I encourage regular outdoor activity even in less than perfect weather.
Your body will respond to anything you do for your mind — from reading, drawing, writing, and sculpting to cooking, volunteering, scrapbooking, building models, and fixing things around the house. The more you seek out your own interests, the more people you'll meet who share those interests. A healthy social network is good for the mind, the soul, and the body.
How we look is a reflection of how we feel. Pay attention to what you do and how you treat yourself and others. The rest will take care of itself.
Diana (nee Gulick) Hartman is the Culture and Tastes Editor for Blogcritics.org. She is a freelance writer, mother of three, and a (Ret.) US Marine spouse. She is a Wichita, Kansas native, having also lived in the California desert, eastern North Carolina and Stuttgart, Germany. She currently resides in Oceanside, California. She is a contributing writer to Holiday Writes.
- A Helping Hand: Illness and Physical Appearance
- Published: June 26, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Family and Relationships, Culture: Society, Sci/Tech: Health/Fitness
- Part of a feature: A Helping Hand
- Writer: Diana Hartman
- Diana Hartman's BC Writer page
- Diana Hartman's personal site
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I have found the information supplied by David Oliver most useful. Although my partner has not sought help for his deppression and mood swings, the very fact that I recognise that there are triggers to be avoided has helped immensely in coping with everyday situations. Things have eased up a lot and the information has also helped me open the door for my partner to allow him to freely talk about his feelings and his approach to everyday life and the stresses that arise. I think that without the assistance of David and the lessons he provides, I would still be at the point of wondering if my partner can get through the next twelve months without going into the mental health system. I now feel that we have a foundation to work from and I am begining to see somthing of the wonderful person I married returning. Its still hard, but not so hard as it was.
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David,
I am a big fan of yours. That you are choosing to help others by sharing with others what you have learned about bipolar disorder is commendable.
I have benefitted so much from your comments and the articles you have sent. My single 45 yr old daughter has bipolar disorder, and the information you send is so helpful. It makes me feel less alone, and also gives me ideas of how to cope and what to do.
We are trying to get help for her....we have a guy who is trying to set up a one-on-one intervention....so that she will go to a place for evaluation and to get help with suspected addictions to (?) pot (?) and sleeping pills (?). We jut don't know. She is in denial about everything. She can't hold on to any job. she has mood swings. If she is "good" one day, I just know she will be sleeping all the next day. Right now she is in her own apt. using $ from stock we had given her as a nest-egg. If she doesn't go to the place we have lined up, we will change the locks and will tell the family and any friends to not take her in or give her any money. We are offering her a gift - if she rejects it, that is IT.
Betty Brown