Lifestyle

Top 5 Mental Health Benefits of Seafood

Your mental health should never be underestimated. With nearly one in five adults suffering from a mental illness, mental health has become a serious issue across the country. A healthy mind is essential for having healthy relationships, achieving goals, and making good life decisions, but how can you ensure that your mental health is what it should be?

There are many ways to look after your mental health, and finding new ways to help manage and improve your emotional and mental well-being has become a major focus. Besides seeking online therapy from professionals like those at https://www.privatetherapy.com/about/online-therapy/ or Clarity Clinic, maintaining a healthy nutrient and vitamin-rich diet is also quite important. Diet has always been a key way of keeping your physical and mental health in check but did you know that seafood, in particular, offers a range of mental health benefits? Here we explain the top five mental health benefits of eating seafood.

1. Improves Happiness

We all want to be happy, but sometimes that joyous feeling of happiness comes from more than the external factors. We all need a range of vitamins and balanced chemical hormones to function as we should psychologically. This is where B vitamins come in. Health professionals generally acknowledge that B vitamins: B1, B3, B6 and B12 are all important for normal psychological function and being positive and happy.

You may wonder what this has to do with seafood? Well, it turns out that seafood provides you with a wide range of B vitamins, meaning seafood is essential for feeling happy and keeping your mental health in check.

2. Energy Boost

Feeling tired can be a real problem. If you struggle to get out of bed in the morning or you are constantly feeling fatigued, it can stop you from doing the things you love and leave you feeling down. When this happens, it can be tempting to drink copious amounts of coffee or buy an energy drink to give you that needed shot of energy to get you through the day. But what if you could get energy naturally from your diet?

Look no further than seafood. Seafood is packed full of energy-boosting nutrients that can stop you from feeling fatigued. You will find plenty of B vitamins and iron in seafood such as clams, oysters, and crab meat, making these kinds of seafood not only delicious but highly beneficial.

3. Look and Feel Better

Going out into the world knowing that we are looking our best gives us a positive mental boost and can lift our mood. We tend to feel our best when eating well and generally looking after our bodies. Seafood is one of those major food groups that are hugely beneficial for anyone looking to eat healthily and look their best.

Not only is seafood great for helping you manage your diet, but it is also packed with nutrients such as selenium. Found in fish like cod and halibut, this wonderful nutrient is beneficial in various ways, including keeping your hair and nails healthy.

4. Brain Power

When you use a lot of brain power throughout your day with work or school, it is essential to fuel it with regular healthy meals. Your brain needs certain nutrients to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. The best nutrients you can find for boosting brain power include zinc, iodine, and iron –  all of which you will find in certain seafood.

Shellfish like clams, crabs, cockles, mussels, and oysters contain large quantities of zinc and iron, while iodine is found in certain shellfish and other oily fish and whitefish. So, make sure you visit the seafood aisle next time you need to be functioning at your best.

5. Fight Depression

Unfortunately, depression is a common and persistent problem throughout society. In fact, 9.5% of adults in the US will suffer from a depressive illness, but this doesn’t mean that there aren’t things we can do to help fight it.

Although many people turn to medication, there is evidence to suggest that eating more seafood could help. Certain studies show that people who consume more seafood are less likely to suffer from depression. Seafood contains a high amount of omega-3 fatty acids, which helps fight depression and increases the effectiveness of antidepressant medications.

Eating sustainably sourced seafood is a great way to look after yourself and the world we live in. By making more intelligent decisions and paying attention to what you put in your body, you can make a positive difference to your health and the lives and well-being of others. Seafood not only tastes great but also offers you a wide range of mental and physical health benefits which are too good to ignore.