This paper examines the functions and the importance of emotions to the health of individuals. The link between emotional health and overall wellness of individuals has already been established. We examine the importance of emotional well-being by looking at emotions as a dimension of health. Emotional health is the paramount indicator of a positive mental health and the objective of this essay is to establish how emotions are managed, their importance and the characteristics of a positive emotional balance.
In my Feelings
Introduction
Emotions can be defined as an intense mood that an individual experience, which is derived from a situation or their environment. Emotions play a significant role in the well-being of a person. Learning how to control and manage one's emotional state contributes positively to the health of the individual. Emotions are considered a strong pillar of the six dimensions of wellness. Wellness is the self-directed process of achieving an individual's potential. The objective of this essay is to have an in-depth look at emotions as a dimension of wellness.
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Importance of emotions to health and wellness
Humans have evolved to develop feelings that are a guide to our social collaborations and survival. Emotions play an essential role in determining how we behave and relate to each other. Emotional wellness occurs when individuals can understand and respect their feelings, values, and attitudes. When this happens, they are also able to empathize and recognize the emotions of others. Emotional wellness also means that individuals can adjust and manage their feelings, which results in feeling positive and enthusiastic about life.
Emotions spur our behaviors to take action. This is very important because our reaction to emotions means that we take action to change our state. If a student is feeling anxious about an exam and how it can impact their grades, they take action and study for the exam. This means that ultimately, the emotion spurred a decision and a response. We also react to our feelings or perform specific actions to avoid negative emotions. An example of this is socializing to prevent feeling alone.
Emotions are fundamental when it comes to decision making. They influence the decisions we make even when we base our decisions on logic; they usually come from our experiences, which influence our emotions. They also allow us to understand others and empathize with them. Feelings are also a window for others to understand us and our perspectives (Loefller, 2018) .
Types of Emotions
Robert Plutchik grouped all emotions from eight basic emotions. These eight basic emotions are joy, trust, fear, surprise, anticipation, anger, and disgust. Plutchik said that emotions are complex and are varied from these basic emotions. Emotions have evolved to help us survive our environment. Emotions can be grouped into positive and negative emotions, all who have developed to help us adapt and survive in our environment (Cherry, 2019) .
Positive emotions are emotional experiences where there is no negativity, discomfort, or pain; Fredrickson argued that for an individual to be emotionally healthy, we must have a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative emotional experience. The most common positive emotions are joy, gratitude, inspiration, amusement, awe, love, hope, pride, serenity, and interest (Fredrickson, 2001) .
Positive emotions increase our performance and our cognitive outputs by lifting our spirits without distracting us. They trigger our brain's reward pathways, which increase our dopamine and reduce cortisol, which is the dominant stress hormone. Positive emotions broaden and improve our brains' ability to focus.
Negative emotions have been a subject of numerous researches. These are the emotions that we do not find pleasure when experiencing them. They are the unpleasant and unhappy emotions that arise when we experience a negative situation or people. Negative emotions include fear, disgust, anger, sadness, melancholy, loneliness, rage, and annoyance. Negative emotions are important because they provide a counterpoint to positive emotions; without them, positive emotions wouldn't feel so good. Negative emotions are also an evolution effect, and fear helps us to plan and protects us against danger, anger helps us to take action against situations and people who have affected us.
Negative emotions help us to process conflict and work out emotional problems and situations. They facilitate the cognitive processing of disputes and help us comprehend conflicting emotions and information. This means that they help us understand why we receive different emotional signals. Negative emotions also help us reduce empathy which protects us from being taken advantage of and remain focused on our goals.
Managing Emotions
Emotional intelligence is one term used to explain an individual who can control, manage, and understand their emotions. A healthy individual knows how to manage emotions without suppressing them. The inability to control and manage an emotion causes a disorder. Depression causes people to attribute negative emotions to themselves and negative emotions to other people (Stewart-Brown, 2008) . One should manage to control their emotions and not let their emotions control them.
To control emotions, one should be able to label them first. Knowing what you are feeling and why you are feeling that is a vital gateway to learning how to manage the emotion. Emotions affect the way people frame events. When anxious, you are more likely to see events negatively. For when an anxious student is called into the dean's office, they automatically assume it's something terrible. Learning how to reframe this perception is essential in emotional management. Boosting negative emotions with affirmative action helps one to navigate negative emotions, and going for a walk when angry might help us put our feelings in perspective. Taking a few minutes before reacting to a negative situation is also a way to manage emotions.
References
Cherry, K. (2019, May 12). The Purpose of Emotions. Very Well Mind .
Fredrickson, B. (2001). The roles of positive emotions in positive psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist .
Loefller, L. (2018). The regulation of positive and negative emotions through instructed causal attributions in lifetime depression - A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. PubMed .
Stewart-Brown, S. (2008). Emotional wellbeing and its relation to health. PMC .
