About Emotional Well-Being

Key points

  • Positive emotional well-being is when people manage emotions well and have a sense of meaning, purpose, and supportive relationships.
  • Positive emotional well-being can lower your risk of disease, sickness, and injury.
  • There are ways you can improve your overall emotional well-being.
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Why it's important

  • Positive emotional well-being helps people manage their thoughts and feelings.
  • People with positive emotional well-being have a sense of meaning and purpose.
  • Without positive emotional well-being people may have difficulty connecting socially.

Adapting to challenges

People who experience positive emotional well-being have the skills to adapt to and deal with life challenges.

Skills that can create positive emotional well-being include:

  • Identifying, processing, and expressing emotions in healthy ways.
  • Knowing how to deal with uncertainty, stress, and change.
  • Being able to work through disagreements.
  • Looking for solutions to problems in useful ways.
  • Asking others for help and support.
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Emotional well-being affects our daily lives.

Health benefits

Improving emotional well-being can benefit your mental and physical health. It can also enhance your social connections to other people and your community.

Benefits of positive emotional well-being

  • Lower risk of disease, sickness, and injury.
  • Faster recovery after being sick or getting injured.
  • Improved mental health.
  • Being able to bounce back from negative experiences (resilience).
  • Stronger relationships and higher self-esteem.
  • Having a sense of contentment, meaning, and purpose in life.
  • Better productivity and performance at work.

A buffer against stress

People with positive emotional well-being can still feel sad or stressed during tough times. But they can manage these challenges better.

Improving emotional well-being

How to boost your emotional well-being

You can improve your emotional well-being by learning how to:

  • Identify your emotions.
  • Manage negative feelings.
  • Deal with stress.
  • Communicate better.
  • Work through problems.
  • Reach out to others for social support.
  • Practice mindfulness.

Other steps to take

It is also important to take care of physical health to improve your emotional well-being. Things you can do include:

Resources

Find tips for managing your emotions at How Right Now and for improving your emotional health at Emotional Wellness Toolkit.

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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion