Interview with Alleyah Miner

The person I interviewed on the topic of oneness of the mind & body is Alleyah Michelle Miner, a sophomore at Lafayette College. When asked the question of how she would compare mental health and physical health, Alleyah responded that a balance of both with the addition of social health is necessary for holistic health (a philosophy of healthcare that encompasses the body, mind, and spirit connection of one’s being.) http://holistichealthlibrary.com/what-is-holistic-health/ However, mental health is slightly more important as one can’t take care of their physical health to the greatest extent if mental health is suffering.

 

Before going into the details of each category, I asked Alleyah how she views her own health (on a 10 point scale.) Alleyah expressed that her mental health is a 9.5, physical health as a 7, and social health as an 8.5. Because I understand that some people have varying definitions of mental health, I asked Alleyah to elaborate on what she understands it to be. Alleyah identified mental health as resilience, the ability to handle stress, and the ability to have a positive outlook on negative situations.  Since Alleyah rated her mental health as a 9.5, it was implied that she’s effectively able to manage her stress levels in order to maintain a positive & healthy lifestyle. When asked why she rated her social health slightly below her mental health, Alleyah responded that her communication skills weren’t as solid as she would like them to be, and that she doesn’t handle confrontation well which in turn affects her social health.

 

 

Alleyah noted that she isn’t by herself very often, usually having friends or siblings around her who have gotten her accustomed to being a social person, more social than she actually is. She identifies as being 70% extrovert and 30% introvert, and believes that her friends would identify her as being 100% extrovert. Alleyah stated that these differing opinions often negatively impact her mental health because there’s an expectation of her that she’ll always be smiles and rainbows when in reality she needs time to herself and time to think. Thinking about the positives is a large part of what contributes to her mental health, along with laughter. Alleyah expressed that a quote by India Arie helps her keep perspective on things: “Even the day after tomorrow will one day be yesterday.” In short, there’s no need to stress about today because life will eventually go on. 

 

 

Regarding her physical health, Alleyah noted that she isn’t as healthy as she’d like to be partly due to how she was raised. Growing up, food was used as a reward system for doing well in school and to promote positive behavior. There was a dramatic change in Alleyah’s lifestyle when her mother died while Alleyah was in the 10^th grade, and it led to her gaining 50 pounds without realizing how unhealthy she had become. Alleyah articulated that there was a solid two-month period of living in negative mental and physical health. Through talking with her sisters and expressing to each other that they each wanted to be healthier, Alleyah came to the realization that life will continue. It also helped that at her mother’s funeral, the area was filled completely and seeing how positively her mother affected everyone was encouraging to her. 

 

 

In conclusion, although Alleyah views herself overall as beautiful and in a healthy state of mind, she understands that her weight has fluctuated frequently over the past few years due to grades, family problems, losing sight of her goals, etc. She admitted that she has some things she needs to work on. Alleyah is a thinker, but when her mental health isn’t right, she can’t think right. She mentioned that her priorities get messed up, but they get realigned when she sets goals for herself. Alleyah is currently a Zumba Instructor here at Lafayette, (Thursday’s room 136 @ 4:45 in the gym,) and intends to be in the gym for the entirety of the summer. Alleyah’s official health goal was set for Spring 2015, but by the end of the interview she stated that now she’s going to begin working on it directly after Spring Break, in addition to being in the gym all summer. I asked Alleyah if she had any advice for anyone trying to better their mental or physical health, and she replied saying “if you’re trying to lose weight, instead of thinking ‘Oh I just ate something bad let me go work out’, change your perspective to ‘Oh I worked out this morning let me not ruin it.’ Working out in the morning leads to being more health conscious throughout the day and you’ll begin feeling better about yourself immediately.”