You’re not healthy without mental wellness – here’s why

This article, powered by Momentum Multiply, highlights the importance of investing in your health long before illness strikes. Damian McHugh, chief marketing officer at Momentum Health, and Dr Kirti Ranchod, neurologist and brain health expert, explore how small, consistent health choices can lead to long-term wellness and financial benefits.

We live in a time where productivity often takes the lead, and health is only truly appreciated when it’s slipping away. But imagine if we shifted our focus. What if, just like we prioritise our careers, our families, and our retirement, we invested in our health long before it becomes a concern?

This article brings together two inspiring voices advocating for holistic well-being – Damian McHugh, chief marketing officer at Momentum Health, and Dr Kirti Ranchod, a neurologist and founder of Memorability, a brain health initiative. Together, they dive into the delicate balance of mind, body, and lifestyle, urging us to reconsider what it truly means to be healthy.

They ask us to reflect on the costs we unknowingly pay when we ignore the foundations of our well-being and how investing in ourselves today could shape a healthier, more fulfilling tomorrow.

Well-being beyond the gym

When asked how he defines complete health, McHugh doesn’t skip a beat. He says often, particularly in the medical scheme and health insurance industry, talks about health focusses on the physical.

“We forget that our body is a lot more than just the physical body. The total aspect of our body includes our spiritual well-being includes our mental well-being. Mental well-being is probably the core of it.

“You can be physically well and not mentally well. You’ll then find physical illness start to manifest in your body.”

For neurologist Dr Ranchod, health is “harmony” – not just of body systems, but of our emotional and social worlds too.

“Harmony in terms of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Harmony in our internal physiological processes and our external ones – in our environment, our relationships, our spiritual processes.”

Brain health vs mental health: What’s the difference?

There’s a common misconception that brain health and mental health are the same. However, Ranchod explains the nuance.

“Brain health would be an overall term. It looks at illnesses that can affect the brain, and that can include mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar. But it also includes other illnesses, such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, migraine and more,” she says.

Ranchod adds that it also includes prevention, support, and ways to improve brain performance through training and stimulation.

“Mental health looks specifically at emotional well-being, and mental illness refers to diagnosed conditions. They often get used interchangeably, but they are not the same.”

The cost of not caring

According to McHugh, the statistics paint a stark picture, with mental illness on the rise in South Africa and depression increasing at an alarming rate.

“In our medical schemes, the number of people presenting with mental illness is increasing rapidly, and the utilisation of mental health-related benefits is up almost 20% – 18.3% annually,” he says.

Even more concerning is the rate of suicide attempts. “There are some crazy numbers around the number of people attempting suicide. For all of those we know about, there’s probably another 40 or 50 every single month that are also attempting it.”

McHugh emphasises that simply being free of disease doesn’t equate to being healthy. He explains that mental well-being needs active attention, just like physical well-being. If you’re not actively nurturing your mental health, it doesn’t mean you’re mentally well – it just means you’re not mentally ill.

How lifestyle shapes your brain

Ranchod offers a powerful example of how lifestyle choices impact brain function at a biological level.

“Exercise keeps the brain healthy in more ways than we understand. When we exercise, a specific gene is switched on – it codes for a neurochemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is a brain growth factor. It acts on the memory and mood parts of the brain.”

Both experts agree that one shouldn’t wait for illness to strike before taking our health seriously.

“I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to wait to be ill to start doing something,” says Ranchod.

“If we can change that, if we can show the value of health promotion, we save ourselves a lot of time and lost opportunities.”

She recommends three simple, impactful changes to reduce stress:

Prioritise good sleep.
Spend time with people you love.
Eat brain-friendly foods – more fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy grains and fats, and fewer processed, sugary foods.

Investing in your future health – today

McHugh draws a powerful comparison between financial and physical health. He explains that just as starting to invest early for retirement increases your chances of a better future, the same applies to healthcare.

The earlier you invest in your health, the better your long-term well-being will be.

Momentum Multiply is an incentivised wellness programme designed to complement your medical scheme benefits. It helps members understand their health status through easy-to-use technology.

“By simply scanning their face with their phone, members can get insights into their blood pressure, heart rate, and overall health without needing to visit a doctor or biokineticist. This quick health check offers a clear starting point for members to take action on their well-being, especially for conditions like high blood pressure, which can often be silent until it’s too late,” he explains.

“The programme incentivises healthy behaviours by rewarding members for making positive changes. These rewards can include cash, weekly wins for achieving health goals, and discounts at partnered retailers,” says McHugh.

The key benefit of the programme is the “health returns”, where members can earn real money, which is deposited into their medical scheme savings accounts. This earned money can be used to pay healthcare premiums, turning their health efforts into a financial asset.

By participating, members not only improve their health but also lower their medical claims and increase engagement with their wellness journey, resulting in healthier outcomes over time.

McHugh says, “It’s about small nudges and creating positive behaviours. Start from where you are today, and those small improvements every single day will have a big impact later in life and probably a lot sooner.”

In the end, health is not something you put on hold, cautions McHugh. It’s not something you scramble to fix when it’s already slipping away. It’s a daily, conscious investment in you. And it’s worth every step.

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