The COVID19 crisis has compelled people to stay at home and maintain social distancing in compliance with the government orders to stop the spread of infections. This has led to widespread drastic changes in everyday life, resulting in adverse effects to our physical and mental wellbeing. During these unprecedented times, it is imperative you protect your mental health, which can help you stay healthy and adapt to our “new normal.” This will help you to support others, while maintaining your own sanity. According to Hani Zeini, it will help to develop new habits to suit the new normal and mitigate the stress that all of us must face due to the unprecedented professional and personal challenges.
To maintain wellness, take care of your basic needs by prioritizing your own form of self-care. You should also minimize the factors that can affect your mental health.
Stay clean and take care of your body, says Hani Zeini
If you are among the millions of individuals stuck at home, it is important that you maintain proper hygiene and clean your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with warm waterto reduce the chances of contracting the virus. You should take extra care to stay hydrated, eat a balanced diet and get good rest to boost your immune system.
Engage in some physical activity
To prevent feelings distress and loneliness, you should engage in some sort of physical activitydaily.If you are creative, you can find exercises to indoors without aids and resources. You can consider online resources and videos to help you through some exercises. You can also walk around your neighborhood if you take care to practice proper social distancing guidelines.
Avoid coping strategies that can be damaging
It is easy to rely on instant-gratification vices like alcohol, smoking, or recreational drugs, hoping to get some temporary relief from stress. However, these substances do more harm than good, and can affect your physical and mental health in the long run. You should, instead, find healthy strategies like journaling, calling loved ones, and regular exercise.
Filter information to find the accurate ones
Modern technology allows for the world to experience an almost constant flow of information. It can be hard to sort through what is real and what is fake news. Thus, you should always stick to official web sites that come from government bureaus and/or or reputable nonbiased sites like The BBC or Reuters News. It is always a good idea to cross reference something you come across online with a valid source. Additionally, if your days are consumed with the sensationalizing of news, you run the risk of overwhelming yourself. You should consume the news in small amounts, just enough for you to know what is going on and to make informed decisions about your day.