Your mental health must be more than ever one of your top priorities.
Since the beginning of the pandemic all our habits have been disrupted, we practice fewer activities, get out less, we see less our friends and family, so the impact on our morale is perfectly logical.
A group of researchers has released the first wave of the irish COVID 19 Psychological Survey which is a multi-wave study running throughout the COVID 19 outbreak to better understand how people are responding, understanding and coping with the pandemic.
The results state that mental health problems are common : 41% of people felt lonely, 23% reported clinically meaningful levels of depression, 20% reported clinically meaningful levels of anxiety, and 18% reported clinically meaningful levels of post-traumatic stress.
But we can still manage this impact with a few techniques to adopt in our routine that will have a lasting positive effect on our mental health.
1: Maintaining social ties
It is very important to maintain social links, because even if this is not recommended in face-to-face, you can still call your loved ones frequently via social networks, facetime, zoom etc..
2: Take time to ask you questions about yourself and your physical and mental condition, you have to practice introspection.
Asking these questions is very simple and very important, so ask yourself:
-How do I feel in general?
-How much would I rate my well-being on a scale of 1 to 10?
-When do I feel better? When do I feel worse?
-Am I more tired than usual? More stressed? Calmer?
- And finally, what can I do to improve my well-being?
One way to manage anxiety episodes is to identify the key physical thoughts or sensations that tend to contribute to your anxiety cycle, and to your overtaking feelings. Our thoughts: "Why can’t I concentrate?" Our feelings: frustration, worry, sadness. Our physical sensations: tension, stomach ache, tremors. It is therefore important to put words on what we feel in order to better understand it.
For example, you can take a piece of paper or a calendar and write down your emotions regularly, just writing them down will make you feel better and will help to identify how you really feel.
3: Maintain your routine
It is important to maintain your routine as you did before the pandemic started so that you don’t disturb your body and mind.
In particular:
-Get up and go to bed at regular times
-Eat at regular times and avoid snacking during meals
-Eating healthy food
-Do sport: even if outdoor activities are not recommended or prohibited in some places you can still do sport from home there is an infinite number of videos on Youtube that can help you, so set yourself a training schedule, Find the ones that suit you best and go for it!
4: Adopt new hobbies
Why not take time to take care of yourself and your mental health by taking advantage of the situation?
Why not take the opportunity to resume painting? To read one of the books you bought that hangs out in one of the corners of your room? To take a relaxing bath?
You understand what I mean, you can use this period of isolation to discover new activities or to take back some that you had put aside. This will help you to occupy your mind and take care of yourself and your mind.
This period can also be a good opportunity to learn new things, whether through books, videos or podcasts, there are thousands of them you will be forced to find your happiness.
You can find on this article a selection of well-being podcasts to listen during lockdown :
The best wellbeing podcasts to listen to in lockdown (harpersbazaar.com)
5: Practice meditation
Mandatory lockdown due to the current pandemic seems to be the right time to engage in new activities, or change your habits. Thus, if you were already interested in meditation or if you had already started to practice it, taking advantage of this time to learn to meditate well can be a good idea. It will also help us to deal with the negative thoughts and stress of the current situation.
To succeed in your meditation, find a quiet place where you will be alone, turn off your phone or put it in airplane mode to avoid being disturbed, and adopt a straight or elongated posture.
You mind will necessarily wander this is normal but as soon as you feel that your concentration escapes you calmly bring it back to you.
You can meditate with music, Youtube for example offers many, you can meditate without anything just your body and you or even help yourself with an application of meditation that will guide you in the process, I strongly recommend these applications especially for those who start in practice because they serve as a real guide and allows us to escape more easily.
You can find in this article many apps available to help you to meditate :
11 Best Meditation Apps 2021 - Free Meditation Apps for Anxiety (goodhousekeeping.com)
6 : If you feel the need, talk to someone
If you feel that you can’t handle your stress or your personnal situation, do not hesitate to ask for help, you will talk to someone that will never judge you, to whom you can say anything you want and this person will help you, he/she has done studies about human psychology in order to help the other, so don’t hesitate !
Find number to call if needed in these articles :
Support - Mental Health Ireland
You will have understood, take advantage of the pandemic to take time for you, to discover yourself and to learn. The situation is not eternal but you cannot postpone your well-being to the end of this period, your life does not stop however, you will come out of this ordeal stronger than ever.
