The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to everyone around the globe. From physical to mental up to emotional aspects of an individual is greatly affected by this pandemic.
Maintaining good health is very important. Here are some strategies for keeping yourself physically and mentally healthy in quarantine so you can keep fighting the good fight.
1. Don’t overindulge in unhealthy eating habits. Wine, candy, chips, soda. All are fine in moderation. When humans are under stress (including isolation) we go into self-soothing strategies. Self-soothing strategies are ways that we calm ourselves down when under stress. Many of us self-soothe with alcohol or junk food. Though alcohol or junk food may help your mental health in the short term, it will affect your physical health, and therefore your body’s resistance to infection. Limit drinking and consumption of sugary or processed foods.
2. Schedule time for healthy self-soothing. When working from home it can be hard to see the lines between work and downtime (in both directions). Make sure work time is used for work and downtime is kept sacred. Downtime is essential for self-soothing. Epsom salt baths, listening to music, doing yoga, exercise, and meditation are all healthy self-soothing options.
3. Relieving stress in healthy ways is key to ensuring your stress does not exceed your body’s ability to recover from it. This will allow stressors on your body to remain in the hormetic zone (the amount of stress that’s healthy rather than harmful).
4. Manage your environment. Designate an area to work if feasible. Play certain music only when you’re working, or wear “work clothes” while you’re doing work and change clothes when you are transitioning to downtime. You can change your environment with lighting, music, and clothing. Change your state by changing your surroundings. Be deliberate about creating a “working environment” and a “downtime environment.”
5. Maintain your sleep routine. Whether a healthcare worker or a 9-5er who suddenly has very little structure, sleep is going to be essential in keeping you healthy in the face of COVID-19. Make sure you’re practicing good sleep hygiene, keeping your sleeping environment cool, dark, and quiet. Limit blue spectrum light before bed with special glasses or programs like Nightshift on Macs, iPhones, and iPads, and f.lux on PCs and smartphones.
6. Get sun. Vitamin D is important in the immune response. Getting sun will increase your vitamin D reserves. Opening shades and windows, sitting in sunny areas of your apartment, and even getting outside when social distancing is possible (maintaining 6+ feet between yourself and others).
7. Get exercise. Even if it’s raining or too crowded outside to practice social distancing, an exercise in your apartment. Wall push-ups, squats, guard circles, Supermans, and etc. are effective exercises with limited space. Switch between upper and lower body exercises to get your heart pumping and add a cardio component.
8. Enjoy your in-home “hydrotherapy machine.” Use your shower or bath for the therapeutic and toxin-flushing impact it can have. Hot showers/baths ease muscle tension relieving stress.
9. Reach out for emotional support. Schedule virtual happy hours, brunches, and hangouts with friends.
Stay healthy out there. Not only for yourself, but for your neighbors and loved ones.
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