As we continue to remain at home to help ‘flatten the curve’ against Covid-19, there is increasing concern about mental health – and rightly so. For many, working from home, staying indoors much of the day, teaching the children – it’s a very different life to that in March 2020; and stress and anxiety will no doubt be on the rise. We’ve taken a look at some health advice from professionals to share with you during ‘lockdown’, in the hope that it helps your mental health while we’re all staying at home. If you are feeling your mental health is deteriorating, please also seek help.
Limit the news intake
If you find the news makes you anxious, then really try and limit how much of it you see. With events like Covid-19, it’s such a huge topic across the world, it’s currently dominating the headlines everywhere you look. Try and limit your exposure to the ‘everyday’ news, and just look for those important Government annoucements about changes to the regulations.
Routine
Ever felt less productive on a weekend after that late night and long lie in? We all relax more in our own home, but to help with anxiety and mental health, the advice is to maintain your routine as much as possible. Wake up at your usual time during the week, get dressed, eat when you normally would. Ensuring you have a routine will help you control any anxious feelings you might be having.
Chat to family and friends
We’re very lucky in this day of age to have access to social media, mobile phones, video calls. It all helps when it comes to feeling isolated and alone during a lockdown – make sure you take some time to connect with family and friends. The important thing to remember as well is, if you are struggling – do talk to someone. In times of unprecidented events like coronavirus, we’d be surprised if anyone you spoke to weren’t having similar thoughts, expericing lonliness or anxiety. We’re all in this together, and we all want to make sure everyone is getting through this. Remember if you don’t have anyone you feel comfortable talking to, in Aberystwyth students can chat to Nightline from 8pm to 8am, and there’s also support from the Samaritans 24/7.
Vary Your Activities
This is a big one from Anxiety.com who recommend that doing a lot of different things can help the day pass by. This means, don’t sit in front of the tele all day every day, as this will make you feel low, so try and vary what you do in your day to day. It could be something as simple as going for a small walk, reading a book for 30 minutes a day, listening to some meditation or a podcast, baking – anything to help keep your mind active. The Anxiety.com website is full of support and ideas, and we’d highly recommend a visit.
Exercise and Fresh Air
No eye rolling please! Exercising – in any form, is a great way to make yourself feel a bit better, and if you can get outside for some fresh air at the same time, then great. There’s LOADS of exercise videos online, and don’t feel you have to be doing an hour long exercise, it could be as short as 10 minutes. The charity Mind recommend trying to get fresh air often, to alleviate that feeling of being trapped indoors.