As we are spending more time at home than ever before, it’s important to look after our mental health in order to avoid struggles and difficulties.
The Mental Health Foundation has listed a series of tips and suggestions to make sure that your mental health is well looked after during the Coronavirus pandemic.
1. Plan your day
Try to establish a daily routine, as these are essential for our self-confidence and sense of purpose. Ensure you dedicate enough time each day to relax, connect with loved ones, reflect and exercise.
2. Move more every day
Being physically active can reduce stress and increase energy levels, as well as allowing for a better sleeping routine. Try and add some physical activity to your daily routine that you can perform at home, so you keep your body moving even whilst in lockdown.
3. Try a relaxation technique
Mindfulness – a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations – can help improve your mental health and lighten negative feelings.
Breathing exercises and meditation techniques can also help with muscle relaxation.
4. Connect with others
Spending more time at home could make you feel isolated and alone. Remember there are many ways to keep in touch with loved ones, such as social media, over the phone or by post. Communicating and showing support to one another could help you feel connected and more serene.
5. Take time to reflect and practice self-compassion
It’s really important to spend time valuing and recognising your successes and the things you are grateful for. Keeping track of these in a diary or journal could be a way of focusing on the positive things happening during the pandemic.
6. Improve your sleep
These challenging times could prove difficult for most people, leading to issues with sleeping routines. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day could help you regulate your body clock. Wind down before bed avoiding technology: reading a book or doing cross words could be the right way to gently fall asleep with less stress and blue lights. For more information, please visit Mental Health Foundation and Public Health England