Coronavirus has affected all aspects of our lives and the constant news about the pandemic can feel never-ending. Not only is it impacting our physical health but it is taking its toll on some people's mental health too.

How COVID-19 can affect our mental health?

Due to this pandemic many people are facing stressful life challenges. Most people who worked in pubs, restaurants, retail or who are self-employed have lost their jobs or had their incomes cut. Social distancing or self isolating means not being able to see your loved ones or hanging out with friends. Being in lockdown means staying indoors for most of our time during the day, all of which impacts our mental health whether we know it or not!

Furthermore, the constant updates from the media in regards to the pandemic adds more stress and anxiety to our health. In this post I will go through ways you can look after yourself and your mental health.

Practise self-care

It's easy to slip into the habit of sleeping late, binging on Netflix, spending all day on your sofa and eating junk food, but looking after yourself is essential for your mental health. You wouldn't do these things if you wasn't in lockdown so why be doing them now?

A simple self-care routine would be, meditating, exercising, eating healthy, drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. It is important to have a routine and stick to it during this time.

Exercise

We all have our ups and downs. Some days you will find it hard to move around and do things, you will feel less motivated and it is completely normal. 

However, finding time out to exercise or to go out for a 30 minute walk will do great for your mental health. It will significantly boost your mood!

These days it is so easy to find home workouts to do as everything is in the palm of your hand. A simple search on Google or a search on YouTube will find you thousands of results of working out at home.

Contact friends or family

Imagine if this happened 40/50 years ago when you had no access to technology. When you couldn't pick up the phone and call your loved ones or send them a quick text. It would be a lot worse right?

Nowadays, it is so easy to get in touch with your friends or loved ones and checking in regularly with them will do good for your mental health and theirs. Although it is not the same as seeing them face to face, having regular video calls is better than nothing and we should learn to be grateful for this and appreciate these small things that we take for granted!

Staying busy

Something I have been doing since January this year is journaling. It has done me wonders putting pen to paper, writing down my thoughts, expressing my feelings, offloading any problems or worries I may have in my mind. Overall, if you feel low, keeping a journal can be a helpful way to unload emotions.  

Of course, this would not be for everyone but my point here is to keep yourself and your mind busy. A few things you could do is learn a new skill, do some crafts, painting, drawing, colouring, reading, cooking and the list goes on.

There are so many things you can do, yet I always hear from people saying "I have nothing to do" and if you are one of those people who says this, well the truth is you have a lot of things to do but you're just lazy!

Be kind to yourself

No one knows or understands your body other than yourself. So if you don't feel up to doing anything, that's fine too. It's important to be kind to yourself and recognise when you need a break.

However, if you can attempt to do at least one thing everyday it will have steady improvements on your mental health. Check out my detailed post on how to start loving yourself

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