by Tanner McCormick
While we’re all focusing on ways to stay healthy during the Covid-19 quarantine, it’s important not to ignore our mental health.
During uncertain and frightening times it’s common to be stressed. This can manifest in a variety of ways: maybe you find yourself constantly worrying about your physical health and fretting over every cough, or maybe you just can’t seem to sleep or concentrate on getting your online classwork done. These are completely normal reactions to stress and uncertain events, and it’s important to learn how to manage this stress to stay healthy, not only mentally but physically.
- Avoid reading or watching news stories all of the time. Constantly reading the news for the latest updates on how Covid-19 is impacting your community or always looking at the global infection count will only serve to stress you out more. It’s important for you to take breaks and avoid sending yourself into a panic over things you cannot control. Try to set times to look over the news so that way you aren’t completely out of the loop, but you aren’t constantly worrying over the state of the world.
- Stay active. Numerous studies have shown that staying active can help lessen depression and stress (Here’s one of many journals about the topic.) While you’re stuck at home make sure to take time to focus on doing something; whether that be stretching, meditating, or taking a walk, make sure you take time to stay active and healthy.
- Keep your sleep schedule intact. While it may be tempting to stay up late and sleep in, this could cause you to feel more uncertain and less motivated than usual. Keeping your life in order and not upsetting your bodies natural circadian rhythm can help make stress much more manageable. For example, if you typically went to bed by 11 P.M. and woke up at 7 A.M. keeping this habit will keep some semblance of normalcy. Sticking to a schedule gives your brain more structure, making it easier to cope with stress.(Here’s an article by Psychology Today talking about the importance of schedules in normal life.)
- Don’t spend all your time working. While it may feel like because you’re stuck at home you need to spend all your time doing something productive, sometimes it’s best to take a break. Taking time to relax and unwind by engaging in a hobby will make it easier to cope with the uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
- Don’t forget to talk to people, especially if you live by yourself. While we’re self isolating it can be easy to go days or even weeks without talking to people, but this can cause you to feel even more uncertain going forward in this epidemic. Make sure to take every opportunity to text or call your friends and loved ones and talk about whatever you need to, whether that be how this epidemic is making you feel or just about the amount of work your boss expects you to do from home.
All information in this article was taken directly from the Center for Disease Control’s website at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html
The information in this article is not meant to replace the opinion of licensed counselor, if you or a loved one is in immediate need of psychological assistance please call 1-800-273-TALK