7 Key Points To Maintain Mental Health During The Coronavirus Lockdown.

It is a good time to re-evaluate look at key points to maintain our mental health and sanity during the coronavirus lockdown as many of us are being told to isolate in our apartments and houses.

We must limit trips outside and social contact, things are feeling serious at this point as the second wave has occurred.

Aside from the general worry people may have about their anxiety and  physical health as they digest the news from around the world and here at home, this is taking a toll on our mental health.

Lots of organizations have put forth guidelines to help combat the stress of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.

One of the main weapons we have to fight the virus is social distancing—a deeply unnatural practice for humans, but an essential one.

Here are some of the mental health key points to consider making sure to keep doing during the lockdown period.

1. Key Point maintaining mental health – Pace yourself

Recognising that you need to go at the right pace for you is important.

Don’t let others bully or pressure you into doing things you don’t want to but try not to let that be an excuse not to push yourself.

Especially when it comes to reconnecting with friends safely, outside your home, when rules allow, and the time is also right for you.

It can be hard to let others move forward without you, maybe your child wants to see friends or needs to return to work, but you can’t.

 It’s important to discuss concerns with those close to you, but also to allow other people space to move at their own pace.   

2. Key Point maintaining mental health – Have a Routine

When schools are closed and many people are working from home or told to stay at home, it might feel like all bets are off.

It’s actually much better for everyone’s mental health to try to keep a routine going, as much as possible.

Keeping a routine reduces “decision fatigue,” the overwhelm and exhaustion that can come from too many options.

So in the morning, rather than wondering whether to start work or help the kids with their online learning.

Better to know what you’re going to do—make a schedule that everyone can get on board with.

Try to stick with it as much as is possible don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t always work.

This will free up some mental bandwidth during this time of uncertainty, which is already straining everyone’s cognitive capacities.

“Studies in resiliency during traumatic events encourage keeping a routine to your day,” says Deborah Serani, PsyD, professor of psychology at Adelphi University and author of “Sometimes When I’m Sad.” 

“This means eating meals at regular times, sleeping, waking and exercising at set times, and maintaining social (socially distant) contact.

Unstructured time can create boredom, spikes in anxiety or depression, which can lead to unhealthy patterns of coping.”

Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2020/03/22/9-mental-health-practices-to-maintain-or-begin-during-coronavirus-lockdown/#d3bef5242645

3 Key Point maintaining mental health – De-Clutter Your Home

Working on your home if you have time can be a good way to feel productive and in control.

Take the opportunity of the extra time by decluttering, cleaning or organizing your home,” says Serani, referencing the book Trauma-Informed Care.

“Studies say the predictability of cleaning not only offers a sense of control in the face of uncertainty, but also offers your mind body and soul a respite from traumatic stress.”

Using the extra time, if you have it, to reorganize and toss or donate items you no longer use is a very good idea.

4. Key Point maintaining mental health – Let Yourself Off the Hook

The most important thing to keep in mind don’t beat yourself up when things are not going perfectly in your household.

On top of everything else, being upset with yourself is totally counterproductive.

If the kids watch too much Netflix or play too many hours of video games, it’s not the end of the world.

Things are going to be hairy for a while, and if you can’t stick to your schedule or can’t fit in your at-home workout every day, it’s really not such a big deal in the long run.

It’s much more valuable to everyone to cut yourself some slack.

Use the time to reflect on the important things and try to keep a sense of “we’re all in this together” at the forefront.

Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2020/03/22/9-mental-health-practices-to-maintain-or-begin-during-coronavirus-lockdown/#d3bef5242645

5. Key Point maintaining mental health – Meditate

Meditation has lots of research behind it, as most people by now know it’s been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, and even increase the volume of certain areas of the brain.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinnat UMass, has been shown, through numerous studies, to be effective.

But if meditation isn’t for you, just breathing slowly might be.

Controlled breathing has been used for millennia to calm the mind and a study a few years ago showed the mechanism that might explain it.

The researchers found that a tiny subset of neurons in the area of the brain known to control various types of breathing also seemed to house a group of neurons that controlled the animals’ level of arousal.

Knocking this area out made mice uncharacteristically calm and the team believe that slow breathing might also tap into this area of the brain and have the same effect.

The researchers also point out that slow breathing is used “clinically to suppress excessive arousal and stress such as certain types of panic attacks,

So trying some controlled breath work and may be an especially healthy idea these days.

6. Key Point maintaining mental health – Be Grateful

This is not the easiest thing to do in these times, particularly if you’ve felt the more brutal effects of the pandemic, like job or business loss, or illness.

Be grateful for the things we do have has been shown again and again to be hugely beneficial to mental health.

For instance, in one of the first key studies on the subject, the researchers found that writing down five things one was grateful just once a week was significantly linked to increased well-being.

Other studies since have borne this out; and of course, gratitude is a central tenet of most religions and philosophies around the world.

So even though it might be a challenge right now, write down some of the things you’re grateful for.

Or if you have little kids and it’s easier, try talking about and listing aloud things that make you happy and that you’re thankful for.

7. Key Point maintaining mental health – Be of Service from a Distance.

Being of service is one of the best things we can do for society and for ourselves.

Studies have repeatedly found that serving others, even via small acts of kindness, has strong and immediate mental health benefits.

Feeling a sense of purpose has also been shown to help people recover from negative events and build resilience.

For people who are lucky enough to be healthy right now and not caring for a loved one who’s sick, finding ways to help others in this kind of crisis is probably very good for your own well-being.

Here’s a breakdown from the Times on organizations that are helping those affected by coronavirus on a larger scale.

And on a more local note, organizing efforts to help neighbours in need of food or supplies, buying gift certificates to local business, ordering takeout from neighbourhood restaurants, and helping fundraise locally can help the financial fallout that’s happening all over the country.

 (More ideas are here.)

Note that the kindness pandemic Facebook group did amazing work in the lockdowns with local folk finding and helping others who were doing it tough.

Everyone’s experience is different

Key Points to Maintain Mental Health

For others, lockdown fatigue has been overridden by lockdown survival.

The combination of work, financial, health and housing insecurity has left a lot of people in Australia feeling anxious and fearful.

Add home learning into the mix and many people have also had less time on their hands rather than more.

Case Study

Stephanie Clifford Hosking’s hairdressing business disappeared overnight and was replaced by the task of helping her two boys, aged 11 and 12, with learning from home.

On top of this she was trying to navigate accessing financial support from the government and negotiating a rent reduction with her landlord.

She feels like her workload doubled.

Key Points to Maintain Mental Health -Looking after children and family.

During lockdown, those of us with caring responsibilities have supported our families.

For parents and carers, returning to work is likely to provide a distance that might be much welcomed and needed.

Also it has been proved challenging and emotional when family closeness has been such a support to so many during lockdown. 

We have more detailed advice for parents here. 

With schools either closed, or only open part time for some pupils.

Parents face a longer term need to cover childcare, assist with schoolwork and make decisions about whether and when to send children back. 

Parents want to do their best by their children

There is  many parents now under pressure from work to either return to the office, or to resume a level of productivity and engagement

This has been clashing with their childcare responsibilities across the working week

A similar situation arises for unpaid carers.

The physical or mental health of the person they care for has deteriorated during the lockdown. have changed. 

This will mean new assessments and changes in service provision. 

. For more information about returning to school here. 

Reference:  https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus/coming-out-of-lockdown