With all of us being advised to adopt both social-distancing and even widespread lockdowns, we’re all going to be spending much more time at home. This will help regulate the spread of the coronavirus, allowing medical institutions and other public health facilities to deal with the number of patients over an elongated period. Rather than all at once. For a lot of people, spending all that time at home can be hard for them to maintain healthy habits. However, there are ways to protect both your physical and mental health while self-quarantining.
7 healthy habits for self-isolation
With the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important that we all maintain both our physical and mental well-being as this will help us get through the process much easier. Believe it or not, being cooped up at home won’t prevent you from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The last thing you want to do is fall into unhealthy habits that include staying on the couch, clad in pajamas, and eating processed snacks. So, below are easy, healthy habits that will help to keep you healthy during self-isolation.
1. Get enough quality sleep
Now it may be hard to do, but keeping your regular sleep routine is important during these times as the consistency will help to maintain your regular body clocks. This then means better sleep and more energy throughout the day.
Additionally, getting enough sleep will help to keep your anxiety and stress levels low, and it’s no secret that they’ve been at an all-time high during the past few days.
If you really want to ensure a good night’s sleep, make sure that you unplug and stay away from your screens at least an hour before bed. Reading a book will help to take your mind off of current events, and it will also help to relax and unwind you.
Moreover, you can also improve your sleep quality by using aromatherapy. For example, jasmine and lavender oils are believed to help make you fall asleep deeper. To get the most out of this method, you can use diffusers to quickly fragrance your room with your favorite essential oils.
Another way to help you get enough quality sleep is to avoid sleeping pills. Although these are known to help you doze off faster, they’re said to reduce sleep quality. So, it’s best to refrain from using them.
2. Eat a healthy diet
Boredom can often breed unhealthy eating habits, as can a change in normal routines. In fact, a high-stress environment can have you reaching for comfort food that’s not necessarily the healthiest. Often than not, comfort foods turn out to be processed foods such as cookies, salted crisps, and biscuits. In addition to not being the best for your mental health, junk food can also affect your immune system, making it more vulnerable to diseases and illnesses. Now you may be cooped up at home, but a weakened immune system is the last thing your body needs.
So, it’s important that you consume a diet rich in antioxidants and other essential nutrients that can help to protect your health and even boost immune function.
Additionally, you also now have the opportunity to spend more time in the kitchen. Aside from being more conscious of what you’re placing in your body, cooking your own meals is also a great way to lose weight without exercising or adopting a fad diet.
In regards to your favorite glass of wine, it’s important to keep your consumption moderate. Now you may find yourself wanting to enjoy an extra glass, especially during these times, but it’s important to keep it to a glass a day. Not doing so can affect immune function. Rather, do your best to stay hydrated by steering clear of sugary drinks and alcohol, instead opting for 6-8 glasses of water each day.
3. Stay Active
Yes, you’re stuck at home, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be exercising. Gyms may be closed, but there are more than enough ways for you to get a good workout in. Doing so will help alleviate any anxiety you may be feeling.
Aside from many videos available online that can help you keep fit, you can also just do simple stretching exercises in your bedroom.
Additionally, if you’re one of those people whose normal everyday routine keeps them active, be it running around doing errands, fret not. You can still stay active in the comfort of your own home by gardening, cleaning the house, and even getting up from your desk and taking small strolls inside your home.
4. Breathing techniques
Yes, you should do your best to keep your routine as normal as possible, be it waking up when you normally do and still working, even if it’s from home. However, it’s also important that you still take time every day to switch off and relax.
Turning off the news and doing a quick breathing exercise can help to stabilize your mood and clear your mind of any clutter, especially clutter that is increasing your anxiety.
If you’re struggling with your breathing technique, or you’re looking to move towards meditation, apps like Headspace and Calm are extremely helpful.
5. Keep your mind active
Keeping your mind engaged is a great way to maintain your mental well-being. That said, don’t shy away from solving problems like Sudoku and crossword puzzles.
However, if newspaper brain games aren’t really your thing, you can also try to get in touch with your creative side. This may be the perfect time to learn a new skill. Don’t shy away from perfecting your drawing skills, knitting something for yourself, or even learning a new language. In fact, research published in the journal Psychological Science found that learning a new skill can help to boost your cognitive performance, reducing the risk of dementia.
6. Don’t forget basic hygiene habits that don’t include washing your hands
Yes, we’re all obsessively washing our hands and carrying around hand sanitizer, but there are other basic hygiene habits that we should already be adopting – pandemic or not.
One of the essential basic hygiene habits that you should never take for granted is brushing your teeth. Even if you’re confined at home and do nothing, it doesn’t mean you forget to skip cleaning your teeth daily. Failure to do so can increase your risk of developing tooth decay, tooth pain, gum disease, or bacterial infections. It can also cost you more money in dental appointments and treatments to address your dental problems.
However, if you’ve already been dealing with tooth pain while you’re at home and going to the dentist isn’t possible, one alternative solution is applying a CBD product from reliable providers like Woven Earth to the affected area.
Maintaining basic hygiene habits is important for your overall health. But in addition to regularly showering, brushing our teeth, and flossing, we should also ensure that we maintain a clean and hygienic household.
For instance, as the virus that causes COVID-19 can live on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for 72 hours, cardboard for 24 hours, and copper for four hours, it wouldn’t hurt to ensure that you wipe down objects like doorknobs, railings, and taps or faucets.
At the end of the day, unless somebody in your household is actively sick there’s no need to clean obsessively. Just keep your house as hygienic as you would on any other regular day.
7. Stay in touch with people who care
According to research published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, maintaining a strong social connection can help to lower levels of both anxiety and depression. With social distancing and self-isolation being encouraged, it’s clear that these two emotions may be running rampant. As such, it’s important that you do your best to regularly communicate with people who care about you, and to also check in on those who battle with their mental health and use their everyday routines as a distraction.
Be it a short, emoji-filled message, a 30-minute voice call, or a two-hour FaceTime call as you watch the final episode of Love Is Blind, just do your best to stay in touch with those closest to you.
Want to know more?
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be looking to vitamin C to help give your immune system that extra boost. Now with supplements in short supply in various pharmacies, you can be happy to know that you can still get your vitamin C supplementation with these 10 healthy foods you can still get your vitamin C supplementation with these 10 healthy foods.
References
Doremalen, N., Bushmaker, T., Morris, D., et al. (2020). Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. medRxiv 2020.03.09.20033217; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217
Park, D. C., Lodi-Smith, J., Drew, L., Haber, S., Hebrank, A., Bischof, G. N., & Aamodt, W. (2014). The Impact of Sustained Engagement on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: The Synapse Project. Psychological Science, 25(1), 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613499592
Saeri, A. K., Cruwys, T., Barlow, F. K., Stronge, S., & Sibley, C. G. (2018). Social connectedness improves public mental health: Investigating bidirectional relationships in the New Zealand attitudes and values survey. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 52(4), 365–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867417723990
