Adjusting to the “new normal” is the main concern to everyone in this unprecedented time. The problem with this new routine is that it requires people to stay at home interrupting everyone’s busy life including going to the gym or taking a walk. This also takes a toll on eating habits. As we are staying more at home, we tend to eat more, sit more, and lay down on our bed and sofa more.
While doing our share of staying at home, we have to look after our health – mentally, emotionally, and physically. The question will always be how to keep yourself healthy during a lockdown.
Here are the 5 tips to help you answer that question:
Get Connected
Even though you can’t physically connect with your friends or other family members, try to still get connected. Use resources like video calls and chats to get connected with them. Try to make an online activity to make things a little more interesting. If you feel like going a trip to memory lane, try sending letters via snail mail. It would be nice reading handwritten letters for a change. Just make sure to wait a few hours after receiving the letter before you open it as some strain of the virus can stay 5 days on a paper.
Don’t stay in the kitchen long
Staying in the kitchen while working at home or during your idle time can cause you to munch the unwanted carbohydrates making your belly grow more and your health to decline. Boring times call for desperate measures to reach out for the cookie jar and tell yourself it’s the last one. You tell yourself just one more until you reach the bottom of the jar and realize that you finished the entire thing. So do yourself a favor and keep out of the kitchen.
Be active
Do routine exercise not only for your body but also for your mind. Do mind exercises like crossword, puzzles, and Sudoku. Move your body and burn the unwanted fat by running up and down your stairs, incorporating weights in your exercise, and doing anything to keep your bum away from the couch and away from the kitchen. Clean the house and try to declutter. Make use of your free time while in lockdown to do something you have always wanted to do. This is the time to learn a new skill or a new hobby. We have always complained of the busy working schedule that we have, now we’re having time to enrich ourselves. Make good use of it, never waste any second.
Eat healthily
Maintain a balanced diet filled with fruits, vegetables, and some protein too. During this time, you have to strengthen your immune system to help battle with the virus. Take more food rich in vitamin C like citrus, berries, and green leafy vegetables. If you’re not able to go outside and soak in the sun, you might consider taking vitamin D supplements. Keep hydrated and drink more water to flush out unwanted toxins. Make it enjoyable and add something on your water like lemon, mint, or cucumber. During hot days, make yourself popsicles to enjoy while sweating out.
Calm yourself
Do activities that are relaxing while your place is still in lockdown. Try new things like yoga, reading, painting, and meditation. Give yourself room to breathe if you are in a stressful situation. Count 1 to 10 and do deep breathing exercises. Remind yourself that nothing comes good when you think and decide while you’re stressed. You have to clear your mind and sit for a while. If you’re working from home, set up your working station in a designated spot in your home. Go to another room when you want a break or if you’re feeling stressed. This will make you feel like you are in a safe space without thinking about work. You tend to associate work with things and places that make you think of it. Try to get out of it for a while and just come back once you have relaxed your mind.
During this pandemic, we have to help ourselves and others too by staying at home and going out only when it is needed. Wear masks and wash your hands to protect yourself and others. We all have to keep healthy and strengthen our immune system until a vaccine or cure for this virus can be made. Until then, we have to follow the “new normal” to keep everyone safe.
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