Challenges during a pandemic lockdown are common, when Stay Home orders are mandated to keep people safe. Being confined to our homes for long periods of time, not being able to visit family and friends, and not being able to attend onsite studies or work can be stressful. The mental and emotional toll of on-going isolation and disconnection can lead to impacts on health and wellbeing, such as decreased motivation, boredom, emotional impacts and unhealthy habits.
It’s important to notice if you are experiencing any of this, so that you can take control of your health and wellbeing. You can have positive impacts on your diet, exercise, social interactions, mindset, and wellbeing by key strategies in each area.
Below are some tips on how to avoid boredom, increase motivation and improve your mental, physical and emotional health during a lockdown.
1. Eat Healthy, Nutritious Foods
Eating well plays an important part in maintaining good mental and physical health and promotes an overall sense of wellbeing[1]. As an article in Harvard Health Publishing puts it “what you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood”, making it important to eat a balanced diet full of nutritious foods.
While spending more time at home might increase indulging in comfort food, it provides more of an opportunity to spend the extra time making healthy, nutritious meals for yourself. The Australian Dietary Guidelines outline that a healthy diet consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products and includes some lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and limits saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars[2].
2. Get Your Body Active!
Moving and exercising promotes blood flow, releases feel-good brain chemicals, and decreases overall levels of tension. Even just 5 minutes of aerobic exercise can begin to stimulate anti-anxiety effects and feel-good chemicals![3].
It is still important to stay active even when you can’t train with your usual sporting groups or go to the gym. Get outside where possible and allowable within current restrictions. There is an abundance of parks, walking trails and open spaces to exercise. However, you don’t even need to go outside to get in your daily or weekly dose of exercise, with free and paid resources try to maintain an exercise schedule with the resources you have available. Participate in your favourite movement and exercise or learn a new one! Stretch, dance to music or while cooking, try gardening, Pilates, or an African dance routine on YouTube.
Use the old basketball ring at home, or the balcony as your dedicated area for stretches, or find online activities like yoga or fitness workouts.
Some exercise resources below:
- The QLD Government has a 6+ minute no-running cardio video on their website which is free of charge.
- Exercise Right at Home is a campaign powered by Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) that helps to keep Australians active and support their mental health during Covid-19. Their accredited exercise professionals have put together a range of workouts that you can do in the safety of your own home including whole body workouts, stretching, lower body and core workouts, desk and couch workouts and more!
- Fitness Australia is focused on keeping Australians active during COVID-19. Lots of free workouts are available.
3. Detox your Mind from Digital Devices
It’s important to listen to health guidelines to keep yourself safe, but try not to consume too much negative content, and instead focus on the positive. With daily updates and global news flooding our screens it can really impact our mindset. The goal here is to ‘keep it real’, not to flood your mind with excessive amounts of media and news surrounding Covid, lockdown or other negative news. Taking a much-needed digital detox from news and social media can do wonders for the mind. Switch off completely from news for a part of the day.
If you decide to take a ‘digi’ detox, fill your time instead with activities that help your headspace such as any of the activities in this article, or things like listening to music, watching something funny, or calling your friend!
4. Get Creative
Such activities as writing, gardening, baking, learning an instrument or playing music can really improve mental clarity. As we get older, it’s easy for us to stop doing the things that excited us as kids. In fact, creative activities can act as a sort of therapy with Harvard Health Medical School stating that “Creative activities can relieve stress”. Plenty of creative activities can be done indoors during lockdown, so add something creative in your routine – even if it’s just one hour a week!
5. Find Something Positive in Every Day
It can be the sunrise or a winter flower. Keep it simple! Focus on whatever you can find to give you a feeling of relief and have an ‘Attitude of Gratitude’. Just like the saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’ regarding food and physical health, so it is with your thoughts when it comes to mental health. Feed your mind healthy positive food. One of our staff messages with her sibling one thing they are grateful for each day. Another person I know shares nature photos with their colleagues.
Try the Smiling Mind app for lots of gratitude exercises you can listen to.
Or you may want to write a gratitude list! Below is an exercise on how to do a gratitude list:
- Get a note paper and pen/pencil/Texta.
- Write 3 things you are grateful (thankful) for.
- Stick this up on your wall where you can see it.
- Do this same activity every day.
6. Help Someone Else
It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in our own lives; especially if we are feeling isolated. However, we are social creatures and are born with the innate qualities of compassion and wanting to help others. This truly can bring joy and can widen our sense of purpose in the world. In fact, a study done by Profs. Phillipe Tobler and Ernst Fehr from the University of Switzerland, along with other international researchers, scientifically proved that selfless giving makes you happier!
While helping others might be a little more difficult during stay at home orders, there are still things you can do such as donating to charities and making an effort to call or zoom with your grandparent, friends and family who live alone, and others who may be feeling more isolated at this current time.
This can get your mind off your own problems for a while and build your resilience, and you can gain a sense of satisfaction, confidence and positive feelings. You are not only making a big difference in someone else’s life, you can also gain a sense of control. As well as helping people you know, the government has set up coronavirus volunteering program where you can help others during Covid.
7. Try Something New
As the saying goes – variety is the spice of life! Trying something new will not only give you things to be excited about, but you may discover new passions through trying new things. It is possible to try new things and learn new things in lockdown.
There are plenty of new things you can try during lockdown including trying a new exercise program or recipe, reading a book, or learning something new. It could be changing your hair colour with a home colour, or taking a different route on your usual walk, trying a new meal for lunch, or taking up a new online sport or hobby.
Find a series of educational podcasts that interest you. Maybe you want to learn more about the music world, the government, cooking or technology. There is an abundance of podcasts, short courses, free online resources, and books on thousands of topics that you can access to stimulate you mentally and teach you something new!
The more variety we have in our lives, the less repetitive our lives will feel as well.
8. Empty Your Worry Bucket
While it’s important to remain cautious and always practice safety first, we know that too much worry isn’t good for us. Imagine you have a bucket which represents your capacity to cope with life’s ups and downs. What we tend to do is collect our worries, so the bucket fills up, and leads to us feeling stressed and overwhelmed. With a bucket that’s full, you can poke holes in the bucket to remove what is inside it.
You can remove the worries in the bucket by writing down the things that are worrying you. Once you have finished, go through each one and write down steps that will help the situation and put a tick next to it. It could be an assignment you’re worried about, and the step could be talking to your teacher about it to get support. Although we can’t get rid of all our problems, by having an action step you will do next to a worry, our bucket can feel lighter so it doesn’t overflow.
You can also make your worry bucket lighter through other ways, such as talking to someone about it who will help you.
Here is a simple technique called the 5,4,3,2,1 strategy you can try to reduce worries if there is no danger present. Start by standing tall, place your feet on the ground, take a deep breath in and follow the steps below:
5: Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. …
4: Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. …
3: Acknowledge THREE things you hear. …
2: Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. …
1: Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste…
You can also try mediation, yoga, exercise or something else calming that works for you.
There is a big buzz around mindfulness and meditation at the moment, and what those activities do, bring your mind in the present and bring some peace. Here are some tips on How to Meditate and some apps you can check out this blog post from headspace.
Meditating has many benefits including gaining a new perspective on stressful situations, building skills to manage stress and anxiety, increasing self-awareness, focusing on the present, reducing negative emotions, increasing imagination and creativity, and increasing patience and tolerance. Some Apps that offer free meditations include Insight Timer and Smiling Mind.
9. Replace the Alcoholic Drinks
Reducing or abstaining from alcohol not only minimises the risk of developing chronic or life-threatening health issues, but can also improve a person’s sleep, concentration, work performance and mood (Alcohol and Drug Foundation 202). Alcohol really affects mood in a negative way.If you want to lower or replace your alcohol consumption, try the below instead:
- Kombucha.
- Sparkling Juices.
- Alcohol-free beer, wine, or spirits.
- Mocktails.
Visit our Alcohol or Other Drug Resource Hub for alcohol and other drugs resources and support services if you need support.
10. Connect with Others
Check out these top creative inspirations to stay connected in a safe way, such as virtual dinner date, an online movie or games night, after work mocktails via messenger, read aloud on the phone and more.
Reach Out for a chat if you need it. Remember, you are not alone. There are others out there experiencing this lockdown challenge, some experiencing it more than others. There are lots of people ready to support you, whether it’s a family member or friend or professional counselling service.
Young people aged up to 25 can connect with Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) and anyone of other ages can connect with Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) for free phone and online counselling 24hrs a day. You can connect with a counsellor via web chat or phone. Alternatively, if you live in the South East Sydney, St George region and surrounds, aged 12-25 or a family of a young person, you can give us a call on (02) 9556 1769, or check out all our services at www.2connect.org.au
Remember, you are not alone, and you can take care of yourself during this time to stay healthy and well!
Want more ideas? Check out our info sheet on ideas to keep young people connected and entertained at home during a lockdown.
References
- beyondblue.org.au/get-support/staying-well/eating-well
- National Health and Medical Research Council (2013) Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults. Canberra: Australian Government.
- https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/managing-anxiety/exercise-stress-and-anxiety
The information for this fact sheet has been compiled from the above-mentioned evidence based sources. Information is accurate as of 12th July 2021.