Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, people were suddenly forced to stay home. Lockdowns and quarantine policies are also put in place longer than expected, and it’s still uncertain when things will go back to what they once were. This abrupt transition from going out and about on their daily routines to settling in with the so-called new normal brings many challenges to individuals.
Moreover, with distanced family, friends, and communities, this implicates a restrictive social activity. With the anxiety surrounding the health crisis, it’s not uncommon for people to struggle to maintain a sound mind. Pew Research Center found that one-third of Americans have displayed clinical signs of psychological distress amid the coronavirus outbreak.
These days, when social and physical confinement brings uneasiness, it may cause a buildup of stress, resulting in poor health habits. In these stressful times, know that you’re not alone. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to take good care of your mental health to keep a sound mind and overcome your daily challenges.
Why is Mental Health Important?
Maintaining a sound mind is essential, especially during difficult times like a global health crisis, because your mind impacts your thoughts, behaviours, and emotions. It also helps you adapt to the changes in your life and cope with it. When you have a healthy mind, you get to do things more productively and effectively.
Let’s have a look at some of the other reasons why having a sound mind is essential.
1. It Helps Boost Your Work Ethic & Personal Stability
Untreated mental health issues or disabilities can cause unproductivity at work, inconsistent performance and attendance, frequent mood swings, and other hardships. If you’re feeling more anxious, stressed out, and unmotivated by this pandemic, the best way you can do to treat it is to acknowledge that there’s something wrong.
When you’re feeling too overwhelmed about everything that’s happening, take a break and recharge. During this time, do activities that help you unload your stress and exercise your mind. If you need to do a social media detox to stay away from other stressors, do so.
2. It Leads to Improved Physical Health
A sound mind in a sound body implies that you’re capable of positive thinking for a better quality of life and physical functioning. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, a chemical that triggers a positive response in the body.
This shows that the more you sweat, the better you feel about yourself. Your mind feels recharged, too. Exercising is one of the best ways to relieve stress. So for days when you feel a bit anxious or strained emotionally or mentally, break a sweat.
3. Mind Clarity
As mentioned above, the body is interconnected with the mind. If you have a healthy body, you get to nurture a healthy mind. Mind clarity can pertain to having the ability to simply relax and clear your head on occasions when you need to detach yourself from what causes your stress. It also allows you to make well-thought-out decisions and mindset in your daily life.
One of the benefits and reasons you should take good care of your mental health is to allow yourself to escape without letting everything fall apart. A sound mind and body—which you need during this time of crisis—can provide that for you.
4. You Get Better Sleep
One of the effects of having poor mental health is a disrupted and bad sleeping schedule. As you know, getting enough sleep is priceless and highly beneficial for your mind. Maintaining a stress-free mind and good physical health can help you achieve the sound and quality sleep you’ve been waiting for. It will come easily and naturally when you reach that mind body and mind connectivity.
5. It Helps Shape Healthier Relationships
Your mental health affects how you treat yourself. Remember, the most important relationship you have is with yourself, so it’s vital that you give yourself what you need from time to time. This goes beyond tangible rewards you treat yourself with. Your daily thoughts say a lot about the relationship you attract and the relationship you have with yourself.
Since you’re isolated or distanced from your relatives and friends, a lot of negative thoughts and self-talk, over-analysis of things, and self-criticism may start developing. However, these thoughts can be reflective of what you’re doing.
If you’re doing less of the activities you used to love like drawing or playing instruments, try to revisit them. Switch from a poor diet to a healthy one and incorporate exercise for a healthy body and brain. These changes can help you find peace in yourself and build better relationships, not only with yourself but also with others.
6. A Better Quality of Life
In life, there will always be ups and downs. It is inevitable, but you have to learn to manage it and overcome the stress. Otherwise, it may develop into chronic stress that manifests in your body, such as fatigue and migraine.
Maintaining good mental health can help you manage stress and life’s ups and down a lot better. Moreover, having a clear mind allows you to make wiser life decisions, keep a healthier lifestyle, and unlock your potential and learn to appreciate more things in life, especially during a global health crisis.
Additional Tips To Improve Your Mental Health
One of the ways you can improve your well-being and keep a sound mind is by ditching your destructive habits and observing healthy practices. Below are some of the things you can do to boost your mental health.
- Whenever possible, sweat out the stress. You can do DIY workouts at home, which doesn’t always have to be high intensity. You can try yoga or follow a fun dance tutorial. Also, don’t forget to do breathing exercises for meditation.
- Accomplish your to-do list. If you have been planning on catching up on TV shows or reading a book recommended by a friend, now is a good time to do so. Might as well make your time useful now that you’re stuck at home. You don’t always have to be productive—if you only feel like watching all day, feel free to binge-watch.
- Enroll in online learning opportunities. To exercise your mind and, at the same time, learn new things, consider taking online classes. It can be anything you want and interested in, from introduction to Greek mythology to a language-learning class.
- Clean and declutter. If your space stresses you out because of the number of unnecessary objects lying around or because it feels cramped, clean, organize, and declutter. This can be therapeutic and helps create a more inspiring space.
- Connect with friends and family. You may be practicing social distancing, but you can still talk to your friends and family via video call. Talk about your difficulties and concerns to ease out your feelings.
- Take a break. Whether it’s with work or anything else that’s going on, don’t deprive yourself of a much-needed break to step back and reset.
Summing it up
This pandemic has been tough on a lot of people. The best way you can stay afloat and come out of this crisis healthy is to take care of your mind. Remember that caring for your mind is as equally important as caring for your body.
When you find yourself struggling mentally, identify the cause and the problem, acknowledge it, and do something about it. Know that there are no rules to reaching your peace within. Go at your own pace towards clarity and living better.
