How to Cope With Stress During Lockdown?
Staying at home to protect yourself against a fatal pandemic is an experience that you and most people around the world are going through for the first time. It is not strange that you feel under stress because of the abrupt change of your everyday lifestyle, or feel anxious about the future. Do not panic! It is all normal. What matters is to face these fears and not become overwhelmed by them. To do so, first, you have to believe that there are things in life out of your control, and that all you can do if they happen is to control your reaction and do your best to withstand them. The COVID-19 pandemic is just an emergency that must come to an end. Until then, all you have to do is adapt to its impact and continue working with patience and optimism to overcome it. You will find below some tips that can help you mitigate the psychological effects of staying at home for a long time:
Plan Your Day
Organize your time well and arrange a clear daily schedule. When you wake up knowing the goals that you want to achieve during the day, and the tasks you need to do to attain your goals. This will significantly alleviate the pressure on your mind, especially if you successfully established a daily routine. Then, you will not need to think much before doing most tasks, and you will be saving your mental energy for the more challenging tasks. The more you relate your daily goals to bigger and longer-term goals, the more you will feel energy and enthusiasm.
Do Not Isolate Yourself
Home lockdown does not mean total isolation from other people. Make sure to spend some time every day with your family members at home. Share your interests with them, and talk with them about whatever concerns you have. Communicate with your friends by telephone or via video chat applications. Discuss with them any topics of common interest, just like when you used to meet them at school or during weekends. All of this can lift your morale.
Protect Yourself Against Bad News
Bad news is always the main focus of daily news broadcasts. As screens are now everywhere around us, it is not easy to prevent your exposure to them, but you can still limit it. This will help you better concentrate and should make you less pessimistic. Turn off the notifications of news applications on your mobile. Follow the news from a trusted source only once or twice a day
Preserve Your Health
Your mental health is closely linked to your physical health. Make sure to sleep for enough hours at regular times, avoid unhealthy food, and reduce caffeine consumption. Set a time for exercising, even if it is just light workouts at home. Also, try relaxation and meditation techniques to calm your nerves and release tension.
Entertain Yourself … But Set Limits!
Set limits to the time you spend playing video games, watching movies, or surfing social media platforms. The longer time you give to these fun activities, the less time you have to pursue the more meaningful goals, which will mean more stress
Be Organized
Exploit the duration of home lockdown in tidying your room and your studying space. Also, do not forget to arrange your digital files on a timely basis. When you are more organized and can tell where to find every item you use during the day, you will save much time and avoid stress.
