COVID-19 is a deadly virus that is attacking our immune system. The Respiratory System is most affected by this virus. Because of this global pandemic, many people have lost their lives and many are at risk. Many people have lost their occupation, because of which people are also suffering from mental stress.
To fight with any difficult situation it is very important to keep yourself calm. Because if your mental peace gets disturbed you will not be able to fight that situation. In extreme cases, people also suffer from depression and most of them end up losing their lives.
Stress is life-threatening, which ultimately leads to diseases such as obesity, heart diseases, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma.
Take a step forward to protect your mental health, before it’s too late that stress ruins your life.
Let us see that how we can take care of our mental health.
Methods to take care of our mental health
To take care of your mental health, something needs to be done, and here are some ways which will help you to maintain your mental peace.
- Regular Exercises
- Eating Healthy
- Having a Good Sleep
- Indulging in fun activities
Exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. Regular exercises help you to stay fit. You will feel happy by looking at your fit body in the mirror and you will feel proud of yourself, you will feel more energetic and confident, and this will keep stress at bay.
What we eat doesn’t just affect our physical health; it can also affect our mental health and well-being.
It is also crucial to get good sleep on a regular basis. Sleep is just as important as nutrition, for mental health. Regularly getting enough sleep has an influence on maintaining mental health, which also has a positive impact on longevity. A good night’s sleep is just as important as regular exercise and a healthy diet. Good sleep can help you exercise better, and be healthier. Our body needs rest and for that having a good sleep is very necessary. To maintain good health, it is important to have a healthy sleep of 7 to 9 hours daily. It will positively impact your lifespan.
Indulging in fun activities and following your hobbies, keep your brain indulged and you forget about how stressed you were. Doing things that you love keeps you happy and you feel good, which improves mental health.
Let’s take a deeper look at each of the mentioned ways.
Regular Exercises
Exercises relieve stress, improves memory, and helps you sleep better. As your sleep gets better, you will feel more energetic and will keep you away from depression. Here are some stress-relieving exercises, you can do while staying at home when it is not safe to do an outside workout during the covid time.
Yoga
Yoga helps you create better mental health. It is a relaxing and stress-relieving exercise. It helps you to keep your brain cells calm and you start feeling better and relaxed. Incorporating it into your routine can help enhance your health, increases strength and flexibility, and reduce symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety.
You can easily perform yogic exercises in your garden or in your room and you just need a yoga mat.
Skipping
Skipping is a fun exercise and will help you a lot in relieving stress. This is an exercise that we are performing since our childhood, and we all loved doing it. As a child, we took this as a way to do fun. But who knows that this could provide us with so many benefits. Skipping rope can help with anxiety and depression by increasing blood circulation to the brain.
Dancing
Dancing is the most enjoyable activity, loved by everyone. It is a fun way to keep yourself fit and happy. This simple, effective, and enjoyable workout can help you to improve your mood and you can become stress-free.
You can dance to your favorite songs and improve your mood. Dancing is the best exercise to fight stress and depression.
Healthy Diet for Healthy Mind
Everyone loves to eat and food can also be a great stress-reliever. But food can also make your health worse. Food affects our mental health and well-being. Having a well-balanced diet full of vegetables, fruits, and other nutrients, can do wonders for your health.
Our diet can affect our brain. Some food can help us feel better. Your brain and nervous system depend on nutrition to build new proteins, cells, and tissues. In order to function effectively, your body requires a variety of carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals.
Here are the top three foods to incorporate into a healthy mental diet:
- Complex carbohydrates- such as brown rice and starchy vegetables can give you energy. Quinoa, millet, beets, and sweet potatoes have more nutritional value and will keep you satisfied longer than the simple carbohydrates found in sugar and candy. Sugar and candy just make your taste buds happy for a very short time but can harm you in a long run.
- Lean proteins- also lend energy that allows your body to think and react quickly. Good sources of protein include eggs and other dairy products, soybeans, nuts, and seeds.
- Fatty acids- are crucial for the proper function of your brain and nervous system. You can find them in fish, meat, eggs, nuts, and flaxseeds.
Food can also worsen your health. There are some food that you should avoid to preserve your mental health:
- If you eat lots of processed meat, fried food, refined cereals, candy, pastries, you’re more likely to be anxious and depressed.
- soda, candy, coffee drinks, and sweets. They may help you to boost your mood for a short period of time but are very harmful to your mind and body.
- Eating your favorite fried food such as samosa, pakoras, etc. may make you happy but they are only adding up to bad cholesterol and shortening your life. Fried food take time to digest and this slows down your energy, making you lethargic and slows down your metabolism.
Having a good sleep
Sleep is vital for maintaining good mental health. Sleeping helps us to recover from mental exertion. Good sleep will make you feel happy and energetic. Sleep helps to maintain cognitive skills, such as attention, learning, memory, and emotional regulation.
Your mind needs rest to relax after you have a hectic day, and for that sleep is necessary.
Activities to Boost Mental Health
Along with exercising regularly, consuming a healthy diet, and having a good sleep, involving in activities that can make you happy and stress-free, can help a great deal to make your mind worry-free.
- Hobbies: Indulge in activities that you love to do. Follow your hobbies. If you love cooking, then cook delicious food in your kitchen for you and your loved ones. Experiment with your cooking skills and create new dishes.
For those who enjoy writing, write quotes, poems, get in blog writing. Someday maybe you can become a famous blogger or a great novelist.
If you find interest in reading then grab books of your favorite genres and authors from nearby libraries and read them at your own pace.
Just do what you love to do. It can be anything, just get out of that depressed mode.
- Cleanliness: Make your room clutter-free and you will become stress-free.The physical activity of cleaning helps reduce stress, feelings of anxiety, and depressive symptoms. It has been found to help improve mood and provide us with a sense of satisfaction.
- Indoor Games: It is not safe to stay outdoors for some fun and relaxing activities, because of the covid scenario. So it is recommended to find something to play with while staying indoors.
There is an endless variety of board games to choose from. You could play Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, Clue, Monopoly, and so many other great games. The deal is to enjoy and keep stress at bay.
Board Games keep your mind busy and you will forget that you were stressed and you will start feeling happy and relaxed again. It is also a good way to spend quarantine days with your family and become more closer.
- Gardening: Being around nature always helps to relax your mind. Gardening helps to reduce stress and improve mood, with a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Gardening can make you feel more peaceful and content. Just spending time around plants eases stress for many people.
Being absorbed in the activity itself can help calm your mind. Focusing your attention on the immediate tasks and details can reduce negative thoughts and feelings and can make you feel better in the moment. Activity can be anything, just make sure that you enjoy it.
Try out the mentioned methods to fight stress and also help others to fight anxiety and depression, because helping people is such a great way to cure depression in itself.