How Can We Protect Our Mental Health Against the Coronavirus?
Uncertainty is perhaps the foremost of the situations that wear out our minds. In a situation we can't fully understand, whose severity we can't fully know, and in which we doubt the transparency of those in authority, the anxiety of not knowing what we will face wears us down psychologically. Even well-intentioned reassuring statements may not be able to stop the doubt and fear inside us in a situation where we are faced with practices we aren't used to. All this doubt and fear surfaces in the conversations people have with one another. And as it surfaces, it spreads at least as fast as the coronavirus. After a point, protecting not only our physical health but also our mental health becomes just as important.
There's no doubt that the outbreak is not a good thing. But because so little is known about it, dozens of rumours arise, causing a great deal of confusion and anxiety. This anxiety lowers our quality of life and affects our mental health negatively. So what can we do to protect our mental health during the outbreak?
1) Think Through the Possibilities and Make a Plan
Think through all the scenarios related to the outbreak. Work out the best case, the worst case and every other possibility. By picturing all these scenarios, think about what precautions you will take or what might happen to you. Keep in mind that there is an 81% chance you will have a mild case, a 14% chance of a moderate case, or a 5% chance of a serious illness. In one of the worst possibilities, think about being admitted to intensive care, and that intensive care is often effective in getting through this illness, or that there is a chance you could die; and think about how you could prepare to face death in such a situation, how you could communicate with your family, and what you could do for them or for yourself. Prepare for all the scenarios of what your loved ones might face, and think about how you could help them and what you would like to share with them. Thinking that the worst-case scenario will happen doesn't increase the chance of it happening. But it does help you be prepared for even the worst thing that could happen to you. Don't neglect to think about the far more likely scenario either: that even if you catch the virus, you'll get through the illness very mildly. In this scenario too, there may be plans you need to make about your social life. One of the best ways to reduce uncertainty is to prepare ourselves mentally for all possible scenarios.
2) Look After Yourself and Don't Neglect Self-Care
Accept that the atmosphere of panic you are in is normal, and don't blame yourself for the anxiety you feel. No one expects us to laugh and have fun in the face of an outbreak that the World Health Organization has declared a pandemic. Feeling anxious at a time like this is a very healthy emotion. To reduce this anxiety a little and to keep caring for ourselves even while we are confined at home, some behavioural solutions can be put in place.
Pay attention to your sleep and don't let your sleep pattern get disrupted. Even if you are working from home, try to keep your old sleep schedule so your daily routine isn't thrown off.
Pay attention to your diet. Try not to eat junk food, which can trigger depression in the long run. Processed foods can both weaken your immunity and make you feel worse. Instead, you can try eating healthy foods that are good for your mood, such as fruit, vegetables and foods containing Omega-3. Real chocolate (the closest to it being dark chocolate) can also make you feel good.
Keep exercising even if you can't go to the gym. Believe me, inactivity won't help any of us at a time like this. There are many exercise apps you can use at home, and I'm sure some of them will make you feel better during these days of the outbreak.
When you feel anxious, you can use meditation practices such as mindfulness and yoga to distance yourself from your thoughts a little and relax. Exercises you find on YouTube can help with this. On the other hand, religious practices can also help reduce your anxiety.
3) Make Good Use of Your Time at Home.
If you have to work from home, are a student or a homemaker, or for any other reason are spending this period at home, seeing it not as an obligation but as a stretch of free time you can enjoy softens the negative effects of the crisis and may even allow you a very productive period of rest. To do this, you can make a daily to-do list, organize small activities at home, stay in touch with family and friends and meet up online, start the things you've been putting off, read books and watch films.
4) Wash Your Hands, but Don't Overdo It!
There are certain issues experts frequently warn about. Chief among them is washing our hands more often. As a precaution, this will protect us as long as it stays within realistic limits. But when it goes beyond those limits, for example washing hands for several minutes instead of 20 seconds, or feeling a constant urge to wash even when you haven't touched anything risky, it may be good to notice that we've stepped a little outside the normal.
5) Limit Social Media!
At a time when we need room to breathe and shouldn't see our lives as nothing but this outbreak, following social media excessively is one of the things that will increase our anxiety. Realistically, glancing at the media and social media just once or twice a day to keep up with developments will be enough.
6) Be Kind and Laugh!
Helping others in small or big ways is one of the things that strengthens our immunity. It may sound a little strange and hard to believe, but that's what research says. So standing together, helping those around us even in small ways, or at the very least calling them to ask how they are, will make us feel better at a time like this, boost our immunity and strengthen our social relationships. Similar findings apply to laughter. Laughing both reduces our anxiety and may boost our immunity. So even though we are going through hard days, we shouldn't skip making ourselves and those around us laugh.
As if struggling with many life events weren't enough, during these days when we are shut in at home because of the virus, we may sometimes want to just stop and spend our time doing nothing. There can hardly be anything more normal than that. Although our recommendations are generally about actively organizing life, noticing our needs and meeting them first comes before everything else.
Stay healthy.
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