As coronavirus continues to impact much of daily life, it’s important to protect your well-being. While making sure you stay healthy and physically fit is vital, especially during a health crisis, it’s not the only important factor that can have an impact on your overall well-being and quality of life.
Mental health, and maintaining it, also contributes considerably to your well-being. It’s reported that roughly 1 in 4 Britons will experience a mental health problem each year, even without a global health crisis. Therefore, now more than ever, it’s vital to try and protect your mental health during this difficult time.
However, with the UK still in lockdown and practising social distancing, what can people do to help protect their mental well-being?
Make a plan
The coronavirus pandemic is bound to have an impact on your daily life. From healthcare to the local grocery store, the way many facilities operate has changed drastically, which has in turn changed how people go about their daily lives.
In order to adjust to what is being called the “new normal”, it might help to run through how things will change in your own life, and how to manage these changes.
For example, if you are classed as vulnerable and have been encouraged to avoid contact with others as much as possible, it’ll be important to plan out how you’ll get groceries, and if receiving treatment or medication, how you’ll access this safely.
Making a plan can help you to feel more in control during these difficult times, alleviating any anxiety surrounding the situation and thereby safeguarding your mental well-being.
Stay connected
The measures required to slow the spread of Covid, while necessary, can be rather isolating, and perhaps even distressing, especially when living apart from loved ones. While many are not able to see their family and friends during this point in time, it’s important to stay connected with them, whether this is over the phone, on video calls or messaging.
Maintaining good relationships with those closest to you is good for your mental well-being, and can help to make you feel less alone during these uncertain times. Many people will be struggling with the current situation, so reaching out to those closest to you could also help to promote their own mental well-being.
Entertain yourself
While lockdown may be tedious, there’s a whole host of entertainment options out there that might help to keep you preoccupied. Many have used this time to take up a new hobby, while others have used it to get fit, or explore the range of new entertainments becoming available to accommodate those in lockdown.
YuLife and Virgin Experience Days have found a way to promote health and well-being while also entertaining. Their partnership, which began on the 11th of May, enabled YuLife members to earn Virgin’s new ‘stay at home experiences’ by practising healthy lifestyle choices via its app, ultimately improving well-being.
CEO and co-founder of YuLife Sammy Rubin claimed: “We are always looking for a way to inspire our members with new experiences to enhance their lives and Virgin Experience Days is a great partner to achieve this.”
“The breadth of online experiences on offer from interior design to gardening to cooking courses provides a way for our members to continue to develop and learn while we are all social distancing.”
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg.
