ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STAY HEALTHY AND HAPPY AT HOME DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC
Corona Virus is growing rapidly again with its new mutant and is heading out way worse than before. Some Latest researches by ICMR shows that if a person has coronavirus, he or she can spread the virus to more than 400 people within a month.
While many countries are safe and the number of patients is decreasing every day. Countries like India and Brazil have seen a rapid increase in the number of patients near about a quarter of a million within a day and because of this, the death rate is excessively high, panicking more people than usual.
While the government of Brazil has still not imposed lockdown even after the rapid increase in cases, the government of India imposed the lockdown once again on the population.
However, in this lockdown, only the people who are providing essential services like Doctors, pharmacists, etc. are allowed to go to work, while most of the office employees are required to work from home. Even though the restaurants are open to work, only the delivery of food is allowed instead of serving food to people. Many electricians and plumbers are also given passes so they can go and provide services to people within India. But other than that, most people are working from home to stop the coronavirus from spreading more.
Although many people are working from home, they are not healthy and the reason behind that is constant work pressure. Not only the employed people but the children, teens, and even the old aged members of the family who are staying at home during lockdown are becoming unhealthy as well. And the major reason behind that is not taking proper care of their physical and mental health.
Just like a mask is necessary for preventing the spread of coronavirus, taking proper care of mental and physical health is also necessary to stay healthy and happy during this pandemic.
IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HEALTH
The ability to think, feel, and act all comes from our mental health. Our mental health is just as important as any other part of our body.
Mental health is very much necessary as it helps us to think properly and grasp different kinds of situations and also helps in finding answers to different problems within our life.
Due to the coronavirus, our mental health is getting very unstable and most of us won’t even realize this because we are so busy with our lifestyle.
One common symptom that tells, you need to slow down and relax is when you can’t sleep properly at night.
- If you are a worker, you’ll probably think about things like office assignments, why won’t my boss give me a promotion, a mistake you did in your work today, etc. and you’ll have trouble sleeping.
- And if you are a student, you’ll probably think about the extra homework that you forgot to complete, or about a movie or show that you just saw, and similar things like these and will have trouble sleeping.
All of this shows that your mental health is getting unstable and you need to take proper care of it if you want to live a healthy as well as prosperous life.
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF OUR MENTAL HEALTH
Now that you know how important it is to have good mental health, let us talk about how you can achieve the goal of reaching a healthy and happy lifestyle. However, it does depend on your age because the students have much more time to take care of their health rather than most adults.
Also, the students take much more time than most adults to handle stress and different kinds of feelings and emotions.
To help most people with their mental health, I am recommending some important steps that can help to achieve good mental strength that will not only keep us happy, but healthy as well.
AS A STUDENT
As a student who has to spend half of the day, sitting in front of a screen so that he or she can attend all the online classes, taking care of mental health is difficult but not too hard.
Follow most of the steps given below and you’ll be on your way to achieving a healthier and happier life in no time.
1) Making a Routine
Now, I know making a routine is easy but most people can’t follow it. However, there is a trick you can use. Make a routine for 21 days where the routine you have is not very hard and neither too easy. After 21 days, you won’t even remember when this routine became a habit and you’ll thank yourself for this in the future. After you have set a normal routine, now it’s time to make the routine hard day by day so that it doesn’t feel too difficult and gives your body the time to adapt.
2) Screen Time
Limiting your screen time is very necessary if you want to live healthy and happy. Reducing screen time every week can be a great way to start and you can use that time to pursue your goals, work on your passion, and focus on your studies.
3) Limit Social Media
Believe me, social media is making you more depressed than happy because nowadays, the increase in crime and death due to coronavirus are just all over the internet. It’s making much more teenagers depressed and filling their minds with more negative feelings rather than positive ones. Limiting your social media for one hour a day can be a great way to improve our physical health and also give us time to spend time on making our future.
4) Spending time with Family
One main advantage coronavirus has provided us that many people wish for is the closeness with our family. Most students will not realize this now, but the time we spend at home can become more rewarding if we talk with our parents and grandparents. We can make some amazing memories with them now and learn new lessons, instead of regretting it later.
AS AN ADULT
Most of the adults have way higher work pressure and stress than most kids, and therefore require more time to care for their mental health. However, it’s not possible to get that time with the workload.
So here I am mentioning some easy steps which you should follow that won’t take much of your time and will help you in strengthening your mental health.
1) 10 Minutes luxury
One of the great ways, which many people use to not only improve their mental health but also to increase their productivity is to take 10 minutes of break every hour. However, most people won’t have that time because of the increased workload because most are working from home. Taking even a break of 10 minutes in 2 hours is much better than taking no break at all.
2) Limiting News
The coronavirus has caused soo many deaths and sadness around the world, that most news channels spend their whole day covering the info. However, you should not spend your time reading or listening about that. Instead limiting news to only half an hour a day because mostly it’s about COVID deaths, can be a great way to stay happy and stress-free.
3) Fixing a time
Many times employees that work from home, compromise on food in the aggressiveness of completing the work. They make food an extra part of their working lifestyle rather than an essential.
Fixing a time to eat and following it should be your priority if you want to stay healthy and achieve excellent mental health.
4)Meditation
Meditation is a great way for adults to rest their minds after a hard-working day. Spend about 10 minutes of your night every day meditating to relax your mind. Not only will this benefit your mental health, but the sleep you’ll have after this will be much more peaceful and quiet.
IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL HEALTH
Just like mental health, physical health is important too. You can’t just completely spend your day sitting on a sofa or laying down on a bed, work on your assignments and use your mobile. You have to give your body the necessary action it genuinely needs to help you in the future run.
Physical health is very important if you want to live a long happy life because physical health helps in performing different activities. From the largest activities like running to even the smallest activities like waking up from bed requires good physical health. You can’t ignore your body and physical health and should make it necessary to perform regular physical activities in your lifestyle.
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF OUR PHYSICAL HEALTH
Taking care of our physical health is not as hard as many people think. Most of the time, with healthy eating and regular exercises, most people can achieve great physical health which will not only help them now but in the future as well when they are much older.
There are different ways for different age groups to handle their physical health, as students and teens require much more amount of nutrients and vitamins for their growth and they can also absorb the food much faster than adults.
AS A STUDENT
As a student, we have to focus on eating mostly healthy food which consists of both fruits and vegetables. The need of higher amount of protein is necessary as they provide the essential amino acids which are necessary for our growth.
Down below, I am mentioning some very healthy fruits and vegetables which are very essential for our body as it provides the necessary nutrients and vitamins our body sincerely needs.
- IMPORTANT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Apples — Rich in Fibers & Vitamin C
Bananas — Rich in Potassium and Fibers
Orange — Rich in Vitamin C and high in Fibers
Eggs — High in Protein and Very Healthy for the body
Chicken Breasts — High number of Protein and healthy nutrients
Bell Peppers — High amount of vitamin C
Broccoli — Excellent source to gain Vitamin C and Vitamin K
Carrot — Rich in Vitamin K
Cucumber — High in Vitamin K, also helps in Hydration of the body
Tomatoes — High in Potassium and Vitamin C
Not only food, but the body requires exercise as well so that we can stay in shape and remain healthy and don’t overweight.
I am mentioning some important beginner exercises down below which are although common but helps in exercising the whole body to keep us healthy.
1) Online Cardio or Gym Class
Taking an online Gym class with many people has become a trend nowadays so that everyone can remain healthy even if they are staying at home. In classes like this, the main focus of the teachers is to help the students by teaching them exercises that don’t require equipment and rather use the bodyweight to train ourselves.
2) Push-ups
Push-ups are one of the best ways to exercise both your arms and chest at the same time. If you ate a healthy diet every day with a good amount of protein and regular push-ups, your body will show muscular changes within a month or so.
3) Squats
Squats are a great exercise to train both your calves as well as your quadriceps and hamstrings at the same time. However, if you are a beginner start doing squats while holding a fixed spot so that you don’t lose control and hurt yourself.
4) Burpees
Burpees is another great exercise to help train your whole body. Although many people will find this exercise hard, the benefit it provides just makes this exercise worth doing.
AS AN ADULT
The fruits and vegetables that I have mentioned above provide the same advantages to the adults as they did to the teenagers.
But taking care of physical health is not as easy for adults as it is for most youngsters and the reason behind that is lack of time and loss of muscle and physical activities as we grow older.
However, even if 15 minutes of a day can be utilized for easy physical activities, your body will see tremendous changes and a healthy heart and improved body parts very quickly.
Some easy physical exercises for strong physical health
1) Yoga
I don’t know why Yoga is so much under-rated in India even though it was originated here, but believe me, it provides so much benefit to our body that most of us don’t even realize. Not only does it helps the body internally, but externally as well. Yoga is said to help humans age backward and there are many human beings to prove this perception.
2) Walking
Now, I know that walking outside is not safe but we can still walk inside our house and move from one room to another so that our body can get at least a little bit of movement that it requires.
3) Stairs Climbing
Stairs climbing is a great exercise to train your whole body. Not only does it helps in improving your heart rate, but many people who are overweight use this trick to get back in shape and become healthy.
4) Standing Up and Sitting Down
Frequent standing up and sitting down every day can be a great way to exercise your body at least a little bit. Instead of doing no movement at all which does hurt your body in one way or another. Moving your bones and standing up and down frequently can help you in preventing various diseases.
CONCLUSION
Due to the destruction around the globe because of coronavirus, most of us have understood the importance of our health. We have to work on improving our physical as well as mental health if we want to live a healthy and happy life.
The above-mentioned steps and tips have helped me and my family to stay healthy and happy at a time like this and besides praying, following a health guide is the only other thing most of us can do for a happy future.