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A huge 20 percent of the global population is currently under lockdown. While this is thought to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, it can also have deleterious effects on your health and the health of your family.
Staying inside for too long can lead to cabin fever and make your mental state bleak. If you don’t have the option of going outside, we can help you.
We’ve assembled this list of quick health tips that can help you thrive and survive under lockdown or quarantine. We’ll show you how to maintain your health with proven medical tips.
Ready to find out more? Keep reading
1. Practice Mindfulness and Preserve Your Mental Health
Staying inside can make you feel climbing the walls after even a short duration. One way to manage stress and anxiety is to practice mindfulness. Being mindful that this is only temporary and that you’re safe can be a huge boost.
If you’ve never practiced mindfulness before, there are a huge number of guides online that can show you how to get started. If you’d prefer something a little more guided, we’d recommend checking out a mindfulness or meditation app to help you. Three that we particularly recommend are:
- Headspace (free to start with a limited trial)
- Calm (free to start, limited)
- Insight Meditation Timer (free and full of features with optional paid courses)
If you’re feeling tense, try progressive muscle relaxation to relax. If you require something more intense, we’d recommend contacting a therapist, as many are now offering telephone appointments in lieu of face to face sessions.
If you’re experiencing a crisis, call one of these numbers.
2. Practice Yoga
If you’d like to stay fit but can’t leave your home, online yoga is for you. All you need is a yoga mat or an equivalent bit of padding and you can get started!
There a huge number of yoga channels on Youtube that offer women health tips. Some popular ones include Yoga With Adrienne, Yoga By Candace, and Purple Valley Ashtanga Yoga.
Yoga is fantastic for physical fitness as well as mental wellbeing and can help relieve the stress that comes from being stuck indoors. If you’re suffering from aches and pains or have a chronic pain condition, it can help that too.
If you have chronic health problems and have never practiced yoga before, we recommend speaking with your family practice before you start.
3. Eat Well
Eating a good diet is one of the most important quick health tips that we can offer. Anyone can contract coronavirus at present, as the vaccine is still some way away. Yet you can give your immune system a helping hand by feeding it all the right nutrients.
Eating plenty of leafy greens gives you a good range of B vitamins which contribute to mental wellbeing. Vitamin C from citrus fruits can help boost your immune system. Iron from meats and beans helps keep your body fighting fit and full of energy.
You should feed your gut well too: eat probiotics and yogurt to keep your digestive system at peak performance.
Getting your five fruit and vegetables a day is more important now than ever to maintain your health.
4. Get Fresh Air
Lockdown rules vary from location to location. If you can go outside for some fresh air and exercise, do this while maintaining social distancing. Try and get out of the house for a walk, run, or bike ride at least once a day.
If you’re not able to leave your house but have a balcony or garden, head out there and get some fresh air and feel the sunlight on your skin. If this isn’t possible, you should open the windows so that you can at least get some fresh air.
5. Keep Your Home Clean
It can be tempting to let dishes pile up in the sink or to not take out the garbage. After all, no one is coming over, so why bother? Yet this can have very bad effects on your mental health.
A clean space is better for mental health and organizing things keeps you from getting distracted, which is essential for when you’re working from home. Cleaning your home can also be quite a workout, especially lugging garbage around to the curb or trash cans.
6. Ensure You’re Sleeping Enough
It’s natural to find sleep quite difficult at present. There’s a pandemic going on, it’s not the most calming time to catch 40 winks. This means that practicing good sleep hygiene is essential.
Try and set a regular bedtime, even if you aren’t having to work at the moment. Avoid screens before bedtime: if this seems like too big a leap, use Night Shift on your phone or download f.lux for your computer, to filter out blue light that keeps you awake.
Instead of using an e-reader, try reading a book before bed to help your mind unwind. If you like listening to podcasts while you drift off, we recommend using the Sleep With Me podcast, which is enjoyably dull listening.
7. Stay in Touch
While you can’t see family and friends in person, you can still stay in contact with them. Having regular phone calls or video calls can help you feel connected to the outside world.
It could be fun to talk about plans for after lockdown and places you want to go when things are back to normal. Keep things light and enjoy spending time with those that you love.
Put These Quick Health Tips Into Practice
We hope that these quick health tips help you stay happy and healthy during these scary times. If you’re interested in figuring out other things that you can do to help you thrive under lockdown, take a look at our fitness section, and take a look at some exercise regimes!
