Take Care of You!

Self-care is critical!

“First, take care of your physical health. Being exhausted and rundown makes you more susceptible to illness and less able to fight off infection. And these physical health tips also have scientifically-proven benefits for your mental health, to help you endure (or even thrive in) these wild times" - Eric Karpinski

Take care of the basics:

• Practice good sleep hygiene. Set a bedtime and stick to it. Turn off screens 30 minutes before you go to bed. Remove your phone from the room.
• Get exercise. Many gyms and exercise classes are closed so you may have to create a new routine. Go on long walks or runs and explore trails, parks, beaches or mountains. If you’re stuck inside, try free online yoga classes or the seven-minute workout (particularly easy and fun to do with kids).
• Eat healthily. Sitting around at home turns many of us into snack monsters. Take advantage of extra time at home to cook healthy meals (bonus points for making extra and sharing with an isolated friend or neighbor). Cooking is also great for kids if you’re looking for ways to fill the (endless!) hours out of school.

Sometimes, life gets in the way of these healthy habits. When that happens, don’t catastrophize (“I’ll never sleep again!”). Acknowledge the situation, let it go, and get back to your habit as soon as possible.

Taking care of your mental health is just as important.

Here are some things to think about: 

• Stay connected to other people. We humans have a deep need for social connection (yes, even those introverts who are quietly celebrating that they have an excuse to stay home for the next three weeks!). Have a long Facetime or Skype chat with someone who is isolated.
• Reframe the situation. Try to see this time as a gift. Many of us regularly say, “I wish I had more time to _____.” Maybe now is your chance. Having a sense of purpose is a core tenet of happiness; set aside time each day to feel like you accomplished something. Learn to knit or speak another language. Read the books or watch the movies on your “someday” list. Hopefully, we’ll never have a chance like this again, so see if you can enjoy (parts of) it.
• Establish a routine. Most of us dream of vacation days with no schedules, but schedules are actually good for mental health (even more so for kids and teens). Give yourself a few days to loll around but then establish a routine. Stick to a bedtime and wake time. Eat at normal times. Exercise, shower and get out of your pajamas every day, even if you aren’t leaving the house.
• Help others. Most of us think of good deeds as a benefit for the receiver, but research proves that the giver benefits just as much. Doing something nice for someone else gives us a happiness burst that can re-energize and re-direct our minds, even when we feel overwhelmed or hopeless. Set a goal to do one nice thing for someone else each day. Some ideas: babysit for a few hours, deliver a meal or two to someone self-quarantined, offer to pick things up for neighbors schedule a call or Skype with an older relative or friend.
• Limit your media consumption. It’s anxiety-producing out there with experts providing conflicting advice, graphs and tables of infection rates, and friends posting apocalyptic statements. All of this drama triggers your amygdala, the “lizard” part of your brain focused on survival. Staying in a constant state of fight-flight-or-freeze is deeply unhealthy. Pick a time you will check on the outside world and then spend the rest of your day on activities that help you stay healthy.
• Be okay with feeling scared, sad or anxious. Know that feeling frightened, overwhelmed or anxious is a healthy, normal reaction in times like these. When you get a wave of these emotions, let it in. Start by simply acknowledging, “I’m feeling ____ right now.” Be mindful for a few minutes where you feel it in your body. Giving the emotion some space to grow or change can help you get more comfortable with it and allows you to decide whether or how to respond in a healthy way. Mindfulness, meditation and prayer practices have all been shown to help manage the negative emotions that are a natural part of being human; and now we all have time to learn and practice them (hooray?).
• Get help when you need it. If you are stuck in a negative thought cycle or experiencing significant mental distress, get help. Reach out to a friend or utilize the Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) that can provide short-term counseling and help find a longer-term solution.

The uncertainty of how long these social distancing and quarantine rules will last – as well as anxiety about their long-term effects on our lives personally, nationally and internationally – can make this time seem overwhelming. But investing in your physical and mental health improves our chances of coming out the other end happy and healthy.”

For more information, check out Good Think!