Keeping your Mental Health Stable While in Lockdown
Following the government advice, lots of businesses are now working from home. Looking after your mental health is so important when you are isolating at home as you are not used to being at home for this long usually.
Keeping Active
Exercising will help towards your mental health and to keep yourself positive at this time. going for a walk, run or a bike ride are all great forms of exercise for your mental health as they allow you to get out the house and have a break from your 4 walls!
Getting ready
People joke about staying in bed and working from your laptop in your pyjamas but it is so important to get yourself up and dressed. Whether you are working from home or now, I cannot stress enough how important this is for your mental health. Having a shower and getting ready like you usually would for work will help you keep your mental health stable. I like to get up an hour or two before work, go for a quick run on the treadmill or outside and then shower, get dressed and have my breakfast.
Work/Home set up
Some people may find it difficult to focus on their work and others may find it difficult to switch off after a day at ‘work’. While you are working from home it is important to ensure that you are giving yourself a cut off and closing the door to your office so you can go and wind down as you usually would after work. I personally am working from the dining room table so each evening when I have finished work I make sure that I am switching off my laptop and moving it off the table ready for dinner. This means that there aren’t any temptations to get back onto my laptop and work again.
What to do if you aren’t working
If you have been furloughed or are unable to work from home then I would advice you to try and keep yourself busy. Write a journal or start your own blog, get some puzzles, there are lots of ways that you can entertain yourself during the day.
Lunchtime
Taking a lunch break each day will help you to unwind from your work for an hour (or however long you usually take for lunch). I like to go for a short walk during my lunch break before making myself some food as it helps me get out the house and relax my mind a bit before getting back to work.
Get a good night sleep
Getting a good night sleep is important for your mental health. It may be hard at times to get a good night sleep if you are at home all the time but making sure that you do is important to refresh yourself for the next day and keep yourself from feeling ‘groggy’. I like to get to bed around 9pm and then either read some of my book for an hour or watch something on my TV. Recently, I have been more inclined to read my book as it is less of a strain on your eyes and I find it helps me sleep more as the TV keeps me awake.
Mental health is something that some of us forget about and we tend to just focus on our physical health. Making sure that ou are paying attention to your mental health during this lockdown period will help to reduce anxiety and make yourself feel better everyday. If you do have any concerns about your mental health then please make sure you are talking to the right people like the Mind charity so you can get the support that you need.
Blog By Katie
