How To Best Take Care of YOUR Mental Health During The COVID-19
Given that it’s halfway through August, it’s been over six months since the first state-wide lockdown in response to the COVID-19. The situation is improving in some states while declining in others, but mental health has still taken an overall toll during the pandemic.
Patients are riddled with stress about catching the virus and transmitting it to other people. Employees have lost their jobs, received devastating pay cuts, and undergone many other major changes in the workplace. Elderly and disabled individuals have been left trying to find ways to take care of themselves on their own, meanwhile having to cope with social isolation. As a result of this high-stress situation, our country is seeing a greater onset of mental health conditions than ever before.
In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey on the mental health implications of the pandemic, over 19 percent of survey respondents reported the current crisis having a “major impact” on their mental health. While we have become aware of the far-reaching effects of social isolation, Karastan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Chan School, is most concerned about the rising widespread fears over the potential for job loss, illness, death, and bankruptcy. Her worries, consequently, lie in the onset of mental illness linked to personal catastrophes: depression and anxiety.
“These mental health consequences don’t occur in isolation,” Koenen states. “I would be most concerned about the range of depression and anxiety. … We know that job loss and foreclosure are associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety, and we know depression occurs after bereavement” (Harvard Gazette).
Koenen also expresses her concern over trauma stemming from pandemic discrimination and stigma. Certain groups such as Asian Americans are under a lot of scrutiny right now, and current bigotry targeting them is impacting their businesses and families. Higher risks of violence and poverty among these groups, consequently, are adding to the mental health crisis.
Overall, these unideal conditions are a result of the six-month impact the COVID-19 has had on our economy, healthcare system, and households. Given that we know this information, it’s important that we find ways to minimize the onset of the mental health crisis as best as we can. We don’t know how much longer the pandemic will last, whether there will be a second wave, how long it will take the economy to bounce back, and if life will presume to normal in the upcoming year. As a result, we all individually need to find ways to take care of our mental health during the upcoming months.
What are some ways that we can do this?
Take Breaks From The News Coverage
News outlets all around the world are currently in a frenzy trying to keep up with all the crazy milestones of 2020. Whether it’s the coronavirus, civil unrest, tragic deaths, or upcoming political campaigns, taking in this constant stream of news is a significant contribution as to why stress levels are so high. It raises fears about the disease and can be overwhelming to anyone continuously exposed to them.
In a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, researchers found that for more than half of Americans, the news was reported to be causing them stress, with many feeling anxiety, fatigue, or sleep loss resultantly. Even still, more than 20% of Americans reported “constantly” monitoring their news and social media feeds.
There’s a reason for this. Loretta Breuning, former CSU professor and author of Habits of a Happy Brain explains that the human brain is constantly searching for nearing troubling information because it’s programmed to detect threats, rather than overlook them (Time). Therefore, we’re naturally inclined to be reliant on the constant stream of news in the media.
“This can make it hard for us to ignore the negatives and seek out the positives around us,” Breuning explains. “Our brain is predisposed to go negative, and the news we consume reflects this.”
Even though we may not realize it, continuously hearing these negatives will only take bigger tolls on our mental health. Not to mention that many of these news outlets are unreliable, dramatized, or spreading false information.
It’s important to be up to date with what’s happening in the world, and this by no means suggests cutting off your media supply completely. However, limiting the amount of time you spend scrolling through your news feed, or restricting that time to certain periods in the day, can do wonders taking a significant weight off your shoulders.
Exercise Regularly
There is a strong correlation between physical health and mental health, and prioritizing one can greatly help to improve the other. Even amidst a pandemic, there are so many ways to break a sweat and get your body moving that won’t compromise health and safety. Whether that be going on a run outside your neighborhood, exploring the world of at-home youtube workouts, or replacing public transportation with walks/bike rides, exercising regularly is a totally achievable feat.
Through the release of feel-good hormones called endorphins, exercise helps to relieve tension and stress in the body, promote neural growth in the brain and boost mental and physical energy. In a study done by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on the benefits of exercise, researchers found that running for just 15 minutes a day or walking for an hour can reduce the risk of major depression by over 26 percent. Additionally, it can help prevent the possibility of relapse in recovering substance-abuse individuals.
The situation is varying from state to state, but many people are seeing an increase in their ability to go outdoors. After being cooped up in our homes for so many months, going outside to exercise, relaxing in the summer sun, and taking a break from all the current chaos can do wonders for boosting mental health. There is not much we can do right now that’s in our power, but it’s important that we still find ways to take care of our minds and bodies- something that we do have control of.
Avoid Excessive Substance Use
Stress from work, stress from family, stress from health- it can all manifest itself into outside issues that are often being avoided. Avid substance use may seem like the easiest fix to putting off those problems just a little while longer. It’s not, however, a viable solution, and will only create further problems in the future.
The first angle to look at is on the health side. Research suggests that because the coronavirus attacks the lungs, it makes those who vape or smoke tobacco/ marijuana at a much more serious risk than those without damaged lungs. When there already exists inflammation and damage in the lung tissue, the ability for the lungs to respond to outside infection is severely restricted. These lasting implications only make people more susceptible to catching the coronavirus.
Additionally, there is always the risk of getting addicted to these substances, and then having to deal with the nasty future symptoms of withdrawal. Alcohol, for example, not only weakens the immune system when consumed in excess, but its symptoms can be fatal in certain withdrawal cases.
“When you remove the alcohol, the system becomes overactive or hyperactive, out of balance again,” states Dr. Richard Saitz, chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences at BU. “Before it adapts to not having alcohol around, there is a hyper sympathetic state … which means rapid heart rate, higher temperature, and sweating, among other things.”
Overall, the dangers of excess substance use, especially during the health crisis we are in now, are very critical to be aware of. Finding other ways to cope with outside stress more safely is essential for mental AND physical health.
Make Time For Sleep And Rest
The importance of sleep is often neglected, even though it’s one of the most essential ways to keep our bodies healthy. In the past few months stuck at home, many of us may have found ourselves developing irregular sleep cycles, going to bed late and pulling numerous all-nighters. When these irregular cycles start to become habits, that’s when we may be compromising our physical and mental health more than we realize.
By giving the human body more time to sleep, it produces more energy throughout the day to repair itself, to consolidate more memories, to stabilize our moods and weight, to improve concentration levels, and to process more information. When sleep is overlooked for extended periods of time, there can be detrimental physical effects to the body.
“Sleep debt is like credit card debt,” states Susan Zafarlotfi, a clinical director of the Institute for Sleep and Wake Disorders (WebMD). “If you keep accumulating credit card debt, you will pay high-interest rates or your account will be shut down until you pay it all off. If you accumulate too much sleep debt, your body will crash.”
In addition, what many people don’t realize is the strength of the correlation between sleep and mental health. Research suggests that 60–90 percent of individuals with poor sleep conditions, such as insomnia, have depression (Sleep Health Foundation). Another study in Norway found that going to bed just two extra hours later, still getting up at the normal time, stifled positive emotions including joy, enthusiasm, and a sense of fulfillment- the effect magnifying with every extra day of delayed sleep. By depriving the body of the necessary time that it needs to recover and reset, the effect on physical and mental health can be very damaging. It’s important that during the hyper-stressful time, we’re all aware of this and choosing to prioritize our sleep and rest.
Try To Eat Healthy And Balanced Meals
What you put into your body is important not only for its physical health but for mental health as well. Dr. Gabriela Cora, a board-certified psychiatrist, has done extensive work in the relationship between nutrition and psychiatry.
“We tend to separate our brain from the rest of our body, but good health means good health from a holistic perspective — from head to toe,” Dr. Cora states. “Why wouldn’t we think eating well would also impact our mental health” (Aetna).
By putting nutritious and healthy foods into your body, you’re setting yourself up for fewer mood swings, sharper focus, an uplifted mood, and the ability to handle stress better. Nutritious eating means balance; it means eating for both our satisfaction AND health, not skipping out on either component. During stressful situations like these, many people may develop irregular eating habits- whether that be not being able to eat or conversely, using food as a coping mechanism. While these habits may not cause much harm in the short term, learning to fix them now is essential for the future months possibly trapped indoors.
Stuck in our homes with (hopefully) a surplus of time, food can also be an enjoyable way to pass time! Spending this time to get creative in the kitchen, find new recipes, and start incorporating more nutritious meals in your weekly diet will have benefits even when this pandemic is over. “Appreciate each smell, food texture, and taste for each food,” Dr. Cora says. By eating whole foods, staying hydrated, making healthy food swaps, and never skipping meals, you can come out of the COVID-19 as a healthier person.
Connect With Loved Ones
Being physically isolated doesn’t mean being socially isolated as well. It’s important that no one is going through this period alone, and we’re all finding ways to connect with our loved ones. In some states, the situation is improving and more and more people are leaving their homes. This could mean meeting up with friends and family, safely with masks, and catching up over lost time. In other states where the situation is getting worse, social interactions are still perfectly possible over phone, text, or video chat.
Why is socialization so important to mental health?
When humans socialize, “dopamine is generated, which gives us a little high and it kills pain, it’s like a naturally produced morphine,” states psychologist Susan Pinker (Medical News Today).
Research has found that with the help of social contact, we are better equipped to respond to outside stress factors, see improved memory formation, and overall have happier outlooks towards life. A study of 7,000 men and women in California found that “people who were disconnected from others were roughly three times more likely to die during the nine-year study than people with strong social ties.” These ties clearly have a great impact on our mental and physical health.
The pandemic should not prevent anyone from connecting with their loved ones. Whether safely in-person or over a screen, the benefits of social interaction can do wonders for mental health and bring light to a seemingly dark time.
Know When And Where To Go For Help
Last but most importantly, know where you can go to receive additional help. Over the past few months, national federal emergency hotlines for those in emotional distress have seen rapid increases in their activity rates. These are great resources to turn to that are free, confidential, and easily accessible for those still struggling. Taking care of yourself and your mental health is SO important during this pandemic, and there are always ways to make even the most stressful periods less overwhelming.
