How to Maintain Your Health During a Lockdown
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle during lockdown has been an unachievable endeavor for Amreesh. Being away from the gym for so long has robbed him of the motivation to carry out a regular exercise routine in the lockdown. Furthermore, the line between home and work is as blurred as it can be, causing stress and continuous fatigue.
Not to mention, the inability to maintain a healthy lifestyle is taking a toll on his mental health. Isn’t this the case with many of us today? Hasn’t the lockdown somewhat disrupted our balanced and healthy lifestyle too?
We’ve compiled a list of seven effective ways to help Amreesh and other readers like him who are having trouble maintaining a healthy lifestyle during the lockdown.
How to Maintain Your Health During a Lockdown: 7 Effective Tips
- Eat Healthily
Our eating habits govern the larger part of our physical as well as mental health. The first step towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle during lockdown is to have a balanced diet. You don’t need to follow a specific diet. Just make sure that your diet fulfills the daily nutritional requirements for your body to stay healthy.
Especially, avoid unnecessary snacking and eating processed foods which is easy to do when you’re at home. Eating healthy foods is also crucial for your mental health. Healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains contain complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates release energy slowly which stabilizes our moods.
We need a strong immune system now more than ever to fight the infection. Incorporate some of these immunity-boosting substances in your diet to boost your immunity:
- Ginger
- Cloves
- Cinnamon
- Turmeric
- Black pepper
- Dried fruits
- Make Exercise a Habit
Being restricted in our homes can make our lifestyles sedentary without regular exercise. Furthermore, with the gyms and fitness centers closed, it has become harder for people like Amreesh to maintain their exercise routines.
Having a fixed time of the day, preferably in the morning, for exercising helps you maintain the habit of exercise. In addition, make sure you also have a fixed place at your home for exercising. If you’re into a specific type of workout such as weight training, setting up a make-do gym at your home can prove to be very effective.
- Stick to a Daily Routine
The biggest challenge that people like Amreesh are facing is sticking to a daily routine. Being restricted to our homes has left us tending to all our commitments from a single place. Naturally, the blurred lines between our home and workplace or school cause our daily routine to be disrupted.
Make a realistic and flexible daily routine with a few fixed components. Make sure that you have a fixed time for getting to bed and waking up. Similarly, it is better to take your meals and exercise at the set hour.
These fixed components in your routine will provide structure to your day. On the other hand, the flexibility of the routine will help you schedule your assignments dynamically.
- Get Enough Sleep
A good night’s sleep is your body’s reboot mode where you rest and refresh for the next day. Not getting enough sleep can weaken your immune system, cause cognitive issues, and lead to weight gain. In addition, it also makes you more susceptible to certain cancers, diabetes, and heart conditions.
Establishing a fixed sleep routine goes a long way in maintaining a healthy lifestyle during the lockdown. Going to sleep at a fixed time in a day regulates your circadian rhythm and maintains a healthy sleep cycle. Getting enough sleep also reduces stress, anxiety, and decreases the chances of other psychiatric disorders.
- Keep in Touch
The lockdown has deprived us of human contact and interaction which has various effects on our mental health. Staying in touch with your friends and family through this challenging time will be very good for your mental health.
So, pick up your phone and connect with your loved ones from time to time. Try hosting virtual parties for your friends where you could play games or just chill together. You could also join various online events that will help you keep in touch with the wider world.
- Take Digital Breaks
Lockdown has also left most of us glued to our screens for our work or education. Taking digital breaks every once in a while is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle during the lockdown.
Take time out for yourself and keep yourself away from digital devices at least once a week. You could roll up with a good book, focus on your hobbies and interests, or give time to your family in these digital breaks. These digital breaks will contribute significantly to clearing up your mind space and reducing stress.
- Try Meditation
Stressful and challenging times like the ongoing pandemic can have adverse effects on our physical and mental health. Meditation can prove to be an effective way to deal with stress and anxiety during the lockdown. It yields several positive effects on the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems.
Meditation also improves sleep patterns, reduces depression and anxiety, promotes deeper breathing, and increases energy levels. Practice breath-focused meditation for enhanced respiratory health.
To sum up, the lockdown is a very challenging time for people like Amreesh who are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the lockdown. These seven tips will help Amreesh and many like him to improve their physical and mental health during the lockdown. Stay safe, stay healthy!
