Looking After Your Mental Health

01st, Apr 2020

The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has brought a lot of fear around the world, leaving most of us feeling anxious and overwhelmed during this uncertain time. With the virus being the main focus on everyone’s mind, it can be hard to get away from thinking about it and this can also have a negative effect on our mental health.

However, while it is important to stay informed, there are also many things we can do to support and manage our wellbeing during such times.

To help you, your friends and your family, we have gathered some information to help you look after your mental health.

Staying at Home

It will be the new norm for a lot of us, having to stay at home and resist making plans to meet up with friends or even go to work. Many of us will be working from home and this can be quite a change to our daily routines. However, this is the time to create a new daily routine and one which prioritises looking after yourself and your mental wellbeing.

#stayhome ideas for all the family:

Keep reading! New or old, online of offline, reading is a great relaxing activity and a great way to fill your mind with an abundance of new information or stories which can make for interesting discussions.
Watch your family favourites or download old box sets from your streaming service provider, the choices nowadays are endless.
Create an exercise routine and be creative with it. There are so many free live workouts available online for all ages such as Joe Wicks Online PE class. Make sure to get the kids involved as well!
Try new relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation. We are being forced to slow down from our usual busy lives so this is the perfect time to give them a try!
Start a new project! Maybe you have been wanting to do up your back garden, or you have wanted to start a new hobby. Why not start painting, or learn to cook some new recipes? There are so many benefits from spending more time at home and this should be the time to start practising them.

Avoid Unreliable Sources

There is so much currently surfacing on the internet regarding information on COVID-19 and while we can get carried away reading into every story the pops up on our newsfeed, we must remember to check if it is a reliable source with true facts.

To avoid becoming overwhelmed with information, try limiting the amount of time spent looking at social media feeds and only catch up on the news once a day if you want to be kept up to date with the current situation.

You can get up-to-date, reliable information and advice here:

GOV.UK
HSC Public Health Agency (N. Ireland)
WHO (World Health Organisation)

A new Covid 19 NI app has also recently been launched which has regular advivce on Coronavirous and has a symptom checker feature. For further information click here.

Stay Connected

You may be in quarantine with a friend, a loved one or your family, but for many of us we cannot visit the people we normally would keep in contact with. We are very lucky that we have phones and laptops which allow us to easily stay connected, whether it’s over social media, a skype call or via text. It is important to keep in touch with our loved ones and check in on each other regularly.

Follow Hygiene Advice

We are seeing the message everywhere - wash your hands more often than usual, for 20 seconds with soap and hot water.

When should you wash your hands?

When you get home or into work
When you blow your nose, sneeze or cough
When you eat or handle food

Practice Peventative & Social Distancing Measures

At Kingsbridge Healthcare Group, we want to make sure you are fully aware of what you need to do to help avoid catching the virus and spreading it onto others.