More than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Life has become a stall in many cases for some time, but within the struggle, humanity tried its best to survive with all odds. Even if the pandemic wears on, states are being open gradually and life is getting norms. Most importantly, vaccines are their way to arrive providing great relief. However, it’s more important than ever to make self-care a priority. Yes, we will be back to normal but a new normal.
It’s a changing work environment, changing home schedule, changing mode of schooling, and many more. Overall, it’s a multitasking mode in a new manner for you. Is it a roller coaster of emotions for you? Well, we’re taking the best care of ourselves to fortify against the disease. Moreover, you may be the one, who has taken the best care of yourself in pre-pandemic time, but now find it difficult to maintain. Because it is increasingly unpredictable days for you with a new routine. That’s where a wellness routine amidst pandemic can come in handy.
When you follow a regular wellness routine you can better take care of yourself and also can better in handling stresses along with other family members to cope up with the changes in their daily life due to pandemics. One regular commitment to a wellness routine benefits you a lot both physically and emotionally.
Related post – How to maintain your mental health while working from home?
What all benefits can you achieve from a wellness routine?
- It allows you to shift from simple diet culture to healthy habits while you can continue with your daily lifestyle.
- With heath goals, a wellness routine allows you to focus on creating structure and organization of your health which helps you to control the situation like life during an unprecedented pandemic.
- Helps you to manage stress due to unpredictability and unmanageability.
- When travelling is restricted due to pandemic you can engage yourself more in wellness routine which does not also include much cost.
Why wellness routine is important?
Wellness routine means self-care. If you don’t care for yourself you cannot take care of others. No, it is not a selfish concept, instead of a necessity for everybody. Elements of self-care can start from a simple daily face cleaning routine to breathing exercises. It helps you to cope with stress, unhappiness, depression, illness, and negative emotions.
COVID19 has negatively impacted almost everybody around the globe. It imposes many of us to face indefinite time frames on home-based activities like school and office work while restricting usual activities and social interactions we enjoy. As a result, mental health issues are likely to increase.
To keep ourselves sound and healthy first we need to set some goals:
- Don’t overwork, give you some recreational time
- Be mindful of alcohol like substances
- Interact regularly with family, colleagues and fellow parents
- If working from home, create a separate organized workspace
- Eat healthy, exercise and get outside
- Engage yourself in social activities of your choice
- Learn something new
- Consume less news as it may distract you
- Practice mindfulness and relaxation techniques
- Prioritize yourself
- Seek help or support from family and friends when you need it
- Stick to a daily routine
- If needed take help of counselling
How to create a wellness routine
First of all, set a wellness routine that you can stick to. Start small and then build upon it. Here are some of the tips:
- Set regular routine for sleeping, eating, and exercising
Everyone’s sleep schedule is different, and we have our own circadian rhythms. As long as we follow that with 7- 8 hours of sleep we are fine. This much amount of sleep is sufficient to reduce the stress hormone cortisol and adrenal load. This also restricts us from mindless eating or watching TV for prolonged hours.
Next comes our food habit. Not all of us follow the same food patterns. However, we must take food every 4 hours to maintain optimum blood sugar levels. Furthermore, the choice of food must be healthy as we are stuck at the home most of the time.
If attending the gym is beyond reach, we can at least do morning walks or yoga on daily basis to keep ourselves fit. If you love to dance, practice dancing as that is also a very good exercise.
- Make your morning graceful
Morning shows the day – Engage yourself in a morning ritual to get a feel-good factor. When you start your morning each day with the same routine it gives you a steadiness. This wellness routine also gives you calmness. Maybe a pandemic is the best time when you are getting more time to integrate your morning. Take a cup of coffee, sit and enjoy your morning, if you have a pet take it for a walk, or meditate! Even sun salutation which is an ancient Indian practice can help to get your blood flowing along with moving your body in the morning.
Final Verdict
No doubt, we will overcome the pandemic one day. Every time is the good only thing is we need to extract the goodness of it. There are several ways to relieve stress that you can utilize in your wellness routine. Remember, pandemics can also keep you healthy and feeling good well into the future, too if you maintain a self-care routine. Take it as a gift from quarantine life if there ever is one.