Keeping The Home A Safe Place Physically And Mentally
Maintaining healthy practices become more vital the longer the pandemic continues. Build these five habits to take care of your physical and mental health.
The pandemic keeps posing challenges to our well-being, even almost a year in. The increased time at home has allowed for more time to bond with family, but it has also made it harder to set boundaries between work and personal life.
Balancing work, your kids’ schooling, chores, and more takes a lot of adjustment as an adult. But there are some simple practices to keep adopting to make sure your home remains a safe space physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Five Home Habits And Skills To Build
Physical health is of utmost importance during a pandemic. Sanitary procedures such as disinfecting groceries, deliveries, and proper disposal of used personal protective equipment, of course, remain essential. But there are things you need to keep doing to maintain a COVID-free home.
1. Keep Limiting Physical Contact With Other People
While waiting for vaccinations to be rolled out widely, it is still the safest move not to have visitors come to your home. If you will have visitors over, set up an outdoor area to limit the risk of spreading the virus.
Having older family members living in the same household necessitates extra caution, too. Prevent exposure by availing of home health services that can allow older adults to have regular therapies and checkups in the safety of your home.
Inquire with your care providers about their COVID protocols, and have a designated area where they can tend to your family members.
2. Continue Cooking And Eating Healthy
Staying put keeps the virus away. Maintaining a healthy diet gives you and your family stronger immune systems that can help fight COVID and other illnesses.
Learn recipes that use fruits and vegetables to build a healthy diet while sharpening your cooking skills. Regularly having home-cooked dishes also benefits you by reducing your intake of processed foods.
If you aren’t sure where the nutrition gaps are in your current meal plan, take advantage of online resources to find out where you may be lacking. Some of these websites and apps can even help you customize your meal plans.
3. Keep Your Exercise Routines Exciting
Being stationary is bad for your bones and your overall health. A great way to stay motivated to exercise is by turning it into a group activity. Whether it’s working out with friends over a video call or doing group workouts with the family, it is better to involve other people to be accountable.
There are many videos online to help you change up your exercise now and then. Exercise variations and different physical activities will keep your fitness routines exciting and enjoyable.
4. Continue Setting Specific Times To Clock In And Out Of Work
The tendency when working from home is to attend to work matters from morning until evening. Not having a set time dedicated to accomplishing work tasks is the pandemic equivalent of bringing home more work after leaving the office. Not only does this leave you with no free time, but it also takes a mental toll on you.
Set particular hours for yourself to log in and out of work responsibilities. This maintains a clear separation between work and personal life. It also conditions your mind and body to relax after a long day.
5. Keep Nurturing Your Hobbies And Interests
Some people unwind by creating new things. If you like to draw, write, or knit, set aside time to complete passion projects that you enjoy. These kinds of activities are a healthy coping method during stressful seasons.
Destressing doesn’t always have to be about creating something, though. Watching a TV show, reading a book, or playing games are also small ways to relieve stress. Your hobbies don’t require tangible end-products to benefit your mental health.
Avoiding Digital Burnout
Even before the pandemic, the world has been growing increasingly dependent on digital technology. It was only a matter of time before adults and young people alike experienced digital burnout. Then the pandemic interrupted the general pace of work and life.
Many adults began to share a common routine of waking up to check their smartphones, turning on the TV to watch the news, and then being on the computer all day for conference calls and work deliverables. Being forced into a digitally dependent environment made it inevitable to feel exhaustion and restlessness in the situation.
While you cannot single-handedly change how the world will recover from the virus, you can help yourself from getting burnt out. Keep the above practices in mind and always give yourself space to breathe outside of your online interactions.
Remember: digital dependence isn’t a curse you have no control over. It is a mindset you can avoid with good, simple habits.