This COVID-19 pandemic is a time when we should be more concerned about health more than ever. Why? Gyms are off-limits. Stress is imminent. Most of us have to stay at home most of the time. We are more prone to getting sick more than ever. So, here are some alternative ways to stay healthy.
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Join Online Communities
Staying healthy is not only about eating the right food, drinking vitamins, and working out. It also means having a sound mental and emotional condition.
With that, it is imperative that you be part of a social community where you can find comfort and reassurance that what’s happening in the news won’t make its way near you or people that you love.
There’s one more thing that it’s good for. Being part of an online community involving health and fitness will help you stay motivated and be on track with your health routines.
Without this sense of community, it will be peculiarly easy for you to fall into the traps of eating junk food or skipping a week or two of exercise.
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Drink Multivitamins
During a pandemic, our bodies are more vulnerable more than ever. This means we need to boost our immune system and bodily protection through multivitamins.
It is highly recommended that you drink multivitamins instead of individual vitamins because the quantity contained in the latter is usually in excess which can sometimes lead to side effects.
Meanwhile, drinking multivitamins means that you will get the right amount of vitamins and minerals from A to Z.
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Get Enough Sleep
Since the internet has made way for us to explore topics and places that would otherwise be out of reach to us, some people make a habit of sleeping late.
During regular occasions, this may not be a problem. But since we have a pandemic on the loose that is continuously upgrading in terms of genetics, your lack of sleep could make you prone to feeling ill.
It is highly recommended that you start sleeping as early as 10:00 PM. If you continue to sleep late, even drinking your multivitamins on a daily basis will not have the desired effect on your body.
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Eat Fruits & Vegetables
Some people expect to get all their vitamins and minerals from their multivitamins. Unfortunately, it’s a theory that must be corrected.
Vitamins can never replace all the body nutrients that you lose on a daily basis. If you have a nutrient deficiency, vitamins may be able to help. But if you want to be fit and healthy, you need to pair your vitamin intake with a proper diet.
So, in each meal, don’t forget to include your daily greens and perhaps some mangoes, bananas, or pineapples as part of your dessert.
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Meditate
During this time of the pandemic, it isn’t just your body that is vulnerable. Your mind is also prone to experiencing stress. When this happens, no matter how early you sleep, how healthy you eat, or how many vitamins you take, you’d still end up not feeling well. This is because most of the time, the stress that our mind absorbs can manifest its way into our physical body.
In that sense, it is equally important to rid your mind of any stress and toxicity. To accomplish this, it is highly recommended that you meditate every morning at least 10 minutes a day. Your meditation practice can be as simple as sitting on the floor, closing your eyes, and focusing on your breath until the timer goes off. You can also look for meditation guides on YouTube if you prefer a more systemized process.
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Get Some Sunshine
Nothing beats getting Vitamin D straight from the source.
Getting some sunshine does not mean that you have to compromise your health by mingling with the public.
By simply waking up extra early, you can go out in the garden or the balcony to let the sunshine on your back. Just expose yourself to the sunlight for at least 10 minutes.
If you’ve previously been coughing during the pandemic, getting a bit of sunlight is sometimes the only remedy.
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Clean Your Room
Your surroundings play a crucial role in how your body feels. If your room is scattered and disorganized, you’d most likely feel like sleeping all day. Other times, it might even make you feel as if you’re catching a fever.
Aside from that, your personal environment can also impact your mood. Let’s say you haven’t fixed your bed for over three days.
So on the fourth day, you would wake up so disorderly that you won’t feel like staying consistent with your usual healthy routines.
You won’t meditate on time. You’d skip drinking vitamins and exercise. Sometimes, being in a disorganized environment can even compel you to cheat on a healthy diet. Three days “no room cleaning” could mean three days eating junk food or whatnot.
So, in order for you to stay on top of a healthy lifestyle during the pandemic, we highly recommend that you clean your room every other day.
What happens when you wake up to a cleanroom? You get out of bed fresh. You will be more inclined to start your day by fixing your bed. There is peace of mind. There is motivation to meditate first thing in the morning and proceed with the day with discipline.
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Take In-Between Breaks
The time of a worldwide pandemic is usually a time when the majority of workers have to operate their tasks from the comfort of their home.
While this sounds convenient, it can actually be quite stressful the first time around when you still haven’t gotten ahold of how an ideal home-based schedule should look like.
As we’ve mentioned earlier in this post, mental stress can manifest its way into your body if you aren’t careful.
Our remedy for this is to take in-between breaks. Sometimes, you would get too caught up in your work that you’d be tempted to continue working anyway. Don’t fall into this trap.
Make a habit of having at least 3 in-between breaks in each workday. Not only will it help you guard your emotional and mental health but at the same time, it will also help you become more productive.
First, you need to set the intention. You can do that by setting alarm clocks for these break times. You can customize the name into “in-between break” so that you don’t get confused.
But of course, this tip will only help you if you practice deep work during working hours. Otherwise, having in-between breaks will not help you be more productive or lessen the stress. As a matter of fact, it could even aggravate it.
Final Words
Health is often pretty underrated. It’s alright to be hardworking and persistent but we need to back it up with healthy habits. Otherwise, regardless if it’s the pandemic or not, we’d still end up getting burnt out and will ultimately become vulnerable to certain illnesses.
Hopefully, we’ve shed some light on how you can develop a healthy routine during this COVID-19 pandemic. How long do you think you can keep up with this healthy routine? Let us know in the comment section.
