TIPS ON TAKING CARE OF YOURSELVES DURING THE LOCKDOWN PERIOD.

  • HEALTH
  • ROUTINE
  • HAVE FUN
  • EXPERIENCE & APPRECIATE
  • CONNECT
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Taking care of your physical health

Get enough sleep. Prioritise daily physical exercise, even if you need to exercise indoors. Eat regularly.

Mindfulness and deep breathing

There is a lot of advice on the internet about relaxation exercises. Take some time out to learn how to meditate.

Create a new routine for yourself.

 Work out a plan of your activities. Try to stick to a schedule with consistent sleeping and waking up times each day. Set a few manageable daily goals for yourself. Take regular breaks from work to engage with enjoyable activities.

Do things that you enjoy

Carry on with anything that you enjoy, even if it has to be done remotely  for now.  You may find that you have more time. Remember things that brought you joy in the past and try them out again. Always meaning to take up something new? Give it a try.  A crisis can be a time of growth too.

Create peak moments for yourself ​

Step out of your day-to-day life to really experience and savour pleasurable experience. This may be looking at something beautiful or listening to some music. Whatever works for you. Take the  time to appreciate it while you are doing it.

Focus on positive aspects of your life. ​

We all still have things in life that we are grateful for. Every day, write down or think of three things that you are grateful for and spend some time focusing on them.

Accept your feelings

 It is a disorientating time and people will respond in a variety of ways. How you feel may also fluctuate over time. Sometimes you may feel that you are coping quite well and there may be some positive aspects to the changes you are experiencing. At other times, you may feel confused, afraid, angry or sad about what is happening. These are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Try to live in the moment rather than projecting worries into the future. Take it a day at a time.

Stay in Social Connect

You know who is important to you. Stay in touch by Whatsapp, Skype, phone or SMS. If you feel able to, reach out to others who may be isolated. Be kind to each other. We are all in this together. Help others if you can.
 

Limit exposure to stressful material ​

Yes keeping informed up to a point is useful but try to limit the amount of time you check the news. For those of you who are working on COVID-19 either clinically or in a research role, this will be difficult. You are welcome to get support from our service to help to process any distress you may experience as a result. We will try to offer you a time to fit around your shifts where we can.