COVID-19 Well-being Activities (7 Essential Tips)

In this blog, we will describe COVID-19 well-being activities that anyone can include in their routine to live a balanced and healthy life. We will first discuss how the pandemic is affecting people’s well-being. Then, we will describe seven well-being activities that you can try.

What are some COVID-19 Well-Being Activities?

Here is a list of seven essential well-being activities to try during the pandemic:

• Gardening
• Cooking
• Investing in Relationships
• Physical Activity
• Looking After Mental Health
• Maintaining Sleep Hygiene

How is COVID-19 Affecting Our Wellbeing?

People often mistake the concept of health to mean the absence of illness. However, good health is incomplete without well-being. This term is defined as the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

According to the NHS at the UK, there are five requisites for one to experience well-being. These are as follows:

• Connecting with other people
• Being physically active
• Learning new skills
• Contributing to society or giving to others
• Paying attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

Since COVID-19 started affecting our lives, it has impacted many of these domains. Social isolation makes it harder for people to connect with each other. Despite all technological possibilities, people have been deprived of their daily dosage of human interaction and intimacy.

Gyms, playgrounds, and public parks were off limits throughout the lockdown so people didn’t get as much exercise as they were used to. While the upper sections of society managed to get room for physical activity in private, most others lived in cramped spaces with several other people and no privacy.

In the beginning, people concentrated a lot on learning new skills and contributing to others. But, the unpredictability of the pandemic, made worse by the second wave, put a spanner in the works. 

People started feeling burntout, helpless, depressed, anxious, isolated, and bored. All of this made it impossibly hard to be mindful.

Try These COVID-19 Well-being Activities

Fortunately, there are many ways to restore and maintain well-being despite such testing times. In this section, we will describe seven essential well-being activities you can try.

Gardening

If you like being around nature, gardening can be a wonderful self-care activity for you. It not only provides you with the opportunity to be creative and nurturing, you also get a lot of physical activity done.

You can grow whatever you like, whether it’s flowers, edibles, succulents, or simply foliage. If you don’t have much space for gardening in the earth, there are plenty of modular planters that can fit into your home.

Cooking

While eating a balanced and nutritious diet is important for good health, it also helps to cook and eat the things you like the most. Cooking meals also requires quite a bit of planning and discipline. 

Adding kitchen work to your routine can help you work in a time-bound way, which is fantastic for well-being. Cooking can be therapeutic as well since it utilises all your sense organs and gives you an opportunity to learn new skills.

Investing in Relationships

Though the pandemic has dampened the quality of interpersonal interaction, it’s still possible to actively invest in all your relationships. If you think about someone important in your life, don’t hesitate to call them or drop a compassionate text.

The more you interact, even if it is virtually, the stronger your bond gets. Such efforts are crucial in times like this because having a solid support system builds resilience. Even in the face of severe hardships, having good relationships can help you bounce back with all your might.

Creative Pursuits

Did you know that engaging in creative activities is also an essential self-care activity? We are all creative in our own ways. While some people might be active in traditional forms of creativity like the arts and literature, others too find ways to channel this side of them.

Some people have hobbies like collecting stamps or building boats. Others like to brainstorm ideas or mix cocktails. No matter what your thing is, it’s highly effective to let your creative juices flow if you want to achieve well-being.

Physical Activity

As mentioned before, physical activity is a prerequisite of well-being. Even if you had a charming life and all the luxuries of the world, you wouldn’t be able to stay happy if your body didn’t get enough movement.

By movement, we don’t necessarily mean exercise or sports. For those who don’t like sweating it out, there are many other ways to get your body the daily movement it needs. Household chores, going for walks, dancing, or light yoga are all examples of how you can make your body move.

Looking After Mental Health

Since the pandemic has caused a surge in the occurrence of mental health issues, it’s imperative to take care of your psychological self. This can be done by consulting a professional, attending online support groups, or trying out research-based workbooks that address specific issues.

Looking after mental health also includes plenty of maintainance. You’ll have to take your prescribed medication regularly, do the home-work your therapist gives you, and practice your coping strategies on a daily basis.

Maintaining Sleep Hygiene

The most important ingredient of well-being is getting adequate and good quality sleep. In fact, whenever there is any kind of stress or issue, most people find that compromised sleep is the first sign they notice.

Sleep hygiene is the practice of certain lifestyle or environment changes that promote a healthy sleep cycle. You can try the following to ensure you have one too:

• Only use the bed or sleeping area for sleeping or sexual activity
• Avoid screen-time 30 minutes before sleep and 30 minutes after waking
• Develop a bed-time routine with relaxing or self-care activities that you do daily

Conclusion

In this blog, we described COVID-19 well-being activities that anyone can include in their routine to live a balanced and healthy life. We first discussed how the pandemic is affecting people’s well-being. Then, we described seven well-being activities that you can try.

The COVID-19 well-being activities mentioned here were Gardening, Cooking, Investing in Relationships, Creative Pursuits, Looking After Mental Health, and Maintaining Sleep Hygiene.

FAQs (COVID-19 Well-being Activities)

What can I do to cope with the effects of COVID-19 quarantine?

You can try the following coping strategies:

• Deep breathing
• Maintaining a daily routine
• Journalling
• Creating to-do lists
• Talking to loved ones
• Regular physical activity
• Limiting exposure to news and social media
• Meditation
• Quality time with family
• Self-care rotine

How to cope up with COVID-19 mental stress?

Due to the unfamiliarity and uncertainty brought by COVID-19, a lot of people are experiencing mental stress. You can try any of the following coping techniques to deal with this stress:

• Speaking to a mental health professional
• Joining an online support group
• Investing in close relationships
• Spending time doing self-care activities
• Getting enough rest and sleep
• Eating nutritious and timely meals
• Light physical exercise

What are the psychological problems associated with COVID-19?

Since COVID-19 severely impacts your physical strength and stamina, it lowers your functionality significantly. The fear brought by this novel disease also has an impact on a person’s mental health. Psychological problems associated with COVID-19 are:

• Low mood
• Low energy
• Appetite changes
• Loneliness
• Helplessness
• Feelings of guilt
• Poor sleep
• Pessimism
• Depression and anxiety in extreme cases

References

• https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/what-wellbeing-how-can-we-measure-it-and-how-can-we-support-people-improve-it
• https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/
• https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/cope-with-stress/index.html