Staying Healthy and Fit During the Pandemic

We’re fast approaching one year since the coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic came to light for the majority of the world’s population. Just one year ago, few of us could have anticipated just how much our day to day lives would change as a direct result of the spread of this virus. Normal routines have been thrown away in order to follow government implemented restrictions that confine most of us to our own homes whenever possible. For many of us, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, bars, clubs, museums and more have been closed for months on end. Many of us are being advised to only leave our own properties for essentials, such as buying food or collecting medication. This, of course, is important for the overall health and wellbeing of all members of society. But when it comes to personal health and wellbeing, besides preventing us catching COVID, the restrictions and lifestyle changes could have a negative impact on much of our health and wellbeing too. Being confined to our homes makes exercise more difficult. Not being able to venture out whenever we please can mean that our diets are limited. Then there’s the impact of social isolation, financial worry and more on our mental and emotional health and wellbeing. Bearing this in mind, it’s absolutely essential that you make an active effort to maximize your health and wellbeing throughout this pandemic. Here are a few areas of focus that could help you to get started out in the right direction!

Managing Your Physical Health
Let’s start out by considering your physical health. There are all sorts of areas you need to focus on to maximize your physical wellbeing. Here are a few.

Be COVID Safe
Let’s start out with the main issue at hand – avoiding contracting and spreading coronavirus. This can be achieved as best possible by leading a COVID-safe lifestyle. Do your utmost to listen to government guidance. Stay home whenever possible. When you do have to leave your home, wear a face mask and stay two meters away from others. Make sure to wash your hands regularly. Carry hand sanitizer with you. This can all help to reduce your chances of developing COVID.

Be Aware of Your Calorie Consumption
Next, let’s focus on more day to day elements of your physical health. We all know that we need to eat a healthy and balanced diet to be in our best physical condition. But many of us are struggling with this right now. Some of us are comfort eating. Some of us are eating lower quality food because we can’t get to the shops as often as we might like to. Let’s start out by making sure that you’re managing your calorie consumption well. This will help to ensure that you’re not under eating or overeating. The amount of calories you will need to eat in a day will depend on various factors, such as your sex, age and activity levels.

The guide below should give you a rough idea to base you calorie count on:

• Children aged 2 to 8 – 1000 to 1400 calories
• Girls aged 9 to 13 – 1400 to 1600 calories
• Boys aged 9 to 13 – 1600 to 2000 calories
• Active women aged 14 to 30 – 2400 calories
• Sedentary women aged 14 to 30 – 1800 to 2000 calories
• Active men aged 14 to 30 – 2800 to 3200 calories
• Sedentary men aged 14 to 30 – 2000 to 2600 calories
• Active adults over 30 – 2000 to 3000 calories
• Sedentary adults over 30 – 1600 to 2400 calories

Make Sure You’re Eating Balanced Meals
Next, you need to make sure that your meals are balanced. This means fitting all the food groups in moderation onto your plate and into your snacks. Don’t deprive yourself of anything you want. Instead, simply eat it in moderation. Start browsing new recipes to make your diet more exciting while incorporating plenty of fruit, vegetables and more. You’ll be whipping up a healthy storm in the kitchen in no time!

Get Enough Exercise
It’s generally recommended that the average adult gets one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week or seventy five minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a week. This will help to keep you active and fit. Of course, this may be easier said than done right now. Prior to the pandemic, many of us exercised in a gym, when attending fitness classes or when joining sports clubs. Many of these facilities are now closed, meaning many of our sources of equipment or spaces to work in have been removed. This is less than ideal. But at the same time, exercising at home is possible. You could go for a walk, jog or run in your local area. You could follow a program from home like the Shay Mitchell Workout from Openfit. You could follow some online yoga tutorials. Whatever you choose, just make sure to ease yourself into it and be safe. Don’t push yourself too far. Fitness builds gradually. When buying home workout equipment, you should also check reviews to make sure that it is safe and reliable.

Get Sufficient Sleep
Sleep is also extremely important for your overall health and wellbeing. You should get roughly eight hours sleep a night. Many people are finding it difficult to wind down with the worries of the pandemic. If you find yourself in this situation, you could benefit from setting yourself a night time routine. Avoid drinking caffeine before bed. Put your phone, tablet, laptop and any other blue light emitting devices away. Give yourself a chance to wind down. Get comfortable. It could all help! If you continue to struggle, you may want to reach out to your doctor for support.

Managing Your Mental Health
Of course, your mental health is an extremely important factor when it comes to your overall health and wellbeing. While many people may not put quite so much emphasis on it as physical health, it really is something that you should monitor and focus on if you are facing struggles or difficulties. Fortunately, many of us are growing increasingly aware of signs of mental health conditions and sources of support when it comes to mental health. But we’ll give some advice while we’re here to further help you along the way!

Reach Out for Professional Support
Of course, it’s important that we start out by saying that if you The first important point that we need to make is that if you ever find that you are beginning to struggling with managing your mental health, or if you are experiencing symptoms of mental health conditions (such as excessive stress levels or feeling extremely down), you need to make sure that you do reach out for professional help. Nowadays, there are so many different sources of support out there, so you should take a look at the different options to find what best works for you. Perhaps the most recommended option is reaching out to a doctor who will be able to accurately diagnose your symptoms and any underlying conditions that you may have. They will then be able to refer you on to counseling or therapy, as well as prescribing any medication that you may need to help you along the way. On top of this, you can rest assured that there are a number of mental health charities who can help you to understand any conditions that you may have and there are also support groups and helplines too. What’s most important is that you don’t accept mental health struggles as a given part of day to day life and that you take action to help yourself out of your situation where possible – or that will at least help you to manage your condition better.

Maintain Contact With Others
Many of us are struggling through the pandemic as a result of the social isolation that comes hand in hand with following government guidelines in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. Loneliness is a genuine struggle and many are facing this right now. So, it’s important that, where possible, you maintain as much contact with others as possible. Talking can help – whether that’s sharing troubles or simply having a chat with another person about absolutely anything. is a pretty major factor in many mental health struggles that people are facing right now. We’re lucky to live in an age where technological communication allows us to keep in touch with others without having to be in their physical presence. So, text people. Call people. Write emails. Arrange video calls. Just keep in touch and be a little virtually social wherever possible.

Of course, there are countless other things you can do to take care of yourself during this pandemic, but some of the ideas outlined above should get the ball rolling in the right direction. Hopefully, it comes in useful!

XOXO