RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – World Health Day is celebrated annually on April 7th. This date coincides with the founding day of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948.
Thus, to mark the date, philosopher and psychoanalyst Fabiano de Abreu shared eleven ways to preserve mental health during quarantine:
1 – Think positive – This is the first of the tips because it is paramount for the other 10 to succeed. Everything has a positive side, even in bad times. The path to a positive mind is to have intellectual capacity to search for thoughts that please you, be it in a present action or projecting future actions.
2 – Maintain your routine – How about keeping the same routine of working hours and looking for online service mechanisms or organize your website and social media? It is also a time to research about your occupation and look for other ways to get the desired salary from your home. You can also organize your work for when this is all over.
3 – Interactivity – Go beyond social media, the brightness of the screen on your face and excessive information can trigger anxiety and disturb your balance in quarantine.
4 – News and social media – We must be informed, of course, but that doesn’t mean spending the whole day reading the news and surfing social media. It is always good to read in the morning because reading at night may trigger anxiety and concern thus disrupting your sleep.
5 – Physical activity – Even if you were not in the habit, how about starting? Physical activity is not only good for fitness and better physical health but also for better mental health.
6 – Set goals – Setting goals and achieving them activates dopamine. When produced in a balanced way, it is also associated with love, well-being, happiness, and pleasure. Set short-term goals as well as long-term goals.
7 – Healthy eating habits – A healthy diet not only helps activate the happiness hormones but will also keep your immunity high to protect you from diseases.
8 – Housework – How about taking your time to organize your home? That cupboard you never have time to clean up or the vegetable garden you always wanted to plant.
9 – Organize your family life – Use this time to interact more with the family or with your partner. For those who have children, be more of a friend to your child, know more about them, enjoy and make up for all the time lost in this troubled world we live in.
10 – Spend time with your pet – For those who have pets at home, this is the time to devote more time to them. Make up for all that need it felt with your past absence.
11 – Align with nature – We have always been connected to it by body and soul, so it is worthwhile connecting with it again and looking for some of the energy that lies in our instincts.