6 Ways To Deal With Pandemic Depression

The pandemic has left a significant impact on everyone’s life right now. Public health officials are doing everything to keep everyone safe. However, all of these actions towards public safety might negatively affect your psychological health. While it’s understandable to feel this way, there’s value in learning how to handle pandemic stress and depression better. 

How The Pandemic Is Affecting Your Mental Health

While being forced into lockdowns and maintaining social distancing, many have faced the mental turmoil of being alone. And you’re probably no different than many people. Following the uncertainty and fear of the situation, you may have had a share of the negative effects brought by the pandemic, such as feeling depressed, stressed, or mentally unwell.

How To Deal with Pandemic Depression 

In line with the adverse outcomes of the pandemic on your mental health, it’s best to help yourself deal with it. More people right now are looking for simple and easy solutions to combat the turmoil of social isolation. 

And you should do so as well, by doing the following: 

1. Look for Ways to Connect with Your Loved Ones 

Going out with your friends and loved ones right now seem impossible due to the restrictions. But connecting with the people that matter to you isn’t entirely unfeasible. 

Just because you’re alone right now doesn’t mean you have to forget about your friends and family completely. There are now mobile devices that make connecting with faraway people so much easier. And, you should use these so you will not feel isolated, which may result in loneliness.

Seeing a familiar face can do wonders in making you feel more comforted. Sometimes even reading a message from someone you haven’t seen in a while can do wonders. 

You can even set up a video call with your family who live out of town or set a game night with your friends via Zoom. You can even join online communities with people of the same interest. If talking to your loved ones doesn’t lessen the negative emotions you’re feeling, you may want to check a mental health treatment center online or ones near you.  

There are numerous ways you can go about helping yourself feel more connected. If you’re currently running out of ideas, then you might want to check out the list below: 

• Go Out In The Park. Many cities allow their residents to walk out in the park as long as the social distance is observed. This is something you can do. If you’re a dog owner, then tag your dog along with you and chat with fellow pet owners. 

• Try Volunteering. There are support groups out there that need more volunteers. You can join one that conducts online outreach calls or sign up for an in-person one. 

• Join Group Activities Held At A Distance. Some people are conducting group events while observing proper distancing. It could be group exercises where you can participate while staying on your balcony. Whatever it is, be sure to be on the lookout for similar events to help ease the loneliness you may be feeling.

• Stay In Your Front Or Back Yard To Talk To Your Neighbor. This is a simple way to have someone to talk to. Get your lawn chair and have your neighbor do the same while you talk to each other from a distance.  

2. Start Following a Healthy Routine 

Apart from isolation, another one of the ways the pandemic impacts your day-to-day life is the change of your daily routines. Since the days tend to blend, you might no longer find the need to set plans and targets. For that reason, it has become so much easier to fall into bad habits and toxic routines. 

You might have started sleeping late because there’s no reason to wake up early for tomorrow, w or you might be slacking off on exercise. Perhaps, you might have stopped trying to make yourself look presentable since you think no one will see you anyway. 

But, time and again, your habits and routine may hold a big part in your mental well-being. To feel good, you have to start treating yourself better. In this challenging time, it’s even more necessary that you take extra efforts to care for yourself. 

It doesn’t have to be complicated either. To give you some ideas, here are some things you can do to incorporate a better routine: 

• Set Reminders: Motivation is even harder to come in this time of the pandemic. Because of this, it’s easier to let yourself quit when you feel like procrastinating. To fight that, use reminders of things that make you feel good. Put it in your daily calendar to do the things that lift your mood. You’ll be more likely to follow through when you’re reminded. 

• Consume Hormone-Balancing Food: Sometimes, your mood is more likely brought by an imbalance hormone in your body. An increase in cortisol causes stress and anxiety, while depression is almost always traced back to an imbalance in serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels. But the good thing is, you can easily combat this by eating healthy and ingesting hormone-balancing foods. While doing that, you should also avoid food that’s causing you to feel worse. Some of these are food high in refined carbs, saturated and trans-fat, and alcohol.  

• Try Meditating: Meditation is another proven technique that helps in handling anxiety and depression. It can help break the chain of negative thought patterns that might be plaguing you. Apart from that, it also relieves tension and increases your mental focus. Because the pandemic might have left you with more time to overthink, engaging in a positive habit such as meditation can prevent such. 

• Start Exercising: Physical activities are a great producer of happy hormones like endorphins and dopamine that boost your mood. Plus, the great thing about exercise is that you can get creative in doing it. You don’t have to leave your house. There are online videos out there you can follow at home. 

3. Invest in Self-Care 

Contrary to the common belief that self-care is selfish, it’s actually one of the best things you can do for yourself. Even more so right now that it’s easy to become depressed, self-care helps you feel better and more energized. It gives you the motivation to continue living and care for others. 

Taking care of others is impossible if you don’t first take care of yourself. You probably have heard people say something like, ‘Be wary when a naked man offers you a shirt.’ It just means that you can’t give what you don’t have. 

You can’t offer relaxation if you’re stressed. You can’t give joy if you’re sad. You must first seek to comfort yourself before you can start doing that for others. And, if you’re asking how you’ll do that. The answer is simple: self-care. 

The beauty of self-care lies in the fact that it doesn’t have to be extravagant. Although, it can if you want it to be. But you can start small. You can begin by incorporating some small tasks that boost your overall mood. To do that, try some of the following: 

• Avoid The Negative Self-Talk: Negative self-talk is often the result of failing to accomplish something. So, when you find yourself forgetting some tasks or failing to meet a plan, refrain from beating yourself too much. Instead, what you should do is be easier on yourself. Understand that it’s okay if you’re not productive all the time. Trust that your mind will thank you when you become a little nicer to yourself.  

• Don’t Forget to Treat Yourself: As mentioned, you can set a time to do some of the things you love, whether reading or watching your favorite movie. Or it could even be as simple as ordering your favorite meal from that Thai restaurant. Additionally, what you can do is set one treat for yourself per day. This way, you’ll have something to look forward to. It’ll be much easier to deal with a lack of motivation and depression when you give yourself something to be excited about. 

• Don’t Neglect Your Appearance: Remember, when you look good, you feel good. And that may ring truer when you’re battling with depression and anxiety. You may take some negative feelings off by giving yourself a nice long shower, doing your hair, or putting on a nice outfit. Small actions like these may have a positive impact on how you feel. 

4. Get A Proper Work-life Balance 

An additional technique you can try is getting a proper balance between personal and professional life. With the recent shift of most industries to remote work, you’ve probably found yourself working longer hours. This is because the line between the career and personal aspect of your life has blurred. Now that you’re working from home, it’s so much easier to neglect to have a healthy balance. But it’s crucial if you want to maintain a functional mind.  

To maintain a work-life balance, you can set a timer for yourself when you need to stop working. Don’t try to work longer than what’s intended. And when it’s time to rest, really do make sure that you get to relax. Not doing so may take a huge toll on your mental health. 

It might put you in a downward spiral towards even worse mental problems. In addition, maintaining a limit to your working hours also ensures that you get enough time for other aspects of your life. That time could be spent engaging in self-care or connecting with your loved ones. 

5. Set Up a Safe Haven 

Now that you’re staying home more often, it might be helpful to make your living space a more comfortable environment for you. Your environment may often be a reflection of your mind. This means that having a clean and comforting room will benefit your mental health as well. 

So, instead of feeling stuck when you’re at home, you might start to feel more relaxed and at peace. Turning your home into a sanctuary doesn’t have to be hard at all. There are so many simple ways you can do to achieve that, like the following:  

• Get Some Plants: Plants are a transformative way to make you feel closer to nature. There’s a natural comforting feeling that accompanies being surrounded by plants. Perhaps, it’s the increased oxygen or just the cool color of green in the surrounding. Either way, it’s something you can utilize to feel extra peaceful inside your home. 

• Add Fresh Scents: Scents are a great way to calm the mind. That’s why many people are fond of sniffing essential oils. Not only does it smell good, but it may also give a relaxing feeling. Apart from that, you can even light up some candles to make your house feel like a spa.  

6. Reduce Your Screen Time 

Although it’s good to keep updated with the recent happenings in the world, it’s also helpful to take some rest from it. Social media may be a way to induce more anxiety and sadness in your life. Nowadays, there isn’t much good news to see online. 

Too much exposure on your screen may cause you to feel down. This is even worse if you’re already suffering from pandemic-induced depression and anxiety.  

What you can do is set a schedule when you’re going to check the news. It could be after your morning routine just before you start working. Or perhaps, you can check the news mid-day while you’re taking a break from work. 

Whatever you choose, make sure that you only consume news during this designated period. Doing so allows you not to feel bombarded by every current event in the world.  

You can do the same thing with your favorite social media platform. Nowadays, social media is full of highlight reels that make you feel bad about your life. You might start to feel sorry about your life because you’re comparing your life with that of others. 

However, most of the things you see on social media are carefully curated. So, that self-pity you feel after scrolling through your friend or an influencer’s post isn’t well-deserved. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel that way, especially when you’re stuck at home, alone and depressed. 

Thus, spending less time browsing your social media account may help curb those anxiety or pandemic depression ticks.

Conclusion 

Staying at home to be safe from getting the virus is good, but doing so may take a toll on your well-being. Thus, you may want to consider doing the tips above to stay mentally healthy and well. Take some time for yourself to do things that will make you happy. 

However, if you’re showing signs of prolonged depression and it’s starting to influence other aspects of your life, then it might be time to seek professional help. There’s much available assistance out there, and seeking one might be one of the best things you can do right now.