Whether you work from home a lot, or you have to spend time inside due to a chronic health issue, or you’re just not sure about heading outside right now, spending all this time cooped up can make you ill. We all know the effects of ‘Cabin Fever’, and through no fault of your own, you’re incredibly susceptible to it right now!
As such, something needs to be done to ensure you’re feeling well in yourself. And thankfully, there are plenty of ways to apply a bit of self care when you can’t head outside. So, if you’re not sure what to do next to push away how bad being stuck at home feels, keep the points below in mind.
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Gentle Exercise is Essential
Gentle exercise is always going to be more beneficial than you might think. Sure, a HIIT workout will do a lot for your muscles and calorie level in a short amount of time, but this kind of workout can be hard to keep up with when you’ve got limited mobility or issues with your blood pressure.
So instead, we turn to gentle forms of exercise, such as walking, Yoga, or a slow dance routine. Simply being able to move your body is better than sitting still for long periods of time, and the more you can use of that negative, stagnating energy you’ve been collecting, the easier you’ll find it to regulate your emotions and thoughts, as well as get better sleep at night.
Why not look up a gentle exercise routine right now? There are many different stretches and movements you can do to help your body feel more active and flexible, and they don’t tend to take long at all either. Just 5 to 10 minutes a day can make all the difference.
Additional Resource: Benefits of Compact Home Gym
Make Good Use of Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the term we use to refer to using Zoom to have a doctor’s appointment, or being able to get your repeat prescriptions online instead of going in person. And seeing as it’s quite hard to secure an in-person doctor’s appointment these days, this has been a Godsend for so many people! As such, you should make full and good use of it. Telemedicine means healthcare services come straight to you, without any need for effort on your part, and that’s great for people who are unable to leave the house on their own or at any time.
In general, the program cuts down on appointment times, commute times, and also ensures you have a direct line to the doctor whenever you need to see them. So don’t be afraid to schedule an appointment, even if you think things haven’t gotten that bad.
Give Yourself a Bedtime
Giving yourself a bedtime is a great way to get yourself into a healthy routine. Typically, the earlier you go to bed, the better, but keeping track of this can be hard when you’re stuck at home all day. The hours can blend together, and you find yourself staying up to 3 or 4 in the morning just surfing away on social media or watching TV.
As such, it’s good to break the habit as soon as possible; think about your typical day, especially if they’ve changed a lot since the first COVID-19 lockdown started. How has your sleep schedule changed? Do you go to bed later and get up later? And does this bother you?
If so, making a plan to head to bed at 10 or 11 pm is a great way to get yourself out of the cycle. A little bit of discipline and you can get back to that 8 hours, straight through and wake up at 9am like you were used to a couple of years ago.
Take Care of Your Skin
The way you look often dictates the way you feel; the more you look in the mirror and don’t really like what you see, the worse you’re going to feel. And of course, there’s always a journey of self acceptance to go on, but there are also little ways to make you feel good in the here and now. And one of the best for this is to apply a little TLC to your skin.
Apply a face mask, do a full skin care routine, even just have a long soak in the bath – taking some time to feel clean, and prove that your skin can glow, is a great way to boost your own confidence. Sure, you’ve been wearing pajamas around the house for a couple days in a row, but you can change this in an instant, and look and feel like yourself again.
Do Something Away From Social Media
Social media is a great tool in the modern era. You can keep up with friends and family, keep up with what’s going on outside, and you can spend time watching videos and reading posts that make you laugh. However, we all know there’s a very dark side to this too. An overuse of social media can lead to a dependency on online validation, anxiety over notifications, and ultimately, you can turn to doomscrolling.
As such, you can end up ruining your mental health and spending all of your free time surfing the web. You stop sleeping as well as you used to, and your head is filled with worry over what’s going on in the world. Which means it’s time to pull back, and give yourself a much needed break!
So, find something to do that moves you away from the phone or computer. Something that makes good use of your hands, such as baking or cooking or building a model. Just do something that’s concrete, and set in reality, and results in you being proud of what you’ve made when you’re done.
If you’re often given no other choice than to spend time indoors, remember the points above to give yourself a boost. Inside isn’t evil, but it can often feel like it!
