Maintaining a healthy lifestyle during lockdown. Write out the speech in around 250 words.
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Answer:
How to look after your mental health
With all the change and uncertainty in life at the moment, taking care of your mental health has never been more important. There are several benefits associated with positive mental wellbeing, including things like:
reduced stress and anxiety
improved moods and clearer thinking
a greater sense of calm and increased self-esteem
improved relationships.
Understand your own mental health needs
For some people, talking about mental health issues can be difficult. They may not know exactly what their feelings are and how to express them. Although this can seem challenging at first, getting to understand your own needs is an important first step towards managing mental health and stress.
There are several elements worth considering as you try to understand your mental health needs. A good place to start is to find some quiet time in which you can reflect on how you’re feeling. Some questions to ask yourself might be:
Have you been more irritable with situations or people around you?
Have you been less interested in activities you usually like?
Have you found it difficult to concentrate?
Have you been sleeping more or less than usual?
Have your changed routines had an impact on your sleep?
Have you been eating more or less than usual?
Have you felt overwhelmed and like there is too much to do?
Have you felt concerned about the future? What aspect specifically?
Have you been able to get enough time to yourself to relax?
What sort of activities usually help you ‘reset’ when you’re not feeling yourself – have you been able to do them?
It’s a difficult and strange time for everybody, so changes to routine and anxiety are a normal response to the circumstances. But recognising which parts are particularly difficult, or understanding exactly how you feel about them, is an important step in trying to improve your mental health.
As this BBC video explores, feeling in control can go a long way to helping you feel better. So, think about how you’re feeling, what your worries are, and what things are stressing you out. Try writing these points down to give you some clarity, and decide what you have control over and can take proactive steps with.
There are also several tried and tested methods that are proven to help people in various situations deal with trying times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’re concerned about your own mental health needs, the NHS has a mood self-assessment tool that can help you understand how you’ve been feeling. For young people who are struggling during the lockdown, we also have a course on helping young people manage low mood and depression.
Practice mindfulness exercises
Mindfulness is a practice that is beneficial no matter what’s going on in the world. If things seem a little stressful at the moment, and you’re finding it hard to focus, it could be the ideal remedy. But what is mindfulness?
Put simply, being mindful is the act of being fully present and aware of where you are and what you’re doing. It’s something that all people can do, although few of us take the time to actually spend doing it. However, it can be a great first step when discovering how to stay healthy during lockdown.
Practising mindfulness can help to reduce stress and anxiety, improve your memory, and help with concentration. And maintaining a mindful life can benefit your emotional health, relationships and communication skills now and in the future.
A great place to start with mindfulness is with some basic breathing exercises. Take one minute out of your day to sit and focus on your breath. Notice the air going in and out of your nostrils as your chest rises and falls. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to focus on your breathing.
If you want to learn more about mindfulness techniques for various purposes, check out our course on mindfulness for wellbeing and peak performance.