Advice From the MHPG On Ways to Care for Yourself
- Get regular exercise
- Eat healthfully and stay hydrated
- Take regular breaks and try to do something enjoyable
- Relax and meditate
- Maintain social connections
- Structure your day with goals and time blocks, but also modify the definition of a “good day” to meet the realities of the situation
- Get enough sleep
- Many APPs on mobile devices provide guided relaxation exercises, anxiety reduction and meditations. The following list is not comprehensive but can be used as a start: CALM, HEADSPACE, OMVANA, SAM (Stress and Anxiety Management), and Breathe2Relax. There are also APPs for assisting with sleep.
- Many music APPs, such as Spotify, ITunes, Pandora and others, host meditation and guided imagery tracks.
- This website offers free daily meditations for healthcare workers: https://www.tenpercent.com/coronavirussanityguide.
- Streaming services - Youtube and many private gyms offer fitness and yoga classes.
Find something funny to laugh about every day. A good, hearty laugh is good for the soul, especially now.
Find one positive experience you can share with someone each day. This helps us have a vision beyond the tunnel vision of anxiety and uncertainty of this pandemic.
Stay safe and healthy and keep in touch. Keep yourself in balance and don’t go to extremes in any area of your life!
A special thank you to authors Lauren Berman, Jean Benward, Lisa Shuman, Joann Galst, Ellen Winters Miller, and Karen Hall.