Some helpful ways to take care of your mental health during the
pandemic!
We are social creatures. So it's no surprise that quarantine fatigue has
begun to set in. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life
and social distancing has just exacerbated the problem. Social
connection is essential to our well-being, since prolonged isolation can
increase the risk of depression and anxiety. Social distancing
recommendations will remain in place for months to come, and until
there's a vaccine, limits on big gatherings will likely continue. For
the elderly or those who live alone, the isolation can be particularly
grueling. But even during these difficult times people are finding new
ways to entertain themselves. Here are some strategies to help beat the
fatigue!
CREATE
According to a recent survey, nearly half of Americans are anxious about
contracting COVID-19, and four in 10 Americans are worried about getting
seriously ill or dying from it. Businesses are shutting their doors,
markets are falling and we may be headed toward a global recession. We
shouldn’t feel too hopeless, though. There are simple tasks — like
maintaining a regular schedule, getting a good night’s sleep and eating
healthy — that help fight feelings of depression, stress and
vulnerability. lately, a growing number of people are getting even more
creative with their coping methods. They’re making art. Photography,
music, painting and drawing are keeping people busy and distracted from
the stresses of COVID-19. And art doesn’t just unify us — it physically
benefits us, too. Studies show that spending just 45 minutes on an art
project can relieve stress, strengthen critical thinking skills and
improve and sustain memory. Neurobiologist Semir Zeki found that just
viewing art causes joy, similar to the sensation of falling in love.
Viewing art also relieves mental exhaustion in the same way the outdoors
does — walking in nature, losing oneself in music and admiring art
directly influence health and life expectancy.
LISTEN
From as early as ancient Egypt, Greece and the Babylonians, music has
been a reliable tool for spiritual healing and social bonding for
thousands of years amid disease. When plague struck Sparta in the 7th
century BC, city leaders petitioned the poet Thaletus to sing hymns, and
Terpander, another noted ancient Greek poet, was called up during a
plague in Lesbos. Even Pythagoras, the creator of every schoolchild’s
favourite theorem, used music as a therapeutic device, playing the lyre
to calm drunken hooligans. In medieval Italy, music went far beyond
singing from windows, too. Before knowledge of contagion was widespread,
the medieval “plague procession” was a recurrent sight on Europe’s
streets. Entire towns marched, sang and prayed under icons of local
saints, with call-and-response litanies designed to encourage
participation. Remi Chiu, a musicologist at Loyola University, finds a
parallel in these processions with the “Wuhan jiayou!” – or ‘Stay
strong, Wuhan!” – chants that took off in January in the Chinese city
where the pandemic began and likewise with the appearance of local
patriotic songs on Italian balconies. Chiu says music’s ability to
overcome our egos is a “very powerful” tool in a quarantine. “When
you’re making music, you’re submitting yourself – your mind, your body –
to its regulation. And when you’re making music communally, or even
dancing or doing the Macarena with your neighbours, you’re
simultaneously contributing and submitting yourself to the larger goal
of the group.” Technology can extend this communality – through a tweet
or Facebook post, what would have become a column inch or a forgotten
memory can inspire global solidarity.
MOVE
Dating back to history and ancient civilisations, dance has always been
used in various ways, be it prayer, celebration or war. Today we are in
a war of a different kind. The whole world is fighting one common enemy,
the coronavirus. In times like these where people are forced to insulate
themselves, dance and music are slowly becoming a common way to bring
people together and cheer them on. The internet is full of free
concerts, and celebrated dancers and artists are beaming out art from
their living rooms, making the experience so much more real and
personal. There is a reason music is found in every known culture. Music
moves us at the level of the body, the brain and the group. The
interpersonal synchrony that we achieve through making music links our
minds and bodies, enhancing social cohesion, bonding and other positive
outcomes.
