Sometimes we spend more time looking after our body than our mind. That’s understandable, as we take care of what we can see. But we have to learn to understand our body from a holistic perspective. And taking care of the mind is crucial to everything working properly. These are times for staying at home, which is certainly not a common experience for humans. We’re used to leaving our homes every day, or nearly every day, to go to work, to the shops, to meet up with friends, to go for a walk….
With every passing day you may find it more and more difficult to resist leaving your home. That’s why it’s fundamental you take care of yourself, both your body and mind. If your mind is strong it can resist any discomfort. We give you 10 tips to learn how to look after your mind whilst we stay at home.
10 tips to look after your mind
Make sure your diet is varied, balanced, and sufficient
Nutrition is a decisive factor in protecting our health. To keep your mind in working condition, you need to eat in a healthy way, eating all the food groups every day: cereals and root veg, protein, dairy and derivatives, fruit and vegetables, in the necessary amounts for your energy use. Find out the 10 keys to follow a healthy diet.
Do mental training
You have to keep your brain “in shape” to stop it going sluggish. Doing activities that exercise our minds helps to delay ageing and keep us more mentally alert and agile. This advice is useful for everyone, regardless of age; it is always necessary to keep our mind active, but even more so when we have less daily stimulation.
Relax
Learning to relax helps your body stay in shape and has positive effects on your mind. There are many relaxation techniques, such as yoga, mindfulness, tai-chi, relaxation exercises, relaxing music…
Exercise
Regular physical activity is a perfect partner for caring for your mind. It is involved in the prevention of physical and mental problems, helps to satisfactorily develop our body, and heal injuries. It is a cornerstone of keeping our bodies healthy. “Mens sana in corpore sano”.
Keep to a schedule and enjoy
It is easy to get stuck in a rut and fall into a very damaging routine for your mind. Be creative and make a list of the activities you most like that you can do at home. Carry out the list and you’ll feel better.
Laugh and smile when you can
It’s time to sharpen the mind and look for formulas that fill you with optimism and good mood. Telling funny stories as a family, rediscovering board games, a fancy dress competition, listening to jokes… Many scientists have confirmed that smiling is good for you physically and emotionally. And it’s contagious, influencing your environment.
Learn with others and empathise
We’ve had to stay at home, in a very limited space and it’s easy for disagreements to happen due to living with other people 24/7. This can only entail frustration. We should put ourselves in other people’s shoes and realise that other people also have moments of anger, apathy… Turn it around and take criticism in a constructive manner, as a healthy way of learning from other people. In other words, if we all make an effort, it’s a way we can learn with other people.
Keep social contact
It is the time to reinvent yourself, find out what tools technology offers us for staying in touch with friends and family, and be interested in initiatives that are being carried out currently. Being socially active makes us feel better. Here I give you some advice:
- Group, family, or one-to-one videocalls
- Have an online cocktail party with your friends and/or family
- Start online challenges with a group: tongue twisters, exercise, cooking…
- Go to live stream concerts
- Participate in current community activities
Dedicate time exclusively for you
Who doesn’t need time to spoil and treat themself? Our diary is usually full of activities, appointments, commitments, meetings… But each and every one of us needs to save a moment of our time to take a break. Disconnect from the daily grind and slow the pace down.
Now is the ideal time, as the circumstances seem to remind us there is nothing else to do but stop. However, finding a private and exclusive space at home can also be difficult. Even so, it’s very important to make an effort at home and find that space for each one of those who live together. Grant a time to spend on yourself. You can choose how to make the most of this time however you want, you are completely free.
Avoid INFOXICATION
Infoxication is defined as an excess or overload of information. When we are saturated with information, it is impossible for us to go in depth into what we are really interested in and we can have a mental block. Receiving hundreds of messages on WhatsApp every day, trying to read every article we “suspect” might be interesting, following all social media… it is simply impossible for us to keep up.
The best thing to do is set a maximum daily time for news, social media and messages, and, above all, choose well where that information comes from.
With all these tips to look after the mind while we spend these days at home, it will be easier to cope with the current day to day situation. And what’s more, we can acquire them as habits, so that they form part of our routine for ever.
