There are many useful articles online that share tips on “surviving” during quarantine. Well, in this post, I would like to share with you my recommendations on how to maintain healthy lifestyle, when you are locked-down at home. The tips I share with you are based on my own experience.
1. Get moving first thing in the morning
Not only will you will feel better you’ll be more energized and positive throughout the day. Thus, daily tasks would seem to be not as difficult to resolve and your current situation not as bad as it might have felt should you be a sedentary person.
Choose physical activity that you like and are used to. You probably don’t want to start something completely new since it might create additional stress on your body, in already stressful period of time.
If you aren’t a sport fan, do simple walking. Depending on your circumstances, go for a walk outside, walk on a treadmill or simply, do marching in place. Besides marching, you can do squats, push-ups and plank variation. Now, you’ve got a whole workout that you can perform without leaving your home.
Your main goal should be to break a sweat. If you feel lack of self-motivation, connect with your friends online by scheduling training time, and support each other. Share your achievements and positive energy generated from sport activities with others.
2. Follow a schedule
Lots of things we do on a daily basis we do on an auto-pilot, without too much thinking about it. Mostly of us do stress if an ordinary daily routine takes an unexpected turn.
In order to avoid further stress we have because of social isolation, these days, I recommend you to follow your usual daily routine as much as it is in your power.
For instance, if you continue to work from home, start your work day at about the same time you would do it at the office. In addition, you might want to put on your office-style shirt instead of that super comfy but overstretched home hoodie or favorite cotton t-shirt with holes in it. For me, wearing a business shirt does give my brain a clue that I am serious about my working hours and there is no time for distraction. I hope this “dress-code” trick would work for you as well.
Sticking to your usual daily tasks, even partially, would bring you a feeling of being in more control and thus you would be calmer and stronger when it comes to making a healthy choice when shopping for groceries online or setting up a portion for dinner meal.
3. Get plenty of sleep
Sleep deficiency could make you irritated, depressed, and your willpower weak. Being in such condition, it would be much harder for you to make healthy choices when there is a temptation to lay on a couch, browse Instagram posts, watch TV series or eat that chocolate bar that is hidden from your eye sight in a pantry closet.
On a contrast, when you are well rested after a good quality night sleep, you’ll feel more productive and more motivated to stick to your healthy routine and even go through personal challenges in your trainings or trying out new healthy recipes.
4. Clean your pantry closet and freezer
I guess a quarantine is an optimal time to start cleaning your pantry closet and freezer, get those long-forgotten foods out like chick peas, lentils, brown rice, quinoa etc., and put them to a good use.
Nowadays, healthy recipes can be easily googled for.
Last summer, I was so excited I got a chance to freeze a variety of local berries. Now, I am even more excited to be able to add them to my smoothies. Plus, there is more room in my freezer now that can be used to store home made waffles or oatmeal cookies.
5. Find time for your hobbies
You’ve probably heard about the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“ written by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. If not, I do recommend you to read it should you be a fan of self-improvement books. According to author of the book, during flow, people usually experience joy, creativity, and a total involvement with life. The quality of our lives can be greatly improved by being mindful and controlling the information that enters our consciousness.
By doing things you love to do, you’ll be able to find that state of mind called flow.
When you are passionate about something you do, you forget about everything else. You are mindful about your actions. You are in the flow.
These sad days, it is important like never to find time for your hobbies. I, personally, returned to my blog since I love to share my thoughts, experience and knowledge with others. Writing to my blog does make me happy.
What are you passionate about? What are your recommendations on following a healthy lifestyle during quarantine? Please feel free to share them over here.
Salutaris Vita 