How can we boost our mental
health in the COVID-19 era to develop a healthier and more resilient “new
normal” for the future?
Understanding how the
COVID-19 pandemic and measures to prevent the virus' transmission affect our
mental health can help us adapt;
From focusing on everyday
boosts to mental health to empowering our communities, these expert
recommendations can help.
Improving our mental health
hygiene now could help us create a “new normal” for mental well-being in the
future.
How many of us right now
are experiencing a heady cocktail of confusion, anxiety and even some
surprising moments of respite from our pre-COVID-19, always-on-the-go culture?
In a new survey by the Kaiser
Family Foundation, 45% of Americans felt that the coronavirus crisis
is harming their mental health (19% felt it had a “major impact”).
Our traditional media and social media feeds are filled
with urgent and often conflicting imperatives to change our routines and be
constantly vigilant.
The online onslaught of rapidly updating media stories
reporting worst-case scenarios can fuel fear and panic. Uncritical
overconsumption of such messages can erode one of our most precious and
essential human resources for weathering the COVID-19 storm: our mental health.
Even before the virus outbreak, depression and anxiety
have been noted as defining features of our times. Isolation
and uncertainty are not going to help us deal with the new realities of our
newly virtual lives – virtual work, virtual schools and virtual family care –
under the incredible stress of unfamiliar circumstances.
An opportunity for a new normal for mental health
How can we boost our mental health in the COVID-19
era to minimize the impact of the virus and the “social distancing” in our
lives, and to develop a healthier and more resilient “new normal” for the
future? Will we finally pay serious attention to the link between stress
regulation and our health and well-being?
Image: World
Health Organization
Firstly, there are five
facts about stress, the brain and mental health that can help. There is
virtually no disease, illness or injury that is not aided by good mental
health. Why?
1. Our brains and
our immune system are deeply linked to each other. The immune system is the prime mediator of environmental agents
such as microbes, chemicals and the infamous COVID-19. It is intimately
linked to our mood and to a number of brain maladies from Alzheimer’s
disease to stroke and depression.
2. Stress is normal and can
be healthy (and spur healthy behaviours: think of a zebra trying to escape a
rapidly approaching lion), but too much sustained stress is not. High and unregulated levels of stress have a number of negative
consequences on the brain, immunity and the vascular system, leading to
blood sugar imbalances, high blood pressure and impaired immunity and
inflammatory responses – the very precise opposite of what we need to fight the
potential impact from COVID-19 exposure.
3. Physical exercise is an
essential component of improving
both physical and mental health and
regular exercise has been linked to changes in
brain connectivity, and increases in brain growth factors (e.g. brain-derived neurotrophic
factor) and decreases in oxidative stress which damages cells and tissue.
4. Mindfulness and relaxation techniques can
improve mood and sleep quality through enhancing
control over the body’s arousal system and focus as well as managing anxiety
and concerns.
5. Investing in
mental health pays long-lasting dividends. Studies have shown that future mental
and physical health are related to previous investments in mental and physical
health. The earlier the better – but it’s never too late.
A healthier ‘new normal’: three habits for good mental
hygiene to beat COVID-19
These five facts show the significant physical and mental
health challenge at hand – and a substantial opportunity. How do we put it all
together?
1. Focus every day on
what you can do and take action – no matter how small. Low-tech
and even no-tech solutions matter, a lot. Go outside and appreciate nature (as
allowed by your local guidelines) at a slower pace to get a daily dose of
physical exercise, relaxation and vitamin D. Call that relative or friend you
haven’t spoken to in a while. Practice in these next few weeks to be in the
moment, more mindful and supportive of those around you. We can all learn to be
more flexible and have acceptance (which is not the same as acquiescence) of
what we can do with the present rather than what we cannot do.
2. Explore – even
shape – the new mental health toolkit. COVID-19 is bringing
massive attention to the growing resources available online. Let’s explore and
master the full breadth of opportunities for meaningful social connection,
mindfulness, self-care, distance learning, telemedicine and beyond. There’s no
time like the present to review our use of tech in general and mental health
tech in particular. Apps won’t magically grant wellness, sleep or an end to
poor mental health, but they are tools that we can learn to use with wisdom.
The Global Future Council on Technology for Mental Health
has issued a call to action to empower 8 billion minds via wise and
ethical development and adoption of a wide array of emerging technologies.
How technology can support
better mental health
Image: Alvaro Fernandez
Ibanez and Karen Rommelfanger
In response to COVID-19,
many developers are offering free online tools which can be used to spark more
self-reflection and to develop better sleep, exercise and self-care habits.
Cultivating these habits
can have significant and most timely effects such as changes in our immune systems. If widespread enough, this
realization can revolutionize how we tackle general and mental health going
forward.
3. Empower those around
you. We can all take ownership of and be supportive and responsive to
our communities – our families, neighbourhoods, work, societies. A recent US study has
shown that the most effective public health messages in slowing the spread of
COVID-19 are those that focus on considerations of duty and responsibility to
family, friends, and fellow citizens, not just our own personal agenda.
We’re in a moment of “increasing
revelatory tension”; for the first time for many of us, we are
seeing how the “old normal” in terms of both physical and mental health can
take a backseat in the prioritizations of daily life.
We have an opportunity before us to establish an even
stronger and more resilient global community, one that practises both physical
and mental hygiene. Now is the time for individual and collective action to
shift to a healthier “new normal” for all.
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