The new normal has made it even more challenging to maintain our health and well-being. Not only is our socialization limited, but almost every other aspect of our lives has been affected. The lockdown restrictions, new safety protocols, and even our careers have had to adapt to our new way of living. However, you can still incorporate new healthy practices and habits in your everyday life to optimize your health and prioritize your well-being during such uncertain times. In the following, we’ll discuss just some of the key aspects you’ll need to consider when improving and optimizing your health during the new normal.
Change Up Your Eating
While it’s easier to have unhealthy eating habits such as snacking and binge eating when you’re stuck at home, it’s essential to minimize these habits as much as possible. More often than not, the tendency for these harmful eating habits comes from either convenience or emotional eating. Your eating habits and the ability to manage your difficult emotions are somewhat interconnected, so one of the keys to changing your eating habits for the better is to manage your emotions better. This is primarily where the team’s “stress eating” comes from. Whether you’re stressed, anxious, angry, or feeling overwhelmed, it’s best to refrain from binging out on all the food you want—otherwise known as your comfort food. You don’t need to have a perfect diet for good nutrition, but you might need to shift some things around with your eating pattern. It’s also important to be aware and mindful that you tend to engage in certain eating habits when stressed or anxious. This isn’t bad occasionally, but it becomes harmful when it becomes your everyday lifestyle.
Move Your Body
Next to nutrition, exercise is the next crucial aspect of the new normal. Moving your body in any way will significantly help you improve your mental, emotional, and physical health. Not only are you helping your body in the most significant way, but physical activity also benefits your mind and emotions. Exercise has been shown to help you lead a more productive, grateful, and focused life, and it’s one of the significant aspects that exercise can provide. With the perfect combination of exercise and diet, you’re optimizing your health, even amid a global pandemic. Also, exercise doesn’t always have to feel like a chore as this can be something you genuinely enjoy. You just need to find an activity you enjoy, such as yoga, dancing, hiking, or running. What matters is that you move your body in any way you prefer, for both your mental and physical health.
Develop Better Habits
Your habits will define a lot of your health and well-being, especially during the new normal. Having destructive habits will be detrimental to your health, but good habits will turn your pandemic life around. Provided that it’s a difficult adjustment for everyone, great habits can give you something to routinely hold on to. Incorporating practices like exercise, proper nutrition, meditation, or even going for a walk can really transform your life during the pandemic. This kind of routine can keep you grounded in something you can control since having a sense of control has been harder to grasp since the pandemic hit. Developing good habits are easier when you set achievable goals and start small. You can start by improving just one aspect of your daily routine and build from there.
Maintain Your Social Relationships
You’ll want to maintain a source of socialization if you’re looking to take a holistic approach to improving your overall health and well-being. We’re all social individuals by nature, so it’s vital to maintain any kind of socialization during the pandemic. As we’ve all adapted to virtual socialization, you can take advantage of video calls, voice messages, Netflix parties, gaming apps and platforms, and the like. You can still socialize regularly while also keeping yourself safe from the virus, as the risk spectrum varies for different individuals. Socialization is a crucial aspect of health for those away from their family members. The need for social interaction knows no age and manifests differently for different people. Millennials living away from home to work or study have been more like to travel back home or spend more time talking to their loved ones online. Older citizens in assisted living have also been encouraged to interact with their support network more during these difficult times, as it can be tough to feel so isolated. Whatever the age, socialization, and support are vital factors contributing to your overall health and well-being.
These are just some of the main pillars of maintaining good mental, physical and emotional health in a post-pandemic world. It’s important to remember to take things one step at a time and that a step in the right direction is already a major accomplishment.
