Maintaining our mental welfare is always important for our health, especially during the self-isolation that many is enforced to endure as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic continues, millions of people around the globe are coming to terms with being cut off from society.
Beyond the inconvenience of working from home, or not being able to go eat at our favorite fast-food restaurant, or go to the cinemas, or hang out with our family, and friends.
However, experts have found that social isolation has a profound effect on our physical, as well as mental health.
Nonetheless, being isolated for a long time can increase the risk of premature death.
Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University of Public Health and a population health expert said that he does not dismiss the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
However, he also highlights the importance of considering the unexpected risks associated with the response to the outbreak.
“The fact that social isolation is associated with poor mental health is unquestionable,” he explained.
Galea also noted the effects of quarantining on people’s mental health, even though quarantining measures and guidance vary by country.
He referred to a study of the 2003 SARS outbreak of the psychological effects of quarantining on residents in Toronto, which showed a substantial portion of those quarantined displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Galea offered advice on how to maintain our mental welfare if the quarantining was necessary:
- Staying in touch with your social and family via technology
- Keep to your daily habits as much as possible
- Exercise regularly and practice habits that you find enjoyable and relaxing
- Seeking practical, credible information at specific times of the day
We need to maintain be in perfect shape, both mentally and physically, in order to face the virus, and as the saying goes "a healthy mind in a healthy body".
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