Covid-19: Protecting your mental health is as important as washing your hands

The minute-to-minute news updates are unquestionably useful, and it feels like one's civic duty to stay attuned to developments in the Covid-19 pandemic and the regional policies that pertain to it.

On one hand, it's irresponsible to disengage from the corona crisis for even a moment. On the other hand, our near-constant preoccupation with mortality rates, dire economic projections and risk-averse protocols is exacerbating the coronavirus's ruination, particularly of our psychological wellbeing.

How can we protect our sanity when every waking hour is saturated by news of a pandemic? 

TUNE OUT

Experts are recommending that in addition to observing social distancing, people should also implement measures to reduce the intrusion of Covid-19 into their lives. It's essential to stay digitally connected — not least to combat the loneliness of self-isolation — but it's equally important to prevent yourself from "panic scrolling" — indulging in a frenzied survey of your newsfeed, reaping alarming statistics and immersing yourself in conspiracy theories.

Now more than ever, it's critical to enforce checks on your digital consumption and to create safe spaces that temper your exposure to material that engenders fear and panic.

If your mental stability is being impeded by news cycles and your Facebook feed, limit your log-in times, and try not to watch the news or read articles first thing in the morning or last thing before bed.

Within the confines of lockdown level 4, you can create spatial havens by avoiding social media and coronavirus-related news in your bedroom, or your kitchen — or by limiting your digital check-ins to a single location.

You should also communicate your intentions to the people you're in contact with. Reducing your digital exposure won't be effective if every conversation you have includes an exchange of data on the outbreak.

BANISH THE FEAR 

Fear is bad for your body: researchers at the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, say chronic anxiety can suppress your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to infection. It's as important to protect your mental health as it is to wash your hands.

Psychologists are also emphasising the benefits of exercise as an antidote to worry, to counteract the inflammatory effects of anxiety.

Helping the people around you — without putting yourself at risk — is another alternative. A 2018 study published in Social Science Research confirmed that community service has a positive impact on people's sense of self-worth, happiness, and fulfilment.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself to behave optimally — you needn't use this time to finish your magnum opus or master French cooking. Giving in to the (ultimately masochistic) impulse to focus all your energy on the state of the world all the time is counter-intuitive — watching the news every hour doesn't amount to helping anybody else, and you're not doing yourself any favours, either.