Wellness From Inside Out

Posted on Aug 19th, 2022

The coronavirus pandemic, a viral attack on the physical body, has also brought to the fore the importance of mental health. The restrictions on social participation and employment status during the lockdowns have greatly impacted our mental well-being. It has increased exponentially the time spent online, both for work and for leisure. Though we may deny it, this has a direct effect on our quality of life and even sleep patterns. Mental health issues from this include increased anxiety, stress, and depression. It also affects how we feel about ourselves and our bodies.

In the new perspective, mental health is about finding new strategies to make life bearable and to make yourself happier. In these dark times, every little thing helps — a relaxing stroll in the garden, adopting a pet, learning a new craft, even just being able to chat with someone online, easy exercises you can do at home. It is the little things that you can do to soothe yourself. Surviving covid is a marathon, pun intended. One of the most important survival strategies include being able to help yourself and deal with the issues that you might have left on the shelf because life had so many distractions. For women, this can include private feminine issues that they have neglected for some time.

In the privacy of our homes during the lockdowns, we can now take the time to read up and learn about the things we can do, to bring our physical and mental health back. We can go on the internet and chat with professionals and medical personnel about women’s problems that we never had the time to, or were too embarrassed to visit an agency or clinic personally for. In that sense, the internet has become a safe place for women to look for answers about feminine conditions that might have been mortifying to talk about. These issues have an important part to play in our mental health and how we feel about ourselves.

Mind and Body

The mind and the body are essentially one. Research has shown that exercise is clinically proven to stimulate serotonin, your natural feel-good neurotransmitter. When we move our bodies, it makes us feel better about ourselves. It does not matter what condition we are in at the moment, a regular walk, an easy stretch, a relaxed jog, all have the ability to allow our bodies and our minds to feel lighter. Locked up at home, sitting in front of our computers for hours, it has become even more important to get the body moving.

In Legally Blonde, fictional lawyer Elle Woods said, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands.” Shut-in, alone or with family, I suspect this is something that rings true for many people. And people know that. The sales of indoor exercise machines grew 170% during the coronavirus lockdown. Anything that could fit into a house and be used were sold and bought. Rowing machines, treadmills, stationary bicycles, dumb bells, skipping ropes — if was invented for exercise, it made it into homes of all sizes. Exercise, during the covid, has become more than just about losing weight, it’s about people wanting to deal with anxiety, depression and overcoming mental health issues.

Original article