Improving Mental Wellbeing During Lockdown
Discussions of how to improve mental wellbeing have increased in frequency over the course of the UK's third national lockdown. Lockdowns around the world have caused many people to be isolated for extended periods, so many people are emotionally and psychologically suffering. Now that almost a year has passed since the first UK lockdown, we are noticing the mental health impact more acutely.
Why do lockdowns take a toll on mental wellbeing?
Human beings are social animals. We have evolved to live in groups. Whenever we are isolated from others for an extended time, we suffer emotionally.
Suffering is not a tangible illness. It is intangible. But it is still real. Especially to those who are doing the suffering.
How can we help others (and ourselves) improve mental wellbeing?
In order to help people, we must take countermeasures, which will have two chief aims:
- To minimise the emotional suffering caused by social isolation.
- To maximise the potential benefit by making "a virtue out of a necessity".
How can we minimise the emotional suffering caused by social isolation?
There are two ways we can minimise the emotional suffering caused by social isolation, these are "Use technology" and "Do whatever we can".
1. Use technology
We live in a world filled with astonishing technology. We have fantastic opportunities to see, hear, and talk to everyone we know. We must make full use of the tech tools to contact with people we care about. For example, last night my wife had a "bake off" with her mother, using video calling. And Mum loved it!
2. Do whatever we can
Whatever opportunities the lockdown gives us to see each other, we should make full use of.
Do not neglect to do what you can do. Do not neglect to see people you can see. Adopt the motto: If we can, we MUST.
Now, let us think about how to make "a virtue out of a necessity".
How might we emotionally benefit from this situation?
There are two ways in which we can seek emotional benefits at a time like this, which in turn lead to improvements in our mental wellbeing: "Access new people in new ways" and "Eliminate the negative voices".
1. Access new people in new ways.
The lockdowns have completely changed the way we interact with people.
That is a bad thing in many ways, but on the other hand, it might be a good thing! It depends how we look at it.
When the environment changes, we must change too. We must adapt, adjust and evolve. We do that by doing new things. We talk to new people, in new ways.
We can use technology to break out of our old patterns and find new ways to interact with new people.
We should take the opportunity to evolve into new and potentially better ways.
2. Eliminate the negative voices.
Lockdown and distancing take us away from people we like. That is bad.
But on the other hand, it also takes us away from the people we do NOT like. Which is terrific!
Before lockdown, we had to share space with people who wasted our time with their negative talk. We could not get away from them. But now we can.
Now, we can legally exclude every annoying and irritating person! That might be fun.
It would free us up to spend longer in conversation with people who make us feel better.
We can now eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive.
Mental wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is the state of mind in which a person feels calm, thinks clearly, keeps good ties with others, and holds a sense of purpose. This steady state lets the person face stress, change and daily tasks without harm. When calm feelings, clear thought, healthy links or coping ability fall away, mental wellbeing drops.
CG4D Definition
Context: Public health
Genus: State
- Stable positive feelings
- Clear and useful thinking
- Healthy social ties
- Ability to cope with stress and change
Article Summary
Lockdown cuts us off, yet we can guard our mental wellbeing by using video calls to stay social, seeking fresh contacts online, getting outside safely, and silencing negative voices; when we act on these small daily habits we swap isolation for growth.