MENTAL HEALTH & COVID 19
Ms. V.Vidhya, Asst Professor, Department of MBA
Sankara College of Science and Commerce

Mental Health is not a destination, but a process. It is about how you drive and not where you are going. In this whole world where Corona is the only mantra, we the public is affected mentally rather than Covid 19. Myths and facts of Covid 19 drives inside each individual and it makes to feel that if body changes due to climatic conditions, we must take a test for Covid 19. And once the test is taken you will be quarantined for 14 days. This makes up all individual to think if it is really needed to take the test or not. Let’s all think our earlier years where these kinds of outbreaks had happened already and people have come out from it successfully. One of the forms of influenza virus was the reason for the outbreak of Spanish flu, which had the highest death toll of 100 million people worldwide.

Now recently Covid 19 is also a form of influenza virus which is creating pandemic situation in world. Apart from taking precautions for pandemic, here I have given some information on mental health fitness in this pandemic situation. As countries have restricted the movement outside to reduce the number of infected cases, many of us has to remain inside our home safe and secure. Some people do work at home, some have household work with work at home, home schooling, lack of physical contact with our family members and colleagues all these changes take some time to get adapted. Adaptation to these changes in life style and fear of not contracting with the virus are challenging phase for us. This can induce some extra illness like obesity, mental stress, fatigue, Insomnia and so on.

The Do’s and Don’ts in lockdown:
Keep informed:

The advices from National and International should be obeyed while we are in lockdown due to COVID 19. Follow the advices given by the government and take precautions accordingly.

Have a routine
During the lock down all our routines will be disrupted, our life style diseases will go up high. To avoid this, we need to follow our routine work regularly if there is lock down or not. By keeping up our routine we can make ourselves healthy.

Minimize news feed
Try to reduce the intake of Corona virus spread new feed through TV channels and Internet. This will reduce our fear and stress of being infected by the virus.

Hand wash – make a practice
Hand wash should be our day to day routine practice now onwards. It is said that the virus contacts us through our hands, so if we go out and come home back without touching your body and other things it is mandatory to wash our hands with soap or hand washing liquid. Scientists had proved that once we wash our hands with soap or sanitizer as it creates holes in the body of virus and the virus gets killed, so let’s make a practice to wash our hands regularly.

Wearing Mask in public places
Wearing mask has become another mandatory practice to all during this pandemic situation. It is said that it will protect us from virus being spread by others. Beware of having self-disease also by over intake of carbon dioxide to our body by wearing mask. Try to put mask when we go out to any shop or urgency. It is like we wear our helmet while driving two-wheeler, we wear mask once we step out of our house. This will reduce our stress of being contacted with virus infected person.

Spend time with family
Many problems at home arise due to lack of communication with each other. As it is lockdown, we have to be at home to stay safely. This is the time we can sit and talk and relax with our family. The stress level will decrease by playing with children’s.
It is said that life is a journey, and go along with it. Like that Corona has become our neighbour and we cannot avoid it but we can prevent it by simply changing the lifestyle techniques. The fear or Corona, and lock down will lead to mental stress and depression for an individual which will in turn lead to other health diseases. So stay healthy, stay mentally strong and fight Corona.