Listen to the podcast here: https://anchor.fm/chirag-barjatya/episodes/CoronaVirus-Lockdown-and-Mental-Health-ebnk5m

 

Guest :

1) Dr.Amol Tayade – MBBS , psychologist and medical advisor at nULTA

2) Ankit Mishra – Co-founder of CricTacker , works for a media and digital marketing company

 

• WHAT ARE THE MAIN CAUSE OF PEOPLE GETTING LOW ON ENERGY AND DEPRESSION DURING THIS LOCKDOWN ?

– People are habituated to work daily and can’t sit ideal for so many days. This can cause  irritation.

– People who are self-employed and involved in business are experiences losses.

– Many huge plans like wedding, vacations got cancelled which may have caused anxiety and sadness.

– There is uncertainty about everything – the duration of lockdown which we all will have to experience, the death numbers due to COVID-19 etc.

– Many events are rescheduled or cancelled, for example, IPL – in which freelancers, content creators, videographers, graphic designers etc could have got a chance to earn but unfortunately didn’t.

– home-makers are stressed out on taking care of their family during this tough time.

 

• WHAT IS THE FIRST ADVICE THAT EVERYONE NEEDS AT THIS TIME?

– Take care of your physical health – practice yoga, exercise, eat healthy.

– Practice meditation.

– Have a good sleep schedule.

– Take care of your mental health – don’t stress out too much out of need.

 

• HOW IMPORTANT IS HUMAN INTERACTION AND HUMAN TOUCH ? IS THIS AFFECTING THE MENTAL BEING OF INDIVIDUALS?

– Human interaction is the key to human development and growth.

– In fact, it is a therapeutic tool to the mental being of any individual.

– Since, this human touch is hampered due to the lockdown , we can still be in the state of daily human interactions with friends, family and relatives.

– This is the best time to interact with anyone and everyone you want to.

 

• HOW TO MANAGE YOUR LOCKDOWN SCHEDULE?

– Your lockdown schedule should be healthy enough.

– It should include :

1. Proper sleep – waking up moderately early
2. Having good healthy food.
3. Interacting with your family
4. Keeping in touch with your friends and relatives.
5. Playing board games with your family.
6. Restarting and giving time to your hobbies.
7. Keeping a healthy environment around you in the house.

 

• IS INDULGING IN PORN AND SEXUAL ACTIVITIES IN FREE TIME CORRECT ?

– Since many porn sites are made free during lockdown, people tend to get involved in it so much in free time that they get a spike in dopamine for which you get addicted.

– Indulging in watching porn is always the wrong decision to spend your time.

– Being sexually active has no harm, in fact it is better than watching porn.

– Another good option to spend time is gaming, not in excess but moderately playing games can be therapeutic.

 

• WHAT ARE THE FIRST SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY?

– Fear

– Worrying about minute things

– Sudden changes in sleep pattern

– Worsening of an existent disease you have.

– Restlessness

– increased addiction of tobacco, alcohol etc.

 

• WHAT IS SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS?

– This is a condition in which an individual starts overwhelming about the things directly not related to him/her. This causes mental fatigue and eventually stress.

– For e.g. – Many people watch news and get stressed about the number of deaths due to COVID-19. This is directly not related to them, but they will get stressed about the overall situation and deteriorate their mental health due to this.

– Many people are experiencing this due to the ongoing situation, therefore it is advices to avoid news.

– Any one family member can watch the news once daily and see whether it has anything to worry everyone directly.

 

• OVERALL TIPS :

1. This is the opportunity to improve at many things – personality, body, mind etc.
2. Be nice to everyone – maintain a healthy environment around you.
3. Exercise in a guided manner.
4. Try to be creative. Write, read, draw etc. Give new tasks to your brain.
5. Consume only healthy news.
6. Sleep well.
7. Don’t trust numbers in case of COVID-19, Don’t worry about it. The country has a specialized team for it.
8. Stay away from people in general.
9. Take care of both your mental and physical being.