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Depression and Anxiety During a Pandemic: 9 Common Tips

Anxiety and Depression- Mayflax

Depression and Anxiety During a Pandemic: 9 Common Tips

The pandemic has caused a mental strain on many people around the world. And for those living with anxiety and depression, the impact is severe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on our lives. Many aspects of everyday life, including mental health, have been affected. The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting our physical, economic, and mental well-being. As a result, many people face struggles that can be frustrating, daunting, and cause adults and children to have strong emotions.

However, social distancing and stay-at-home orders are very challenging, especially for people living with mental illness, COVID-19 exacerbates feelings of depression and anxiety.

Thus, during the Movement Control Order (MCO), with the limited movement, closed borders, and roadblocks, some individuals easily get heightened temperament and irritability at home.

Dr. Robert Leahy an attending psychologist at New York-Presbyterian said: “This is the perfect storm for depression and anxiety,”.

All data and statistics are based on the short article “Prevalence  of  Anxiety, Stress,  Depression  among  Malaysian  Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic Movement Control Order”.

Therefore, the  prevalence  in a score  of Stress  70%  (Mean=2.02), Anxiety  67%  (Mean=1.71) and Depression  42.3% (Mean=2.28). There is a significant prevalence of psychological health problems among adults during adverse events due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Movement Control Order.

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to felt hopeless and despair. But these tips can help to improve your mood and ease your mental health problem.

1. Keep a schedule

Schedule your day with useful things. At the end of the day, check everything and make a list of things to do for the next day, so you can look forward to things.

Furthermore, create a set of goals for the week and month. This is the right time to set short-term and long-term goals.

2. Sleep well

Prioritizing sleep is not always easy when you are in a state of mental health. Stress, Anxiety, and Depression can affect the quality of your sleep.

Therefore, poor sleep can also lead to depression. Fixed your daytime habits and sleep routine can help improve how well you sleep at night and reduce the symptoms of depression.

Finding relaxing activities such as reading, writing a journal, or listening to slow music can cause your brain to slow down before bed.

3. Connect with others

Just because we are isolated does not mean we have to completely isolate ourselves. Make a list of friends to contact whenever you feel bored and lonely. Always stay connected with others !

Set a regular time each day to contact others, and schedule virtual get-togethers on online platforms to talk or share your problem and maybe even play games. Stay in touch with friends, family, and especially the mental health care team if you are diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

4. Find simple sources of joy.

Encourage yourself to do things that will boost your mood throughout the day. Try to listen to uplifting music and dancing around if you can as long as can make you happy all day long.

Alternatively, you can watch funny videos or favorite sitcoms on TV, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Spending time in nature such as walking in the park, or playing with your kids or a pet also can relieve stress.

5. Eat a mood-boosting diet

In times of stress, people always find “comfort foods” such as unhealthy fats, sugar, and refined carbs to release their stress and depression. Therefore, drinks too much caffeine and alcohol also can adversely affect our mood.

Moreover, wholesome foods, fresh food such as salmon, codfish can increase your intake of mood-enhancing nutrients.

6. Stay informed and limit social media usage.

Nowadays, the government always announces information that constantly changes regarding SOP. It is important to stay up-to-date but not to overconsuming sensationalistic news or unreliable social media coverage. This makes your mind full of negative thought and fear.

Limit how often you check the news or social media and limit yourself to reputable sources. Thus, healthcare professionals also recommend not checking the news at least one hour before bedtime.

7. Exercise

Importantly, physical activity is good for mental health. Scientific research has shown that exercise, especially in particular aerobic exercise, can be beneficial for depression and anxiety.

Exercise will release good hormones and lowers your stress hormones. Since covid-19, you cannot go to the gym or fitness studios, try online broadcasts, YouTube workouts, or use the equipment at home to exercise.

Besides that, you can go running or cycling as long as you stay a safe distance away from others who are passing by.

8. Continue treatment or services from mental health professionals

If you are undergoing therapy, taking medication, or both before coronavirus started, make sure to keep up with your treatment regimen. Almost all psychiatrists or mental health professionals are now used online practices like video calls.

Alternatively, you can try an online therapy platform like WhatsApp video, Zoom, Webex, and others.

9. Practice gratefulness and mindfulness

During challenging times, be grateful and mindful can help to cope with anxiety and depression.

“When we take note of the good things in our lives, it bumps up the feel-good hormones of serotonin and dopamine,” said Serani.

As we know, practicing mindfulness meditation is very popular for overcoming depression, anxiety, and stress adds Guttentag.

Also, you can start the practice by taking a few minutes to sit or lying down and try to focus on your breathing. Besides, train your mind to get rid of negative thoughts and feelings to stay away from you.

Counseling and hotlines mental health services in Malaysia

If you are struggling to cope, there are many ways to get help. Contact a healthcare provider if the sign of anxiety, and depression get in the way of your daily activities for many days and also if you are in crisis, immediately get help such as:-

  • Call 999
  • Talian Kasih at 15999
  • Befrienders (main suicide hotlines in Malaysia): 03-7627 2929/ 03-79568145
  • Malaysian Mental Health Association: 03-2780 6803
  • People Psychological Solutions : 017-899 2207
  • HELP University’s Centre for Psychological and Counselling Services (CPCS): 03-2096 1212
  • The Mind Faculty KL: 03-2780 6803
  • HumanKind Community Counselling (victims of physical and sexual abuse): 012-300 5453
  • Soul Mechanics: 010-252 1734 (Gia) / 019-395 9211 (Devi)
  • MentCouch Psychology Centre: 03-2712 9372

Depression and anxiety are soaring and there are many fears that we will face an epidemic of mental health.

COVID-19, make life very difficult for everyone, but they may pose an even bigger challenge for people with depression. Depression is a serious mental health condition that can give a huge impact on people’s lives.

However, depression can be treated. Even in this pandemic, it is important to continue to seek treatment and stick with it until you get cured.

Therefore, there are self tests that you can answer to check whether you have anxiety or depression, if the score tells you are having these mental health issues you need to see the doctors who specialize in psychiatry to diagnosed your disease. We cannot simply just do the test only. These self tests ask some important questions that can help you to know where you are at so you can make a sooner plan for feeling better.

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Raihan Ridzuan

Raihan Ridzuan, Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is Customer Relationship Executive of Mayflax, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing company.

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The Benefits of Digital Signage in Your Healthcare Practice

Waiting time

The Benefits of Digital Signage in Your Healthcare Practice

In health industry, some company has outdated office look like old-school and others company are keeping up with the trend and latest technologies…The customers now likely to go to modern vibes because they feel more excitement and comfortable… So, your company still need to upgrade it?

Yes! It’s time to upgrade to a new one but at a low-cost.

You can upgrade your company with a new appearance with the simple element which is digital signage.

But nowadays, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 has become a global pandemic with the uncontrollable spreading trend transmitted by ‘respiratory droplets’.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said: “there are 4.7 million new cases were reported in the past week, a decline of 6% from last week, and the number of new deaths has climbed to a record high at 93 000, a 9% increase from last week”. The increasing number of positive cases has also caused heavy pressure on hospitals and clinics.

Under the COVID-19 coronavirus condition, many hospitals now use internet technology, patient’s temperature detection, and self-service queuing kiosk to reduce the hospital clinic pressure from an online and offline perspectives.

Waiting time
Digital device

What Is Digital Signage?

Digital signage is a helpful tool for Healthcare Service. Digital signage is a media display screen that is placed in your healthcare facility to assist your staff.

The function of digital signage is to create an exciting experience for patients, increase wellness initiatives, and create a safer and more productive work environment.

It also helps healthcare staff to understand the value of using this technology to enhance the patient experience.

Thus, many clinics and hospitals began to use various forms of touchless solutions.

For example, KioWare and Asta Solution launched a solution that allowed customers to pull up a touchpad on their phones and interact with the kiosk that way. If you want to gain customers, you need to reach them on their terms.

Here’s, we give these 5 ways health clinic or hospital which can benefit from digital signage technology.

How Does Digital Signage Benefit Patients?

Reduce Patient Anxiety

Anxiety
Anxiety

Some people have an uneasy feeling if they go to the clinic or hospital especially for kids. A clinic is one of the most anxious places to be.

However, to help reduce some of the patient’s uneasily feeling like stress, the clinic can do some move like improvements to their services.

Entertainment is one of healthcare practice in digital signage are use while waiting rooms and decrease perceived wait time. Thus, it also helps calm your patient’s mind.

Moreover, digital signage providing upbeat, entertaining, and attractive content helps reduce anxiety and restlessness before their appointment.

Waiting Times

Wait times
Wait times

Digital signage ability to display multiple forms of content, in fact, digital screens are not only informative but also more pleasant and enjoyable wait.

Healthcare facilities can entertain patients and visitors by providing engaging news, shows, relevant health information, or facility updates by use digital information boards.

When digital screens with engaging content are added to waiting rooms, it will reduce the waiting time for the patients.

Hence, the long waiting time becomes faster, for example, 30-minute can feel more like a 20-minute while waiting when patients are watching high-quality content that is targeted to their wants and needs.

Build a connection to staff

Teammate
Teammate

 

The patients like to know who they are working with before they go to the clinic for the health appointment.

Besides, digital signage will introduce your patients to your staff in an interesting way.

Thus, your team can create one introduction video on digital signage showing both the professional appreciation and personality of your staff.

It helps build a strong trusting relationship with your patients.

Easy for patient to search the building

Finding
Finding

 

 

If your clinic is located in a large building or hard to find, it can be harder for visitors to navigate. You can solve this problem by using interactive maps and directories near the entrance to your location, different from static maps such as interactive wayfinding tools.

This great tool will compact and personalizes information so that your visitors or patients only see the information they need, which helps them find their way more easily and faster.

Educate patients with shares important health-related information

Health information
Health information

 

 

 

The knowledge you can share our educational content such as wellness tips, treatment procedures, and medical advice that will make your patients become an informative person and healthier.

Your clinic can create short Informative videos for patients to watch while waiting to see the doctor or for their prescription.

However, this application is also widely used for Patient Education, “Prevention is better than Cure”.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Raihan Ridzuan

Raihan Ridzuan ,  Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is  Customer Relationship Customer of Mayflax , one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing company.

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Differences between anxiety attacks and panic attacks

Cr. Victor Rodvang

Source from my.clevelandclinic.org

People have been using the terms “anxiety attack” and “panic attack” correspondingly, when in fact, they are two slightly different medical conditions.

A breakdown:

Anxiety is typical and although it is unpleasant, it helps motivate and protect individuals from threats.

Anxiety disorders comes in many forms and people usually respond to non-threatening things with outsized fear and dread.

Anxiety attacks is just another term for a panic attack.

Panic attacks occurs without warning and are intense attacks of fear and anxiety. It is usually harmless and last for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Panic disorder occurs when an individual has repeated panic attacks and it is also a type of anxiety disorder.

Panic attack symptoms

  • A feeling that what is happening around them is not real
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Chills or overheating
  • Dizziness
  • Fear of perhaps that they are dying or going crazy
  • Feeling that they might be choking
  • Increased heart rate
  • Nausea
  • Numbness
  • Sweating
  • Trembling or shaking

How to deal with panic attacks

  1. Labeling it. When panic attack happens, individual who are experiencing it often thinks that they are having a heart attack or losing their mind. It is advised to assure themselves that what is happening to them won’t kill them and that it will end.
  2. Keeping track. Note the attacks and when and where they happened, how long the duration was and things that might have triggered it.
  3. Breathe. Numerous claims from people of various backgrounds said that deep breathing exercises helps. It turns down the body’s panic response, helping the breath and heart rate to return back to normal.
  4. Distract the mind from focusing about the panic attacks. Do other things that helps. For example, smell something pleasant or watching a funny TV show.
  5. Getting help. Mental health professionals can help by using a Jedi mind trick, known as cognitive restructuring.

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Facing the pandemic with a mental health : Students are struggling

Cr. Sam Balye

Source from WebMD.com

College life could be both stressful and demanding and from that, anxiety, depression and inactive lifestyles are actually common among students. Now with the pandemic of COVID-19 happening worldwide, a new study might have found that the mental-health issues could be escalated and turn for the worst.

Researchers at Dartmouth College determined that the coronavirus pandemic had an immediate impact on the mental health of this particular undergraduate group of 200 students, using a mix of smartphone data and online surveys.

The study involved students who were participating in a research program tracking mental health at the New Hampshire university with Spikes of depression and anxiety were reported at the beginning of the pandemic in early March, just as the school pushed students to leave campus and begin remote learning all by their selves.

The study found out that the students’ overall anxiety and depression levels remained consistently high than in previous years, even if their self-reported anxiety and depression lessened slightly later on in the semester.

Jeremy Huckins, a lecturer at Dartmouth stated that there is a large-scale shift in mental health and behaviour compared to the observed baseline established for the group over previous years.

In addition, the students reported around spring break period in mid-March that their day-to-day lives were dramatically more sedentary than pervious terms.

Huckins suspected that spring break 2020 was stressful and confining for the students in the study and it might be responsible for a large number of college students across the country even though it is usually a period of decreased stress and increased physical activity.

A smartphone app developed at Dartmouth was used by the researchers to calculate sedentary time. It collected information such as number of phone unlocks, phone usage duration and sleep duration from the student volunteers.

Through the app, data on depression and anxiety were also collected using weekly, self-reported questionnaires. The decrease in activity among these students may have been related to lockdown orders implemented at the time.

Huckins also said that when social distancing was recommended by local governments, students were more sedentary and visited fewer locations on any given day. “The impact of COVID-19 extends beyond the virus and its direct impacts. An unresolved question is if mental health and physical activity will continue to degrade over time, or if we will see a recovery, and how long that recovery will take”.

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