By now, most if not all of us know what we need to do to do our part in the current situation: wash our hands correctly, practice social distancing, stay home, and take measures to stay as healthy (and calm) as possible.
Below I’ve gathered some of the best resources to help you navigate the coming weeks .
Manage Your Stress And Anxiety Levels
- Having a twice daily meditation practice is a non-negotiable for me right now. I follow the zivaONLINE method. It’s the trifecta of mindfulness, meditation, and manifestation and holy moly I’m not sure what I’d do without it! (and they’re giving folks 50% off right now!)
- Other meditation options include Headspace, Waking Up, plus are a ton of other options so just find one that works for YOU.
- Learn breathing exercises to help calm yourself down if you do get hit with anxiety. Here are 10 breathing techniques.
- Avoid a constant stream of news. Don’t get me wrong, staying informed is important. But having continual access to updates is not helpful and definitely stressful.
Supplements
It looks like Vitamin C could help reduce severity of the cytokine cascade. Here is a link to perhaps the most comprehensive paper to date detailing pharmaceutical, nuetraceutical and other interventions which may benefit the COVID19 disease.
Get Good Sleep
- Sleeping a solid 7-9 hours is even more important than ever right now. And with probably heightened levels of anxiety and less movement you might need a little more help sleeping soundly. Here are a few things I do to lull me into deep sleep.
- Doc Parsley’s Sleep Remedy has always been my go-to if I’m going through a difficult sleep period… so being stocked up on these pre-bed drinks is critical for me right now. They naturally trigger your body into the ‘falling asleep’ process.
- Salt shot before bed. 1/4ish teaspoon of salt dissolved in a minimal amount of water taken right before you go to sleep. This has been a game changer! Especially if you’re eating lower carb.
Eat Well, Know Your Farmer
If you’re ordering more food online this is the perfect time to get to know your farmer—White Oak Pastures is one of our favorites. You can also find local CSA boxes for vegetables.
Keep Your Mind Limber
- Play games! Cards, chess, board games. Something like the Words With Friends app works your mind and keeps you connected with friends.
- Been meaning to brush up on your high school Spanish? Haven’t we all! This is the perfect time to learn a new language. Start doing an app like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone.
- Memorize a poem!
- Start a puzzle… and another puzzle… maybe another…
Move Your Body
- Many yoga studios are offering online classes for a nominal fee… if you can afford it, this is a great way to support local business AND keep your body and mind sound. For example, The Grinning Yogi is live streaming classes. See if your local studio is doing the same!
- Our friends at Basis Health and Performance are hosting a Mobility Reset in The Healthy Rebellion right now but if you missed that you can do their online training program here. Next week, they’re launching 2 additional programs- Online Bodyweight Conditioning Program and Online Home Gym Strength Training Program
- If you can’t afford it, there are TONS of other resources out there. Here are some. Also, just search YouTube videos for bodyweight workouts, HIIT, etc.—whatever you’re into!
- As long as you’re practicing social distancing, you should still be getting outside to get fresh air and vitamin D. So including walks and bike rides weather permitting is a GREAT idea… just stay 6 feet from others on the trail 🙂
Give Back
- If you’re in a situation where you can afford it, donate to people in need without leaving your home! You can give money online to provide homeschool materials to kids in need at the Alliance For Education or for food for families at Feeding America.
- Donate blood! Blood banks around the country are in dire need of more donations (especially anyone in Washington state). If you’re healthy, find your local Red Cross to schedule an appointment to give blood.
Keep Your Community
- Schedule group FaceTimes or Zoom meetings with friends and family
- Try to call at least one person each day
- If you’re not ‘at risk’, check in on your elderly neighbors. If they need errands ran, go pick up their prescription or some more eggs and drop them on their doorstep.
- Join an online community. As our IRL interaction has been dialing down our online community has been ratcheting WAY up. Our network The Healthy Rebellion has been an incredible resource the past few weeks. Our community-wide live chats, news sharing, question answering, etc has not only been calming, but informative. We’ve got a book club and we’re also doing COVID-19 Boredom Busting Daily Challenges that are fun and keep our mind and body working! Join us in The Healthy Rebellion
The Healthy Rebellion Radio
We’ll continue to put out new episodes updating you as we get more information about COVID-19.
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Have ANYONE tried HOT Chili peppers?
The SPicy effect they have should be more researched in terms of boosting the immune system, the Temperature itself on your respiratory system and the battle against coronavirus
Just throwing it out there, not many Deaths in mexico (I could be completely deceived by the Gov)
We eat chile in most our meals and snacks as well as Oregano.
I would use caution advising people to contact their doctor right now if they take an ACE-I/ARB. The AMA and any other medical association I’ve seen says the evidence is weak and not to start changing meds right now so I’m sure that’s what most docs will follow. I know you’re aware of how many people take these meds. Their docs likely won’t be very available in the coming weeks as the situation evolves and patients may panic. We need to focus on taking any burden we can off of our frontline medical staff at the moment. Also having well controlled BP/optimized cardiac function going into this thing is obviously a plus.