By Alex Bruce/Special to The News
An amazingly helpful way to support our mental wellness and the well being of those we support is to establish and maintain a routine.
Experts assert that the simple action of making our bed in the morning is enough to start our day with a positive immune booster.
Two other important mental health tips for the day are getting dressed and eating a healthy breakfast.
While lounging in pajamas during vacation or on a sick day home from school or work can be an act of self-care, which enhances our sense of well being, doing it on a regular basis has been found to have detrimental effects on energy levels and mood.
Another routine to get into now that schooling has been drastically impacted by COVID-19 is learning at home.
Whether you’re in university or the caregiver of a child or adolescent, getting into a routine of learning at home is an excellent way to reduce levels of stress and anxiety for everyone involved.
Children perform best when they know what to expect and what is expected of them, which means that a school schedule will work wonders to help settle their nerves.
If you’re looking for support for your children in Kindergarten through Grade 12, there are tons of suggestions and ideas online, and information is regularly updated on the school district website at sd42.ca, as well as on Facebook pages for individual schools.
Learning at home is an excellent way to practise with your creativity.
Take advantage of YouTube to learn anything from braiding hair to playing an instrument.
On demand programs can teach us how to perfect that yoga move or different ways to craft.
We have channels that can help to act as science or social studies classes, such as the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Smithsonian Channel, the Nature Channel, or Nat Geo Wild.
Ted Talks is a great place to search for short lessons on a huge variety of topics.
Free support is everywhere these days as humanity reaches out to help humanity.
If you see, hear of, or find anything that may be of assistance to others, please be sure to share it in any way that you can.
If you’re looking for non-technology options, now may be the best time to bring out or dust-off favourite reads or books that you’ve been meaning to sit down with.
It could also be a great time to explore the nature that you have at your fingertips, and what’s better than your own front or backyard?
My son discovered a snake den outside and goes out a couple of times a day to see what they’re up to and how quickly they’re growing.
Personally speaking, a day in our house starts with PE at 9:30 a.m. (a run or walk around the block, some yoga, stretching or weights at home), English from 10 – 11 a.m., with reading books or Liz editing for me, then it’s math until noon – where the kids play crib, chess, or some other math-related game.
After lunch they spend an hour watching one of the channels listed above and we spend some time with more physical exercise and some mindfulness lessons.
Liz and Jon like that they know what to expect, and I enjoy the opportunity to join them for some things and leave them with others.
Exercise your creativity and develop a routine to reduce stress and anxiety and to keep everyone learning.
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*Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MapleRidgeNews/ and post your pictures depicting yourself or others Getting yourself moving. Share your creativity during these times and be sure to include names, ages, and details for an opportunity to be highlighted in a future article.
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FIRST COLUMN: Maple Ridge woman offers series of wellness tips amid COVID crisis
SECOND COLUMN: We mammals are in this together and will thrive together
THIRD COLUMN: Trying something new can help
FOURTH COLUMN: Celebrating inclusion in team humanity
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– Alex Bruce is a health and wellness author and accredited meditation and mindfulness instructor
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• Stay tuned tomorrow for the next COVID-19: In It Together column
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• If there is more to this column, please let us know about it. Email us at editor@mapleridgenews.com. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
