Mental Health

The Importance of (Mental) Health during the Pandemic

Since the onset of COVID-19, millions of people, mostly young people and teenagers, have struggled with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety, leading to suicide.

By María Vilariño Ceresuela

29th January 2022

Most of us have always been careful with eating healthily and working out in order to be physically well and fit, but it wasn’t until the beginning of the pandemic and the lockdown when we realised the importance of mental health.

In March 2020, our whole world fell apart. We stopped going to school, to our offices, we stopped exercising, we stopped being surrounded by people and we stopped socialising in person, as the only way we could study or chat with our friends was by using the computer. We started to become more technologically dependent and all our healthy routines were destroyed: we went to bed after midnight and woke up at lunchtime, we forgot to spend time with our families and spent the whole day on social media, which became more and more toxic. Apps like TikTok or Instagram soon became part of our daily life, and we checked them hundreds of times per day. 

Some anxiety symptoms.

Since the beginning of the lockdown, most of us haven’t known how to spend our free time and have enjoyed watching other people live their lives and have fun from our bed. In addition, the media has been almost full of teenagers having ‘the perfect life’ and ‘the perfect body’, which makes young people feel like they aren’t beautiful enough, smart enough or good enough.

There is a major increase in the number of U.S. adults that report symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia during the pandemic compared to pre-COVID-19 figures. Each person faces these diseases in a different way. However, most of the people have increased their use of alcohol and drugs, thinking they may make a difference and that they can help them. Actually, these substances can make the pain even worse.

Mental health illnesses.

To avoid this kind of illness, it’s essential to take care of our bodies and our minds and be with other people. It is very important to get enough sleep to limit screen time and relax. Some tips such as taking care of our minds and focusing on positive thoughts and healthy priorities can be useful.

Anyway, the best thing we can do is to let people know that we are by their side, they are not alone and everything will be okay.

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