Top Tips to Structuring Your Day During Self-Isolation

A STRANGE TIME

As many of us across the world are now being told to social distance ourselves and stay at home as much as possible, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it can be easy for all days to merge into one or to spend all our time in front of a screen! If you are anything like me - I thrive on routine and structure to my day, and when that goes out out the window, I can very easily slip into the habit of watching Netflix all day!

At present, I am fortunate enough to still be in work during the week and have been moved from working as an occupational therapist in the community to working on the stroke wards to assist with staff sickness/isolation and to help with the throughput of patients - which is expected to dramatically increase in the coming weeks.

In this week's blog post, I hope to provide some tips to structuring a day at home - whether for you, that's working from home throughout the week - or on your days off. I hope that everyone can take away something from this post, to feel they are able to build a new routine in unprecedented times.

1. Timetable your Day - At the beginning of each day (or the night before), write down what you would like to achieve in that day. Some people can find it useful writing down specific times, others can find it more flexible splitting the day into 'Morning, Afternoon, Evening' - so there is less time pressure. It has been proven that having a written plan of action increases productivity [1].

2. Utilise the outdoors - At present, government guidelines state if you are under 70 with no underlying conditions you can still be active outdoors once a day for a form of exercise (whether that is a run, jog or cycle). The key being that you only go out with members of your household or in a group of 2 if you are not from the same household. The idea also being that you also stay at least 2m (6ft) away from people not of your household. [2]. Not only is being outdoors good for your fitness, it can also have incredible benefits for your mental health and sleep. See one of my past blog posts for more information here.

3. Make time for Movement - Similarly to the above post, keeping active is important. There are also plenty of movement activities that can be done from home such as yoga, home body weight workouts and HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts. There are so many apps and youtube videos that provide structure and ideas for you to follow to create a home workout that works for you. Some of my favourites are Shreddy (also doing free home workouts on their instagram), Downdog app, The Body Coach and Fiit app.

4. Schedule in time for Productivity - This may be blocking out slots to do your job from home, home-school your kids or do those DIY jobs you've been meaning to do for the past 6 months. Use this time to ensure you remain productive with the things that need doing.

5. Include something that you Enjoy - Whether that's making time to read a new book. catch up on some netflix, gardening, crafts or games - include something to look forward to!

6. Keep Socialising - Just because you cannot visit someone in person, make a list of people you want to phone call or video chat on a regular basis. Keep in touch with one another through creative ideas - have dinner together over skype, a coffee catch up, a pub quiz night. Remember, we are all isolated together and need each others company to get through this.

7. Ensure your weekly routine remains - That's right, if you work Mon-Fri - keep it like that, and keep your weekends to enjoy. I personally have found it strange not going to church on a Sunday, but feel lucky enough that there is an online church every Sunday so that my weekday activities remain a similar as possible. If you are interested in listening to some online church then I normally attend Surrey Chapel in Norwich - a link to their church services can be found here.

Lots of Love

Ruth xxx