LIFESTYLE
HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
LOCKDOWN’S IMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH AND HOW EXERCISE CAN HELP
BY CLAIRE MIDDLETON
As restrictions on lockdown number three start to ease, it’s a good time to take a minute and reflect on the last twelve months. What crazy times they’ve been! Some found lockdown almost unbearable, whilst some actually enjoyed the enforced slowing down of life and having the time to take stock of things. Some, myself included, felt like they belonged a little in each of these groups. One thing is for certain, the nation’s mental health has taken a battering. 12 months of restrictions, three national lockdowns and a whole year without hugs, all set against a backdrop of daily scaremongering and terrifying news reports full of death tolls and infection rates. So are we on the brink of a national mental health crisis? And what can we do individually to help nurse our minds back to health? - 64-
According to Mind*, over 50% of adults and more than 75% of young people admitted that their mental health has worsened during lockdown. Mind’s report showed that ‘young people are more likely to have experienced poor mental health during lockdown than adults’, and ‘many without previous experience of mental health problems have experienced poor mental health during lockdown and have seen their mental health and wellbeing decline’. An adult who was surveyed told Mind: “I normally have very good mental health. Over the past month I’ve become more anxious about all sorts of things and also been crying about things, which I don’t normally do. Some days I’ve slept very badly. I live alone and feel very lonely and isolated – not something that normally bothers me.”
