April 08, 2020
Tips for Thriving During Quarantine
How to stay healthy, balanced and nourished during quarantine
There are certain aspects of being stuck at home, like work-from-home, extra time to spend with family, cooking or working out that are really nice. But its also hard to keep a routine in a time with so much uncertainty. Days seem to melt together and its hard to stay motivated day after day each of which seems exactly the same as the one that came before. Here are some tips on how two stay healthy and balanced while quarantined at home:
Reduce Stress
The uncertainty of our current situation is stress inducing to say the least, so it’s important to incorporate some stress reducing practices into your life.
If you’ve ever wanted to start a yoga & meditation practice, now is the time! Yoga and meditation are amazing at helping you centre your mind and body and giving you a break from everything that’s going on outside.
"If you’ve ever wanted to start a yoga & meditation practice,
now is the time!
Daily meditation is shown to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety; people who mediate are generally more satisfied with their lives."
Studies show that single meditation practice can cut mind wandering by 22% and daily meditation practice for 30 days is shown to increase mental focus by 14% and mental resilience by 11%. Daily meditation is shown to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety; people who mediate are generally more satisfied with their lives. The Headspace App is offering a free calming meditation class during this time, their platform is an amazing and accessible platform to help anyone create a meditation practice. You can also find free yoga and meditation classes here, by Samatha.
Eat Well
Eating well will go a long way in helping you feel good while you're stuck at home.
If you’re not doing a whole lot of strenuous exercise, you might want to consider switching to a low-carb high fat diet. This will give you more stable energy through out the day and the fullness from the fat will keep you from the all-day-snacking that some people are struggling with.
Avoid foods like sugar, refined grains, potatoes and refined oil. Consuming these actually surprises the immune system. Instead focus on getting healthy fast into your diet for sable energy. Eat things like ghee, olive oil, coconut, avocado, all nuts and seeds. Try to eat as many veggies as you can during this time. The added fiber will cleanse your colon and the extra vitamins from eating fresh vegetables will nourish your body and boost your immune system.
Probiotics are also super important when it comes to eating well. Watch our video on how to make our own sauerkraut HERE. Other sources of probiotics include yoghurt, home made pickles, kanji, kefir and kombucha.
Life Rhythms
With no fixed time commitments its easy for our schedules to get really imbalanced. Staying up late watching movies, sleeping until noon. However, I see this as an opportunity to explore new rhythms for sleeping, waking and eating that might be harder to try most of the time.
There are endless benefits of maintaining a circadian rhythm or waking and sleeping with the sun. These include better sleep, more energy, reduced risk of depression, faster metabolism and balanced hormones. With no evening social obligations- this is your chance to try syncing your cycle with the sun. Sunrise is at 6 am these days. Starting your day in the early quite hours not only gives you some distraction less peace and quiet, it also gives you an opportunity to explore some outdoor movement or early morning meditation before it gets too hot.
"There are endless benefits of maintaining a circadian rhythm or waking and sleeping with the sun.
These include better sleep, more energy, reduced risk of depression, faster metabolism and balanced hormones."
Intermittent fasting is an eating rhythm that chooses certain short windows for eating and long windows for fasting on a daily or weekly basis. The most popular of these is an 8 hour eating window during the day and a 16 hour fast between. Some people also opt for a weekly 24 hour fast or on full moon and new moon days. The benefits of intermittent fasting range from weight loss, digestive support, more energy to slowed ageing in the body and detoxification.
With zero reasons to leave the house, go for late dinners or to be stuck at office for 10 hours- you are in total control of your nutrition. This is your chance to try it out and see if this is something that helps you thrive.
How to do it? Choose an 8 hour window of your day during which you have all of your meals, maybe 10am - 6pm or 11-7, intermittent fasting goes best with a high fat, low carb diet.
Extra Motivation?
For all of you struggling to find a regular movement practice during lockdown. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite free youtube workout classes HERE
Moving doesn’t have to be intimidating or intense it can be anything from 10-15 minutes to a whole hour of breathing and getting into your body. We love it because it gets us our of our heads and helps burn off some steam.
"Moving doesn’t have to be intimidating or intense it can be anything from 10-15 minutes to a whole hour of breathing and getting into your body. "
While this lockdown isn’t anything any of us wanted or expected. We’re trying to see this as a special time to invest in our personal wellness. We hope you can do the same!
