Quarantine or lockdown was something utterly new for almost all the people across the globe. Nobody was prepared for it, and nobody expected it to happen. Lockdown was something that was maybe never thought of by human civilization around the world. Everything started with the shocking news of COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan City of China, which spread to almost every corner of the earth within a concise span. Countries around the world announced lockdown to reduce the infection rate from the COVID-19. They advised as well as making it mandatory in the highly populated regions to remain indoor by imposing complete lockdown. Due to sudden lockdown, people began losing their jobs, occupation, business, livelihood, and even lives.
One must avoid going out during this pandemic. One must try to stay safe at home as much as possible. Gyms are closed, which can compromise with the fitness of a lot of people. Educational institutes like schools, colleges or coaching classes, etc. are closed, which is making it difficult for students to learn. There is a rise in psychological problems or mental issues as many are alone or frustrated, maybe because they don’t have work or something else. One must follow a plan to overcome these issues. With these issues, one basically means physical health, mental health as well as education and less productivity.
Things one should do during the quarantine are:
1. Drinking Coriander Water
The first thing in the morning one must do is drinking water. It is preferable to drink coriander water as it helps to flush out toxins (which the body does in the morning) and give you a fresh start. It is also good for the skin.
Also, read Why India failed in controlling the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)?
2. Meditation
After brushing and freshening up, one must meditate. Start with 2 minutes a day, and by the time you reach 30 days, make it to 20-30 minutes. Meditation is something magical. It calms your mind. It gives peace to the soul. It is going to be very difficult for one to meditate in the initial days, but once you cross the 15th or 21st day, one will definitely enjoy it. The best way to meditate is to sit on the floor with your back straight in a peaceful open surrounding while removing all the thoughts coming to your mind. From now, there are two ways you can meditate, if you are more of a Yoga person then try concentrating your mind on your breaths. Apart from this, one can also try concentrating his/her mind in the middle of the head (where Indian women put ‘bindis’). Meditation calms your mind, increases concentration, and relieves mental stress in the long run.
3. Exercising
If you have gyms open in your locality with proper social distancing, you can work out there, but if you don’t, then just do not give up. Do as many exercises as you can without equipment, try to purchase some second-handed equipment, and workout with them. These may never be as efficient as the gym but can at least keep you fit. Do exercises that fit you and your body. Do yoga if you like. Not all exercises or ‘Asana’ or yoga positions are for everyone. Do what is required by your body. Walking is also good exercise. Many doctors suggest walking up to 45kms a week, which is not really hard to achieve. Running and jogging or brisk walking is also preferable.
4. Bathing
Do not listen to researches saying it is recommended to bath thrice a week rather than daily. This may be true for people living in colder regions, but it is definitely not true for countries like India where the temperature goes up to 50 degrees Celsius during the summers. We are humans. We sweat. So bathing daily is necessary though chemical-free soaps and shampoos etc. are recommended.
5. Breakfast
One must take a heavy breakfast after bathing. It may be light if one is dieting, but it is always recommended to eat a heavy breakfast, especially as compared to lunch and dinner. Apart from this, the concept of brunch is not too good. One must have at least three meals a day, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Try to include at least a glass of milk or juice in your breakfast.
6. Working
After breakfast, it is important to take a short gap. Walking will be preferable for a couple of minutes, and then one must start working. If you have a job, go for it. If you are working on the business, then get involved in it. If you don’t have anything like this, then think of something you can do. It can be cooking, writing, household works, drawing, singing, dancing, studying, or any other thing. In the least case scenario, you can play games as well. The only requirement here is to keep you involved in one or the other work.
7. Lunch
Our body gets carbohydrates from a lot of things that we eat in our daily life, but there are certain vitamins and minerals which we get in very small quantities from fruits and vegetables. Try including these vitamins and minerals in your diet. Forget western culture here. Eat Tortilla (roti), Cooked vegetables (sabzi), pulses (dal), Salad (raw vegetables) etc. Eating a burger will not help. A whole complete meal a day is very important. Tortilla consists of huge amounts of carbohydrates—cooked vegetables, which consist of lots of minerals. Pulses consist of a lot of proteins. The salad consists of raw vegetables, which consist of Vitamins and Minerals, which are usually lost in the process of cooking in case of cooked vegetables. All the others also consist of different minerals essential for the body.
8. Learning something new
This is something important. One must make his/her day productive. Learn anything new. Surf the net and learn about some topic you do not know about. For example, if you don’t know about chess, then learn about it. Try learning some kind of a new language or a musical instrument. Playing musical instruments helps in improving concentration as well. Usually, in the normal days, we do not have time for all this, but now most of the people have. In a way, this also improves one’s communication skills as you get to know about a lot of topics. During this time one can solve puzzles or Sudoku etc.
9. Evening Snacks
Evening snacks must always be light. Usually, at this time of the day, people have a habit of having tea or coffee, but it is preferable to take fresh fruit juices. One can take tea or coffee while working.
10. Sports and games
It is a little difficult to play sports during the quarantine, but if it is possible for you, then playing a sport is the best to do at this phase. You can play any games like Volleyball, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Table Tennis, Tennis, and many more games to keep yourself fit.
11. Dinner
After sports, it is suggested to drink glasses of lime water and, after a while, take a quick bath too. After that, one must have dinner as early as possible. Dinner can be anything you like but try to keep it light. If you take dinner late at night, then it is very harmful to the digestive system.
12. Sleep
Before going to sleep, one is suggested to have a glass of milk. Chanting Mantras at this time before sleep. Whatever religion you believe, chant their mantras. If you are an atheist, then just say ‘thank you for the day’ with a calm mind and go to sleep. Sleep with a good posture.
All these steps are for people who want to make their quarantine productive as well as fun or for those who want to live a healthy as well as happy lifestyle. No timings are mentioned here as they vary from person to person. Each individual can follow this and make their own time table with time which suits them the best and follow it, including the given points in it or maybe changing a few steps accordingly.
