The outbreak of coronavirus has affected many areas of life including mental health . With sudden disruption of our routines and the new norms of social distancing, life has changed dramatically in a matter of weeks.This causes the perfect storm for depression and anxiety. The fear of being infected or infecting someone else or the economic downfall can affect our mental health drastically. Those who already struggle with depression and anxiety may find the situation exacerbating their feelings, whilst others who are used to being busy may suddenly find themselves alone with their thoughts more often. Losing contact with friends and family outside of their household makes it worse. While the need for social distancing creates some obstacles, there are specific steps that can be taken to make the best out of the worst and to utilise our time for betterment and self assessment. Covid gave us the opportunity to use that time that we normally spent working or engaging in social activities. It gave us time to take care of our mind, body and soul .During the pandemic, use of social media platforms was at its peak and it played a very important role in our life. It was used to spread the much needed positivity and also managed to spread negativity. Overall the pandemic proved to be a positive phenomenon in a way that people learnt to introspect and assess their lives at multiple levels and started to modify their lifestyles and opt for healthier choices. Social media acted like a source as well as a support system for inculcating these changes.

The outlook on the situation determines our actions and their outcome. We can look at this situation in two ways; being stuck in our homes within four walls with lack of freedom to go outside and fearing the virus or we can see it as an opportunity to take care of ourselves and our relationships that we tend to neglect after being lost in our schedule.

During this pandemic people were attracted to yoga, cardio and various forms of exercises to maintain their health and fitness. The pandemic shifted the focus on organic food. People started making better choices as they had more time than what they had before the pandemic. They started exploring new hobbies as a pastime and even went back to the hobbies they had left due to busy schedules. Connecting to loved ones more often, even though it was through the screen, reading or learning about themselves and making changes for the better were one of the positive effects covid had on people . Digitalization reached new heights in this pandemic. People started exploring the topic of mental health and started taking steps towards improving it and helping others who were suffering. The pandemic really gave people a reason to lay back and reframe their perspective. It gave people the opportunity to evolve into a better version of themselves.

Sharvari Desai

S. Y B. Pharm

Tags: MET Institute of Pharmacy