Have you ever had to stay home for an extended period of time? In Singapore, the government announced a stay home notice  where you can’t make  contact with friends or other people. I felt a huge slope of depression because of having to go home. But of course I went out to shop for some essentials and exercise , I did not go out other than those two reasons.

Mental illness

Mental illness can be caused by staying indoors ) for too long. I feel that one way to reduce mental illness would be to allow us to meet our friends because I think people need time to see friends or go on a date. It helps because I think meeting my friends can talk to them. Did you know in the United States alone, almost half of adults (46.4%), have experienced mental illness during their lifetime?

Physical vs. Mental Illness

I felt really down and I wondered if I was suffering from any mental illnesses so I turned to the internet to help me out. As it turns out, I wasn't suffering from any mental illnesses but I got to learn quite a bit about them. First, we need to know the difference between physical and mental illness. I have talked to a lot of people and they had trouble understanding between mental illness and physical illness. So far, with my experience, I realized that mental illness starts from your brain and spreads to other body organs mentally. No one is born with mental illness, mental illness can start from stress, trauma, lack of sleep, and nutrition. But sadly there is no cure for mental illness, although there are countless ways to treat medical illness. Physical health is similar to partly the same as mental illness, in that no one can be born with physical illness. A serious physical illness can affect relationships, work(school), and even how we socialize with other people daily. Being alone for a long time is also bad for our physical health, but on the other hand, being alone can help your brain to recharge and keep up productivity

Make the Most of Your Alone Time

 During this time no one is going to take care of you because everyone is busy taking care of themselves. So you need to start taking care of yourself from now on. First, start taking care by getting enough sleeping time, while you are asleep our brain can recharge. Once in a while, we need some alone time as we need to escape from reality. This is a really good way to prevent mental illness.
 While you are having  alone time, you  can think about what is something you did today that was productive or give yourself  enough opportunity to think about the  future

Take Care of Your Body

Another way to prevent mental illness is to take care of your body. Physical activity can make your body feel much stronger and healthier.  I feel that the easiest way to reduce mental illness is to go outside, meet people, exercise, and stay fit. According to Mayo Clinic, there is no specific cure for mental illness however there are a lot of ways to control the amount of stress you have. Start taking care by getting enough sleep, eating healthy, enough physical activity time, and maintain those steps regularly. I feel that the easiest way to reduce mental illness is to go outside, meet people, exercise, and stay fit. Twice a week I go out and run 5km, it helps me relieve my stress and get rid of negative thoughts in my head.

To sum it up,  I talked about getting enough sleep to recharge our brain, exercise to stay fit, and eat healthy food. If we can all participate in this, I think that we can all increase our mental health to prevent it. Take some time out to reach out to friends and family, especially during this circuit breaker period. Some light banter or a compliment could really make someone's day. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.

by Student Contributor