It has been almost one year since the first Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced by the Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in 2020 until today due to the pandemic of Covid-19. Everything has changed since then.
The country has undergone several fluctuations in economy, political crisis, unstable social interaction, and the list goes on. Consequently, a plethora of issues and problems have arrived from this MCO.
Majority of the citizens lost their job, students stressed over study, health problems, mental illness and many more. Everyone has stayed in the house for almost one year without going outside. Therefore, this MCO has dragged down the state of physical and mental health to the bottom.
However, for every problem in this life, there will be multiple solutions. Have you ever wondered what are the solutions to keep up mental and physical health on top during this MCO period?
First, you should have a doable and manageable daily routine in order for you to get the greatest body physiological function and physical aliveness. It is crucial for maintaining the integration between the brain coordination with physical action.
Basically, when you do the same thing frequently for several days and months, your brain starts to adapt to what you do and coordinate overall body function thus keeping your physical and mental health well-preserved.
For example, in your daily routine, organize your activity throughout the day roughly in your mind. In the first half of the day, you should wake up in the early morning and plan what you are going to do throughout the day, do not skip breakfast, do some physical activities, then take 15 to 20 minutes afternoon nap.
Meanwhile, for the second half of the day, do some light or heavy work since your body is at optimum function in the evening and you should sleep early before midnight to restore energy. Indeed, daily routine is crucial to keep your body physically and mentally stable.
Another point is you should have a workout schedule. You can schedule your workout once or twice per day, or thrice per week depending on your capability. The workout activity can be done either indoor or outdoor.
In addition, the duration for workout is not that important because workout or exercise for 10 minutes but consistently done daily is enough to maintain good physical health.
Referring to World Population Review 2019, Malaysia has recorded the highest prevalence of obesity in South-east Asia at 15.6 per cent. Therefore, you need to start doing exercise to cut the possibility to get obese due to inactivity.
Practically, while doing your exercise, your metabolic rate in the body increases several folds causing the breakdown of stored energy such as fat thus decreasing your body weight and removal of waste products from the body.
For instance, 30 minutes of workout such as jumping, planking, jogging and other exercises could help you to maintain physical health by utilizing excess stored energy. Without a doubt, when you have a workout schedule, your body will remain in good shape thus your brain also can function optimally.
Last but not least, you should actively become a social person, not anti-social. Although, during this MCO and pandemic, you still can socialize with others but virtually.
This is because when you isolate yourselves from others, your emotion tends to feel lonely and cozy. As a result, you will feel stress, anxiety and then depression thus affecting mental health state.
So, how to overcome it? Yes, you should socialize with your friends virtually through social apps such as Google Meet or Zoom and have a talk with them to express your feelings since it is not good to hold it inside your mind.
Next, you should spend your time with your family members instead of scrolling social media on your phone in the bedroom and playing games with your friends online which help to lower depression risk. Notably, managing your mental wellbeing by socializing is the best way to maintain normal mental health.
To conclude, do not let yourselves feel burdened with this MCO and pandemic because it will lead to stress and you will become unproductive due to poor physical and mental health.
Preferably, you are the one that is responsible to overcome the problem so that you can face any obstacles in life. Just think about how important your mental and physical health is for your future.
Ahmad Sobri Iman bin Ahmad Fauzi is a student of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Science Islam Malaysia (USIM).
