VTVLC Student Blog
Tips for Maintaining Mental Health While Going to School Online
Maintaining a good head space while completing school online is essential. If you are not in a good head space while schooling online, it is very likely you will fall behind, and it is easy to do so. Some ways of maintaining or improving your headspace while being online are staying social, exercising, taking on new hobbies, and listening to music.
According to the Mayo Clinic, socializing sharpens memory and cognitive skills, increases happiness, and may even help you live longer, all while staving off feelings of loneliness. The connection between staying social and overall health is clear. Staying social benefits mental health, which ultimately benefits your physical health and reduces the risk of serious health conditions. Staying social, however, becomes more challenging when switching to online school.
In a brick-and-mortar school, you see people every day, regardless of the activity. When your school day takes place online, you have to make an effort to see people and leave the house. Because of this, it’s easy to become unmotivated, out of routine. It can even begin to feel as if you are stuck in one place, which brings about feelings of sadness. Staying social doesn’t mean you have to always plan a big gathering, but regardless it can be difficult to find outlets for social interaction. Here are some tips to disrupt the routine of isolation, and benefit your mental and physical health by doing so when you work or study in an online environment.
- Going on walks. Getting exercise increases the endorphins and dopamine in your body, while exposure to sunlight makes you happier, ensuring you’re happier and healthier, both physically and mentally, when going on regular walks.
- Organizing social events. Organizing social events are important: you can go for coffee, run errands, or get lunch with a friend to stay connected. It is important to have social interactions and maintain strong relationships for our overall happiness.
- Playing games online. According to the Mayo Clinic, while staying social in person is best, connecting via technology also helps us reap the health benefits of staying social. Playing online games with a friend can be a great way of maintaining a friendship, and even allows you to connect with long-distance friends. Online games can also be more accessible on short notice and on a day-to-day basis than meeting with a friend in person, which can be logistically tricky to arrange.
- Start a new hobby. Starting a new hobby keeps your brain active and more open and creative, making for a happier and healthier brain. Not to mention, novel experiences increase our happiness. What’s more novel than a new passion?
- Join a club or organization. Joining a club or organization, whether based around an interest you have, a topic you’d like to learn about, or even volunteering and community involvement, joining a club or organization is a great way to meet like-minded people and even foster new connections.
Having a stable mental space and working towards keeping your mental health in a good area makes you a happier, healthier person. There are many ways to do so, but regardless of how you keep your mental health high, it is crucial for your body and mind.