At this point, my janam bhumi (birth place country, India) is going through an unprecedented COVID crisis with a number of cases rising along with deaths. It is impacting every age group in every corner. As we all are trying to do our part to help the situation, it’s important we continue to focus on ourselves and stay healthy to help others.
I found it timely to share how I survived COVID so far. It’s not magic and no extraordinary medicine or therapy. It’s simple changes to lifestyle.
Please note, you always need to follow local jurisdiction guidelines like using masks, social distancing, washing hands frequently, staying away from crowded places and any other.
- Exercise — I would really suggest making it a mandatory part of your life. I go running for 2 miles and walk for another 3 miles at least 5 days a week. I try to do other workouts at home. These are spread across high cardio workouts raising your heartbeat to at least 140 and different warm-ups. This has helped me improve my breathing capacity, focus and concentration, metabolism and muscle/nerve power. Overall, physical and mental wellness improved and continue to improve. You can try yoga, meditation or any other indoor or outdoor workouts or exercises. I would not recommend gyms and specially during COVID as those are closed rooms with multiple people working out together.
- Sleep — 8 hours of sleep is necessary and I have been following it religiously. I found my energy level the next day is much better with 8 hours of sleep and I can concentrate better. Try having a soothing green tea or meditate before sleep. Keep all your devices away to not get disturbed.
- Food — This is one part of daily life where small changes can make big differences. Starting with smallest changes, add ginger power, turmeric powder, garlic and green chilli in every food you cook. Say it Indian culture or something else, I have always seen my mother add some of these to food. Over the period of time I learnt the real value these add to your food. These are known for anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and many other useful properties which can help to prevent diseases, heal faster and better, build immunity and stay strong. Next I would suggest you to have homemade black tea twice a day. Simply add fresh cut ginger, 2 cloves, a stick of cinnamon in 1.5 cup of water. Boil it, then add half teaspoon of tea and boil again. Strain it into a cup with a spoon of honey. It will help you overall with immunity, mental wellness, energy, prevent you from overeating etc. You can try lemon to change the taste at times. Third and final thing that I have been doing is to try to eat raw food as much as I can. For example, add raw lettuce or spinach to sandwich, light sauteed onion and capsicum to tacos or rice, lot of fruits, cold pressed green juice (you can add spinach, apple, pomegranate, lemon, celery, mint, coriander, kale, orange, cucumber, ginger and pinch of salt). Try to have a lemon a day in any form possible. All of these are not just beneficial during COVID but its a full recipe of all possible vitamins, minerals and other nutrients the body needs on a daily basis.
With that, I wish you all a safe and healthy life. Stay strong and enjoy life!!
