Dealing With Bipolar Disorder Episodes During Quarantine

For those familiar with bipolar disorder, which involves depressive lows to manic highs mood swings, it is a challenging mental illness to handle.

Currently, the impact of coronavirus pandemic is massive globally. It has made the government to establish social distancing and isolation guidelines to control the spread of the virus. Quarantine and social isolation have caused many people to experience changes in their regular routines of study, work, including lifestyle activities.

Also, spending more time at home can create several challenges. These include increased tension with the family members, loneliness, and maybe negative thoughts leading to mental sicknesses.

Therefore, in the era of COVID-19, episodes similar to bipolar disorder are likely to arise. Then again, the most severely affected are patients struggling with bipolar disorders.

However, there are possible tips for daily routines and staying hopeful during COVID-19 lockdown to prevent experiencing episodes similar to bipolar disorder. Below as some professional information from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders to help deal with bipolar disorder episodes.

Defining the Internal Clock of the Body in Association with Daily Routines

One of the most significant brain systems that contribute to our wellbeing is the internal biological clock known as the circadian system. This system synchronizes the body and its behavior with the 24-hour cycle of day and night. Foreseeable regular routines and daily programs ensure the body clock operates smoothly, making us feel better.

Additionally, research shows that irregular body clock creates or aggravates bipolar disorder episodes.  Also, it worsens other health conditions such as depression, cancer, diabetes, obesity, among others.

The impact of COVID-19 most likely has disrupted our body clocks, making it difficult to re-establish regular biological rhythms. Those people who have mood disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder have more sensitive body clocks. Therefore, their body clocks are vulnerable to losing the focus of time and environmental changes, resulting in more mood episodes.

Self-management Tips to Prevent Bipolar Disorder Episodes

Below are a few self-management tips for enhancing your daily routines regularity to help you stay in track and feel better during the coronavirus lockdown. These are also useful tips for those who experience bipolar disorder episodes.

• Establish a routine during quarantine or when you are working from home. Regular habits are significant in stabilizing body clocks.
• Wake up at the exact time daily since a consistent wake-up time is crucial for sustaining your body clock too. Also, avoid casual naps during the day when you are idle or restrict the naps to 30 minutes since they can interfere with night sleep.
• Ensure you spend some time outside daily because your body clock synchronizes well with the day to the night cycle. If you can’t go outside, try to spend some time in your yard or where you can look into the daylight while maintaining calmness.
• Set times to do some regular activities daily such as phone communications, cooking, among others, while ensuring to stick to these activities at the planned time.
• Exercise and eat meals, preferably at the same time every day.
• Social interactions involving videoconferencing, or real-time text-messaging is essential rather than perusing multiple messages. Schedule social interactions at the same time too.
• Avoid bright lights in the evening, such as computer screens, smartphones, lights, etc. Bright lights such as blue spectrum light in the evening suppress the hormone that helps to sleep.

Final Thoughts from the Recover

If you or your loved ones are struggling with bipolar disorder or other mental health conditions during the quarantine, ensure to search our list of drug rehabs around you for help and advice on your problems.