Warrior Wellness: Tips to improve mental health and well-being during COVID-19 pandemic

Pictured is Mike Haussmann, Willowbrook Department Head for physical education, health and driver education.

We hope this Warrior Wellness column finds you and your family safe and healthy. We certainly wish we were with our students in class right now, but we are working hard to provide content remotely. Thank you to all of our students for their continued engagement and efforts.

During this time of dealing with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we are seeing more and more news stories about mental health concerns. In a “Harvard Gazette” article by Alvin Powell published on April 16, Karestan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said, “I think we are likely seeing some emergence of [mental health impacts] locally, in the U.S. and Boston, but we’re likely to see it globally as well.”

In the article, Powell said, “Though the mental health implications of social distancing’s physical isolation have already grabbed our attention, Koenen pointed out that the pandemic has also ignited mounting fears over the potential for illness, death, job loss, bankruptcy.” To read the full article, go to https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/rising-mental-health-concerns-in-the-coronavirus-era/.

So what can we do to combat these concerns? How can we give our body and brain a boost while we are dealing with COVID-19? One answer is to exercise. In a 2018 article in “Psychology Today,” Sarah Gingell, Ph.D, said, “Exercise is well known to stimulate the body to produce endorphins and enkephalins, the body’s natural feel-good hormones which can make problems seem more manageable. The simple act of focusing on exercise can give us a break from current concerns and damaging self-talk.” The full article can be viewed at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-works-and-why/201803/how-your-mental-health-reaps-the-benefits-exercise.

Be sure to take care of your social-emotional needs and well-being by taking a walk, riding your bike or doing calisthenics for at least 30 minutes a day. This will not only help your brain, but will help make you physically healthier and stronger as well.

Although we can’t get together for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, we hope to see all of our students as soon as it’s determined we can safely come back to school.

Take care, Warrior Nation!

- Mike Haussmann and the Willowbrook physical education, health and driver education departments

• The monthly Warrior Wellness column provides an inside look into the physical education, health and driver education classes at Willowbrook. This feature will highlight what students are working on in the classroom, as well as student successes in those departments.