The struggles of this pandemic and how I conquered it

Here’s the thing. Ever since the pandemic, almost all of us didn’t leave our houses—or even our beds. Everything we had to do was done in the comforts of our own home. Whether it is attending online classes or meetings for work, all we did was log in and click a link.

Yes, at first we thought it was convenient. But, as time passed by, we slowly realized that going for a walk to school or work really maintained that physique we once had. We know this quarantine thing really sucks. Well, especially for those people who have no jobs and nothing to eat.

Mental health affects weight gain during this pandemic

Besides the lack of exercise and daily physical activities, during this pandemic, we also developed a lot of conversations in our minds about certain things.

The time we spent in our rooms, alone, with only our laptops and phones in front of us, might have lead to questions. Such as: “What am I doing with my life?” or “How did I keep up with this” and things like that. We might have developed anxiety or other mental health problems which lead to gaining weight as well.

I personally experienced that. Attending my online classes when I was still taking up grad school at the time felt really draining and weakening. I also asked those questions to myself often and I felt really bad. In fact, I remember waking up every day, eating, studying, attending classes through my laptop, felt really dark, pointless, and meaningless.

It was as if I couldn’t breathe because of the repetitive routine. I started to have an existential crisis. My anxiety before the pandemic was bad enough, but it became worse when it started.

There was a study in the United States that supports this, as stated by Local12.

We have no idea how heavy the toll of this pandemic affects our mental health for months or even years to come. There exists a certain thing we started to discover. This would be the impact of isolation and social distancing. According to health care providers, it has started to show up in a lot of ways.

One year out in this pandemic and the newest Stress in America Survey shows, as mentioned by Arthur Evans Jr., Ph.D.:

“The pandemic has taken a particularly difficult toll on our American psychological health. Sixty-seven percent of adults say their sleep has been adversely affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, sixty-one percent of adults reported feeling undesired weight gain or weight loss with those who reported weight gain gaining an average of 29 pounds.”

That weight could lead to long-term physical health consequences.

U.S. Census Bureau now records more than 40% of them reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. This comes up 11% from last year, 2020. Without treatment, these can lead to greater risks for everything. Mental health providers state the risks from addiction to overdose deaths to suicide.

There’s been an increase in overdoses with COVID. I think more people are stressed. I think more people are anxious; more people are using. It’s harder to get the treatment that you need. So, yeah, we have had an increase since COVID started.

– Dr. Christine Wilder, an addiction researcher at the University of Cincinnati.

Gen Z adults are likely to report being mentally exhausted

According to a survey conducted in the US, Gen Z’s mental health have specifically affected. Gen Z adults (46%) remain the most likely generation to say that their mental health has worsened compared with before the pandemic. They are followed by Xers (33%), Millennials (31%), Boomers (28%), and older adults (9%).

Being a Gen Z myself, I can definitely attest to this. At my age, 22, I’m supposed to explore myself—my likes, ambitions, plans. Aside from that, I have to know what things I would like to do with my life. Of course, this would include what goals I would like to accomplish. Many people say this would be the age where a person will most definitely be questioning their choices. They say this is the hardest part of growing up—the hardest years of life.

With this pandemic, I can say that it became harder. Impossible, even. Instead of being able to go out and search for opportunities, I am confined in my room. To this day, in fear of being infected and the inconveniences of being restricted. My greatest dreams have been affected. To be able to travel the world and be a cabin crew someday. It became impossible to reach. Because there is no way that people can travel.

Due to these factors, I started gaining weight without noticing it. I became too focused on these questions, problems, and personal dilemmas. Too focused that I forgot to take care of myself. I go without traveling to school every day, walking to coffee shops to study, and my regular jog outside. Paired with stressful eating of junk foods, I became a different person. I became unhealthy.

An article about this was written by the New York Times, which mentioned Stephen Loy.

He had a lot of healthy habits before the pandemic. He went to exercise classes three or four times a week, cooked nutritious dinners for his family, and snacked on healthy foods like hummus and bell peppers.

During the lockdowns, when he was stuck at home, his anxiety levels went up. He stopped exercising and started stress eating like I did. Gone were the hummus and vegetables; instead, he snacked on cookies, sweets, and Lay’s potato chips. He ate more fried foods and ordered takeout from local restaurants.

Like him, I did this because it became more convenient to order food instead of wearing protective equipment, such as face masks and face shields, then wait in an uncomfortable line because of certain inconvenient precautionary measures. The problem with that is, aside from removing the burned calories that you can get from going outside for grocery or buying food, the offered snacks online are almost all unhealthy. They’re usually junk foods.

As he perfectly said in the article:

We were feeding the soul more than feeding the stomach. We were making sure to eat things that made us feel better — not just nutritional items.

This makes perfect sense because, during these hard times, it is justifiable to consume foods that make you happy instead of those you think are healthy. You’ll be prioritizing comfort and joy brought by food instead of its health benefits. You don’t feel good, you eat.

According to the same article, a global survey conducted last year confirms what Mr. Loy and many others experienced—the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns—led to dramatic changes in health behaviors, prompting people around the world to cut back on physical activity and eat more junk foods.

It drove anxiety levels higher and disrupted sleep. And those who are obese, who already face increased health risks, may have fared the worst, the researchers found. While they tended to experience improvements in some aspects of their diets, such as cooking at home more and eating out less, they were also the most likely to report struggling with their weight and mental health.

The help I got to be able to address this problem

I experimented with a lot of things in order to battle these problems caused by the pandemic. With my anxiety getting worse due to my current existential crisis, I tried listening to podcasts that aim to motivate me and give me a different outlook on life. I also made a playlist on Spotify, composed of all the songs that make me feel better.

There are films, tv shows, and videos that bring me happiness, so I watched them. Most of them have beautiful messages about life and even the afterlife, such as The Good Place and Glee. Lastly, I’ve read books that stimulated my mind and gave me new ideas and perspectives. All of these have helped.

On the other hand, in order to deal with my weight gain, I used a website that offers different kinds of calculators. The first one I used was the BMI to make sure that my weight is proportionate to my height. I learned that I am still normal, but I definitely was heavier, so I needed to work that out. Second, was finding out my ideal weight—good thing that the website offers that calculator too. I input the variables in the calculator, then I already knew what my goal was. I focused on that.

I slowly started to change my diet and made sure that I was getting the proper nutrients my body needs. In fact, I also continued my exercise routine before the pandemic, but only in the comfort of my own room, because I figured that it was as helpful as going to the gym. Although these habits helped my weight, they aren’t exactly the magical cure to my other problem—my anxiety—but I know that it would help.

Just with these simple changes in my lifestyle, I slowly started to feel good about myself and turned my life around, bit by bit. Now, my weight and the state of my mental health have improved very much. Of course, I will still need to continue this and find other ways that can help, but I have definitely done a lot. All I had to do was start.

Don’t let this pandemic drain you out of the great things you once had and the person you once were. Yes, it is difficult, but so was everything in your life that you have already conquered. This is something different, yes, but that also means new lessons to learn and add to the ones we already use today to improve our lives.

You can do it. We can do it. One step at a time. Hand in hand. We’ll conquer the hard times.