Whether you’re the parent of a young child or an older student yourself, lockdown restrictions that require virtual learning are having an unexpected impact on mental health. Throughout this period, it’s essential to supplement the learning process with activities that stimulate positive emotions. The following suggestions focus on helping students stay mentally fit, so they will continue to do well with their studies.
Establish a Set Schedule
Students should create a schedule for them that ensures they’ll only spend a predetermined amount of time doing their schoolwork. This is more challenging than it may sound when students are engaged in virtual learning, because class lessons can be accessed at anytime. Students should set aside time for enjoyable distractions before bedtime, so it’s wise to finish online learning lessons in the late afternoon or early evening. This leaves time to engage in activities that are not related to their education.
Communicate With Classmates
At any age, social interactions are essential for maintaining good mental health. This is partly because people tend to talk openly with friends about their feelings and, as Benjy Grinberg suggests, talking about emotional health helps reduce the stigma around that topic. Conversations also help students take their minds off of their learning by giving them things to discuss that they enjoy. Students should be encouraged to use instant messaging, email, video conferences, and other types of technology to stay in touch with their friends. While chatting online is different from in-person conversations, it can fulfill an important emotional need.
Recognize Stressors
Regardless of a student’s age, they should be taught to recognize their stressors and to proactively tackle them. For example, if math is a particularly difficult subject for an individual, they should complete their math lessons earlier in the day. This way, the stress of worrying about those assignments will be eliminated, allowing the student to focus on their other assignments without the added stress. This strategy helps give students easier afternoons, while teaching them tips that will help them deal with stress in their day to day lives. Stress leads to emotional health problems that can become severe in time, so learning how to eliminate stressors is essential to each student’s overall mental health.
Encourage Students to Seek Help
Learning is challenging in any situation even when certain topics come easily to a student. When a student feels alone, such as is often the case with virtual learning, they can end up feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with a problem. Just as Benjy Grinberg urges students to seek an outlet for their emotional health issues, students should be encouraged to seek help with any problem they encounter. Sometimes, a student just needs an ear to help them work out a problem. If they can’t reach an instructor via text messaging, turning to a parent or friend can help a discouraged student resolve a problem.
Step Away From the Computer
Exercise is just as important to emotional and cognitive health as it is to physical wellbeing. Even during this period of lockdowns, it’s important to get at least 30 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity each day. Giving students 30 minutes to an hour each day to go outside to play, run, bicycle, or hike is a great way to meet those requirements, while also helping to break up long periods of virtual learning. After spending an hour burning off some pent up energy, students can return to their computers feeling refreshed and ready to learn.
Set Daily Goals
Just as a remote worker must stay productive, students engaged in virtual learning must also accomplish specific tasks each day. It can help students to set daily goals for themselves by giving them specific benchmarks to work towards. When they surpass the expected goal, they will feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment that will give a boost to their emotional wellbeing. This will encourage them to continue setting daily goals for themselves, which will teach them a strong work ethic. In setting goals, students should be counseled to set challenging but attainable goals. If the goals they set are too far out of reach, students will eventually become frustrated and may stop trying to obtain those goals.
While these tips will help students feel emotionally well, there are many more things you can try. Any activity that offers stability, relaxation, or the relief of stress will help students of any age maintain good mental health. Until something changes, these activities can benefit anyone in the home.