Self-care Tips
Maintain a healthy diet
- Make good nutrition a priority
- Make the most of family meals
- Stock healthy choices in your fridge and pantry
- Create healthier habits with some help from WW and take advantage of special employee-pricing
Exercises at home or in your room
- Explore these exercise programs to stream, many for free:
- Love cycling or running outdoors? Try these free trail videos created by two Yalies!
- Blogilates- YouTube channel and website offers a massive library of pilates-style toning classes.
- HIIT workouts - 20-minute high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts you can do at home.
- MyFitnessPal offers 7-minute At-Home workouts
- Virtual and on-site classes at Payne Whitney Gym
Stay connected with family and friends
- Eat regular meals with others in your home or even via Facetime
- Use different forms of communication including phone, text, email, messaging, and video call (Facetime, Zoom, or Skype)
- Responsibly use social media such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn
- Make tech easier to watch with others online.
Attend to your mental health
- Maintain a routine
- Get a good night’s sleep
- Stay active- talk a walk or spend time in your backyard and avoid areas where large groups of people may be.
- Limit screen time
- Call a friend or loved one on the phone or use Facetime
- Find help- Telehealth options allow people speak with a professional therapist online, by phone call, text, email, or through a video call
- Yale University Personal Wellness (EAP program provided by Optum) or call 866-416-6586
Try a Meditation App*:
- Calm : fee-based, Yale Advantage members receive 57% off annual subscription fee.
- Headspace : fee-based, free trial period, some free COVID-19 guided meditations available.
- Insight Timer : free or by donation, meditation, yoga, live sits and talks.
- Smiling Mind : free and paid options, practices for kids and schools, adults, work and home.
- MyLife Stop.Breathe.Think : free and paid options, for kids and educators.
*Please note, Yale does not cover the cost of fee-based meditation apps.
Games and activities to do solo or remotely with friends and family
- Multiplayer app games for IPhone & Android
- Listen to upbeat music (and dance!)
- Play board games or puzzles
- Knit, crochet, paint or color
- Watch movies
- Meditate, jounal or start a gratitude list
- Read
- Rearrange/organize/declutter/clean your home or work on small home repairs
- Try a new recipe
- Garden, even indoors with potted plants, herbs, or flowers
- Create a blog/podcast/Instagram about your experience
- Learn a new language, try a new hobby or take a free online course
Connect with a higher source through spirituality
- Many churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious organizations are offering services online.
- Prayer can be a powerful way to process difficult emotions and to tap into gratitude for what one has, such as before a meal - whether in person or even with a friend or family member over the phone or on Facetime.
- Reading spiritual texts and devotional books can provide hope and inspiration.
Other resources
- Resources to Support Adults, Parents, Children and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Yale Environmental Health and Safety: Staying Safe and Healthy While Working From Home
- Action for Happiness: Coping Calendar
- Psychology Today: Staying Happy While Social Distancing