What do you do to help improve your wellbeing right now? We put this question to young people to record and share their answers.

The UK 2020 lockdown has meant that many of the things that we were used to doing had to stop. We spent more time at home and less time outdoors. Many of us spent more time on digital screens too while we carried on with our studies and worked from home. Interactions with people outside of our home – our friends and family members – were done at a distance, while the news of coronavirus impacts continued to be shared everywhere.

The 5 ways to wellbeing are to stay connected, take notice, be active, keep learning and give. These are researched things that you can do to improve your wellbeing and health. The UK’s lockdown restrictions changed the way that we would normally do all of these things and meant that we had to find new ways to carry on doing them.

We asked young people to share what they have been doing to improve their wellbeing during this situation. Here are some of the responses:

My favourite way [to wellbeing] is to connect. I connect with my cousins by playing online games – Nayeem

Hamza shares how his fav way to wellbeing helps to connect to others - take a listen!

We looked at how the outdoors affects our wellbeing during the online #WildActionProgramme with @WildLondon & @elattlondon#MHAW20 #keepingitwild @HeritageFundUK pic.twitter.com/NakXiAjh67

— Headliners London (@HeadlinersLDN) May 20, 2020

I do wellbeing all the time by asking the staff in my care home if they want a coffee, a tea, or if they want a milkshake – Josh

 

Finely's fav way to wellbeing is to connect, despite having to stay mindful during #lockdown - we know that feeling..

These were recorded during our online #WildActionProgramme with @WildLondon & @elattlondon@HeritageFundUK #KeepingItWild #KickTheDust #MHAW20 pic.twitter.com/GMXz6Iyg2Y

— Headliners London (@HeadlinersLDN) May 22, 2020

Adnan shares here how exercising and learning a new language has helped during the lockdown: 

The favourite ways for my wellbeing are learning new languages and exercising. I practice them a lot because I find them relaxing and calm. The reason why I practice exercising a lot is to keep my mindset healthy and keep me focussed during my studies and the future. What I like about learning languages is that it keeps me motivated, keeps me calm as well and keeps me interacting with different people.

This is important for me because it keeps me connected with people. It keeps me connected with my brothers because they like exercising as well and I do as well. They enjoy it during this lockdown situation.

Learning a new language keeps me noticing the different ways how people speak, and how people use their body language

through different languages.

My favourite is exercising a lot, I love doing that because it keeps me active and keeps my mood healthy and keeps my mood happy as well. Learning new languages - I like this so I don't get bored, so I'm happy, and this s really fun for me because I like to learn new things. – Adnan

Alfie shares what his most important 'way to wellbeing' is right now during #LifeInLockdown

During our online #WildActionProgramme with @WildLondon & @elattlondon, we looked at what part nature can play in our wellbeing#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #KeepingItWild @HeritageFundUK pic.twitter.com/sMXbE9Zbbw

— Headliners London (@HeadlinersLDN) May 18, 2020

I keep learning by going outside - Luke

This piece was created by young people from ELATT, during our online delivery of the Wild Action Programme with the London Wildlife Trust. The Wild Action Programme is one strand of the Keeping It Wild Project.

Banner image taken by Angelina during this Wild Action Programme