SSE
- When a person can work productively and
Cycle 1, Semester 1
Module 1:
STAYING MENTALLY HEALTHY IN
THE NEW NORMAL
With no breaks in the semester, school felt like a non-stop,
brain-sucking machine. - Anna Kitrell, student at Louisiana
State University
The ongoing Covid-19 and the threat of monkeypox threatens
our mental health and ramps up our anxiety levels—putting us
on high alert.
Sharing on how may the monkeypox affect us in terms of
psychological effect
- Overthinking, stress, anxiousness may steer into other
mental issues
- Triggers conscious people, especially the people
conscious of their looks and health
- Depends on the personality of the person. It may take
a huge toll on extroverted people since they thrive in
socializing, but the introverted ones may benefit as
they love boundaries and personal space
- Most vulnerable: marginalized sector due to lack of
access to health care
- Pile up along with personal issues and the other crises:
existential, political, health, economic
- Rampant paranoia
- Some may still be hopeful in the face of adversity
Other things that might be the cause of stress:
- Heavy workload
- Upcoming exams
- Very limited down time
- Transitioning to new environment
- Face-to-face to the new normal/online classes
- Online to limited face-to-face
- Difficult subjects
MENTAL HEALTH
Definition according to World Health Org
- It is the state of well-being in which the
individual realizes his or her own abilities, and
can cope with the normal stresses of life…
Definition according to Galderisi et al., 2015
fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his
or her community
Mental or Psychological Resilience
- Defined as the process of adapting well in the
face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or
significant sources of stress
- Resilience
- Involves bouncing back from difficult
experiences, it can also involve profound
growth
- Involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions
that anyone can learn and develop
- Being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t
experience difficulty or distress
- The road to resilience involves
considerable emotional distress
- Resilience isn’t a personality trait
- Certain factors might make individuals
more resilient but it is not a personality
trait
Sharing:
- Resilience is being comfortable in the uncomfy
- Pattern: severe depression -> recovered ->
relapsed -> recovered = resilience (bounce back)
SELF-COMPASSION AND SELF-CARE
(Tools for building psychological resilience)
Self Compassion
- You can’t pour from an empty cup
- With self-compassion, we give ourselves the
same kindness and care we’d give to a good
friend. We become an inner ally rather than an
inner enemy (Neff and Germer, 2018)
- Treat yourself as you would treat a good friend.
(Kristin Neff)
Sharing: How do you treat a friend who failed you?
- With understanding and kindness
- Communicate. Do not invalidate pain
- Give space to process each other’s emotions
- Mistakes are normal but it shouldn’t be tolerated
- Stop romanticizing resilience - toxic positivity.
“Ganyan lang prob? May mas mabigat pa jan.”
 - They went to you cause they needed help,
not hearing them out may result in self-
isolation later on. Have a sense of
empathy
Sharing: How do you treat yourself when you fail?
- We tend to be unforgiving of ourselves
- We overthink of the what ifs, should’ves,
could’ve beens as if we reached the end of
everything
- Inconsistent to others and yourself
- Heal at your own pace
- Seek help if your coping mechanism is self-
destruction or self-harm
Slow breathing triggers some areas of the brain that
involves arousal and wakefulness
ELEMENTS OF SELF COMPASSION - Doing breathing exercises when anxious may help
you relieve anxiety
1. Self-Kindness

- embrace yourself with kindness, warmth and Self-Care

acceptance
- taking care of ourselves, so that we will be in a
2. Common Humanity better position to take care of others. (Raphailia,
2018)
- acknowledging that we are all flawed “works in
progress” Sharing: what are your self care?
- We become what we eat. To live a healthy
3. Mindfulness lifestyle is inexpensive
- focusing on the present moment - Depression can be related to your diet, sleep,
coffee intake
Sharing: what is mindfulness? - Exercise - stimulates immune system and help
- Be mindful of your surroundings, people, their release more chemicals:
emotions - Endorphin - natural pain killer
- Knowing your own triggers, how you cater and - Dopamine
prevent them next time - Serotonin
- Act not react. Act based on intention not intuition
- Grounding yourself into that moment, watching
your thoughts and just letting it pass by. Training SELF-CARE ESSENTIALS
the mind to be still and at peace with the thoughts,
no force, let it all happen 1. Take care of your body
- 4-7-8 breathing technique
- Being able to regulate emotions - Eat healthy
- Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? - Exercise regularly
- Get enough sleep
- Get a warm bath
Breathing Patterns/Techniques - Try mindfulness apps
- Basic self-care will keep your immune system
 strong and your emotional reserves full
- Revenge Bedtime Procrastination - describes
the decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure time that
is driven by a daily schedule lacking in free time.
(Valle, 2021)

2. Acknowledge your emotions

- It’s okay to feel fearful, anxious or stressed now.

Discuss your experiences with relatives and
friends or share a laugh. (American Psychological
Association, 2020)

3. Establish a routines

- Get up, go to bed and do your work at the same

time every day.
- Frequent breaks can help you re-engage in your
work.
- Try to create a separate workspace, although you
should reserve your sleeping area for sleeping.

4. Seek out social support

- Get and provide warm, comforting, social support

by phone text or using apps like zoom, messenger
or google meet.
- Social distancing is actually a misnomer, it is
actually physical distancing while we work hard
to stay socially connected.
Sharing:
- Sometimes people open up more things to friends
than families

5. Set Healthy Work Boundaries:

- Put away electronic devices and work tools at the

end of workday
- Set clear hours in the day for work
- Only choose people who can cross the line

6. Limit media consumption

- Being informed is good, but too much news and

social media can add to your anxiety
- Social media detox
 7. Focus on the things you can control
- Things you have control of: thoughts feelings,
and behaviors
- While modeling good behavior and staying safe
yourself, recognize that you cannot control what
other people do.
- Mindfulness takes time to control and practice, if
there are ruminations about the future and past,
understand that they are sometimes hard to
control.
8. Find Ways to Manage Disappointment
- When important events don’t happen, grieve
those losses, then reframe how you think about
these life events.
- Adjust your thought process, the things we cannot
change does not automatically mean it should be
given up
9. More Gratitude, Less Attitude
- Express thankfulness and appreciation as a
habit for the both big and small things alike
- When was the last time you appreciated
somebody or expressed gratitude?
- The Happiness Project
- A researd from 2003 studied 2 groups: (1)
counted the blessings and (2) counted the
hassle/hurdle. Result = 1st group had a greater
well being
- Attitude has a ripple effect, it affects other people
MENTAL HEALTH AND LEARNING
Mental health influences learning process
- Managing trauma - such as what we experienced
during Covid-19 - affects our ability to be present
and learn (Oxford learning, 2021)
- Data and statistical inferences almost always
proved that health has a powerful impact on
education. Whether it’s physical or mental, the
effect is similar and noteworthy. (John Wick,
2021)
- Students with inadequate sleep spend lazy day at
school
- Sleep deprivation leads to poor concentration and
diminish energy
- Absenteeism - study suggests students with
chronic health conditions have more absences.
Absenteeism, in turn is associated with lower
academic achievement (CDC, 2017)
Little Reminders💗
- Give yourself some small treats like little
stretches, yoga, playing with cats, reading good
books
- Don’t be in a hurry. Take your time
- Sometimes, we are the reason of our suffering
- Listen to your mind, sometimes suppressed
emotions and trauma may manifest in other forms
such as physical health problems
- Prioritizing yourself doesn’t mean you’re selfish
What happens if you don’t get sleep
(yt video notes)
1. Effects in the brain
- Prevents brain from being able to make new
memories
- Increase of beta amyloid
- A toxic protein that is associated with
Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
- This toxic can only be washed away
through deep sleep at night
2. Effects on the body
- Reproductive system:
- Men who sleep 5-6 hrs a night have a
level of testosterone which is that of
someone 10 years their senior
- Immune system
- 70% reduction of natural killer cells - the
critical anticancer-fighting immune cells
- High risk of developing forms of cancer
- Cancer of the bowel, prostate,
breast
- WHO classified any form of nighttime
shift work as a probable carcinogen
- Cardiovascular system
- It is only during deep sleep that we receive
 an effective blood pressure medication:
lower heart rate, lower blood pressure
- A sleep of less than 6hrs = 200% increase
risk of fatal heart attack or stroke
- Daylight saving time - during spring,
when people lose an hour of sleep, there’s
a 24% increase in heart attacks the
following day
- Recycle rate of a person: after 16 hours of
wakefulness mental and physiological
deterioration can be seen
- After 19-20 hours your mental capacity it
could be compared to a drunk driver
- 8 hours - time of sleep needed to repair the
damage of wakefulness
- Wakefulness - a low-level brain damage

Benefits of exercise
(notes from the yt video)
Both of these are susceptible to neurodegenerative
diseases and normal cognitive decline in aging.
- Prefrontal Cortex - critical for decision-making,
focus, attention, personality
- Hippocampus - (located deep in Temporal Lobe )
to form and retain new long-term memories for
facts and events

Benefits

- Better mood, energy, memory, attention

- Immediate increase levels of neurotransmitters:
dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline
- Improve your ability to shift and focus attention
- Improved reaction times
- @Hippocampus
- Produce brand new brain cells that
increases its volume and improve long-
term memory
- @Prefrontal cortex
- Long term-exercise = improved attention
function
- More workout => bigger hippocampus and
prefrontal cortex => stronger hippo and prefro =>
it would take long for diseases to have an effect