Most definitely some form of exercise. My household go for a walk once a day, we are lucky to live in a beautiful rural area. I will also put just dance on the wii and have a half hour of dancing. The mood boost is brilliant.
I have had anxiety for years and also a couple of severe depressive episodes so have learned quite a lot of coping tips over the years. When I am feeling low I am very careful about what I expose myself to. No reading the news, no watching anything that provokes high emotion, no listening to sad music and so on.
I also do my best to stick to a daily routine, making sure I shower, dress and do hair and makeup every morning, do the housework and try to get enough sleep. I have a hypnosis app that I listen to in bed and it sends me right off. I also have another app that wakes me up when I am in a light sleep and as close to the time I chose as possible which means I don’t wake up feeling exhausted.
When I am having bad days, I can go most of the day without eating which isn’t good and just makes me feel worse so I try to make sure I have porridge every morning even if I don’t feel like it, or scrambled eggs.
I track my periods as I have PMDD and more often than not, a really low day means my period is approaching and then I can accept it’s just my period exacerbating my moods and that’s okay.
Lastly what is happening just now is frightening and there are bound to be days that are harder than others. Sometimes we just need to have a mope and a cry, instead of trying to avoid it. A good cry can be very therapeutic!
I am also a Christian and wear a cross engraved with the serenity prayer which reminds me that sometimes we just have to accept some things are just not in our control so to focus on the things that are.