How working from home during the coronavirus may impact Americans' mental health

Dr. Gail Saltz, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman and Akiko Fujita on The Ticker to discuss how Americans' mental health may be impacted while working from home.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: The coronavirus is forcing many Americans to work from home. But many are wondering what will be the mental impact for those workers no longer in the office. Joining us now is Dr. Gail Saltz. She's an associate professor of psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell of Medicine. And doctor, when we're looking at this, it might not seem like that serious of a problem. But I've been talking to a lot of people who've been stuck at home for weeks now working from home, and they'll tell you that the toll has already started to rack up here. So what should be some things that people might be on the lookout for?

GAIL SALTZ: I think this is definitely going to impact people's mental health. They're not only home, but they're home under scary circumstances. They may have lost a lot of the structure of their day that they typically have. They're together with people-- their family, yes, but that they, in the setting of being more anxious, get on each other's nerves. As that relationship feels frayed, that stresses people further. As their finances are concerning, that increases anxiety as well.

And over time, the social isolation from others can really impact not only anxiety, but mood. And social isolation causes loneliness. Loneliness causes anxiety and depression. So I think everybody has to be thinking preventively about their mental health care while they're home during this time and injecting things into their day that can definitely help control and stave off increasing anxiety and depression.

AKIKO FUJITA: You know, it's been interesting to see on social media a lot of parents sharing tips on what they're doing with their kids at home and being sure to set a schedule so that they, you know, they have the sense of normalcy. I know we're talking about people who are working from home, but, you know, what are some tips, what's some advice that you can give to those adults that are working from home to try and get through this uncertain period right now?

GAIL SALTZ: Absolutely. Keep a structure. You know, get up at a certain-- get up at a usual time. Shower. Eat. Create a workspace that is away, a little-- as much away as you can manage. That you each have your own separate workspaces. Children, you know, have their school separate workspaces. You have your own.

Inject into this structure of your day that you're going to create 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. I realize that may be in your apartment in a very small space. But whether it's calisthenics altogether or literally running around the apartment, whatever it is that-- you know, better yet, obviously, to get outside if that's possible for you to be in nature for 30 minutes of truly aerobics exercise, which controls stress, decreases anxiety, and improves mood.

And you can have little episodes that you structure during the day of relaxation techniques. Different things work for different people. So for some people, mindfulness or yoga is very helpful. But for other people, just deep breathing, deep belly breathing, muscle relaxation, distraction via watching a little comedy routine, watching-- or listening to something, reading a book for a few minutes, something that you find truly physically relaxing and mentally relaxing, morning, middle of the day, and evening.

And then socializing. Create social time. I realize it's going to be online, but that actually is better than nothing. Believe me. So set up-- you can have a Google Hangout playdate for your kids. You can have a dinner date with a friend with your computer in front of you, each of you with your dinners, for a couple of hours. Definitely keep up, as much as you can, some face-to-face, if not at least on the phone, social time.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and I mean, there are some clips going around right now-- I'm not sure I would recommend them, but putting soap on the ground and using it as a treadmill in a makeshift manner as well. Not sure how effective it is, but, you know, desperate times call for desperate measures. Dr. Gail Saltz, thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time.

GAIL SALTZ: Thanks for having me.