How to Manage Your Mental Health During the Coronavirus Outbreak

Feeling anxious and stressed about the Coronavirus is a natural reaction. It’s over one hundred years since the world has seen a global outbreak on this scale. As the disease spreads, it’s a normal response to be worried about the impact of COVID-19. We need to see mental health as part of our response. Developing strategies to build resilience and reduce coronavirus stress during the outbreak can help.

Most of us have never had do deal with uncertainty on this scale before. The novel nature of COVID19 means that we’re working with unknowns and that can increase anxiety. We may not be able to control what happens within the coming weeks and months, but what we can control is how we respond to it.

Are You Stressed?

It sounds counterintuitive but sometimes stress and anxiety can creep up on you. It can be hard to recognise that you’re stressed and anxious beforeyou start to feel overwhelmed. We all react differently to stress, but some common signs that you or someone else is feeling anxious about the current outbreak could be

Frequent worry
Moments of fear and feeling helpless
A change in sleep patterns
Withdrawal from activities that you normally enjoy
Joylessness
Hopelessness
Feeling of frustration, resentment or anger
Sadness and or tearfulness

Recognising coronavirus stress is information that you can use to regain control and begin dialling down your stress levels whilst still taking necessary precautions . Allow yourself to recognise these feelings without beating yourself up for your response. It’s ok to feel what you’re feeling. Fear and anxiety are part of a normal response to this situation. We’re designed to feel fear, it keeps us safe and helps us to take necessary action. Sometimes fear can lead us to take actions that don’t benefit ourselves — or others, it becomes unhelpful when it turns into panic.

Facts Minimise Fear

The more you know about Coronavirus, the more proactive you can be in terms of prevention. Facts minimise fear. Seek out accurate information from credible sources. This will help you to avoid the fear and panic that misinformation produces. Alia Crum, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford University explored the role of mindsets and how they impact our stress response her researchsuggests that the way we perceive stress may be critical in terms of how we respond to it. Crum found that viewing stress as part of life, as a skill to be mastered, resulted in better health, emotional well-being and productivity at work — even during highly stressful periods. Viewing stressful events this way helps us to manage threats more effectively. Knowing the facts puts you back in control and enables you to take proactive steps to protect yourself. Useful sources of coronavirus information are:

Digital Divorce — for now

Whilst informing yourself is a positive, being constantly connected to Coronavirus news feeds and social media can amplify feelings of anxiety and result in overwhelm. Remain informed but consider limiting the amount of time that you spend reading about Coronavirus to one or two times a day.

Manage your tech time in the same way that you already mitigate against digital overload by switching off alerts, setting a time limit on your use of apps and removing your phone or device from your bedroom. Create news breaks and consider taking a day off from checking coronavirus news. Instead, spend that time on something that renews and energises you instead, for example, reading, listening to music, going for a walk, exercise or spending time in nature.

Place Your Focus on What You Can Control

Energy spent on what we cannot control is wasted. Ruminating on what you cannot do will feed into stress and anxiety. Focusing on what you can control enables you to take more effective action.

Identify what you can control e.g. saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to requests from others, what you can influence e.g. working practices and what you can’t.
What can you do to prepare or plan for the areas that you can control? This might include preparing supplies in case you are quarantined, or talking to your family and friends about how you will manage a quarantine in practical terms.
Preparation can also include building your resilience with our free toolkitmaking sure that you prioritise your own self care or creating space in your day for stress reduction strategies such as mindfulness (free introduction to mindfulness toolkit)or exercise. Even small, incremental interventions of 5 minutes will begin to add up.
Create an action plan with a timeline.

Sleep

Coronavirus stress may well keep you awake. It sounds obvious, but making sure that you get adequate sleep will help you to manage stress. Churning over the day or tossing and turning will exacerbate overwhelming thoughts and feelings. Take a look at your sleep hygiene and develop a bedtime routine.

If you can, go to sleep at the same time every night. If that’s not possible and you’re working night shifts, develop a regular pre-sleep routine that soothes your mind and body. That might include a hot bath, herbal sleep tea or relaxation app, along with anything else that relaxes you. Keep your bedroom gadget free, promoting a wind down space before you go to sleep.

Consider practising mindfulness as a coronavirus stress and anxiety strategy. As well as helping to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, a randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for chronic insomniadiscovered that building mindfulness into your day can reduce chronic insomnia in adults.

Stay Connected

Stay connected with family, friends and support networks. The psychological impactof an outbreak or being isolated in quarantine are well documented. It’s easy to withdraw from others and shut down when you feel stressed. Talk to others about how you are feeling. Maintain your connections with others and if the guidelines for your country change, stay connected digitally (this can be especially helpful for children and teenagers).

Remember that sometimes it can also be helpful to deliberately talk about non Coronavirus topics, limiting the time you spend on topics that are likely to deplete you. Now is the time to consciously limit the time you spend with mood hoovers who drain your energy by being negative.

It’s possible to remain connected digitally if you find yourself quarantined. Isolation can be particularly challenging for everyone. Speak to friends and family using video calling apps or phone calls to manage feelings of isolation.

Maintain Your Routine

Think about the way that your day is structured. It may be that circumstances mean that things needs to change, at least for a while. Think about how you can design your day around self care and resilience. How can you maintain existing routines? What new routines can you introduce that will renew and replenish you? For example, if you commute to work, getting off a stop early and incorporating a walk into the journey. Is it possible to limit the things in your day that drain you? This might mean saying ‘No’ to requests from others and putting yourself first. Are there opportunities within any changes you might experience that you can use to your advantage?

Be Kind to Yourself

Research has demonstrated that self compassion has consistently found to be key to wellbeing and resilience. It has also been linked to decreased amygdala responses — reducing the likelihood of an amygdala hijack. Instead of berating yourself when you experience stress and anxiety you can generate positive emotions and accept that sometimes things are difficult without apportioning blame.

Practice Self Compassion

These compassion practices can be used to build kindness and self compassion into your routine.

When things get tough, take a self compassion break, even if it’s just 60 seconds.
Keep a journal focusing on the areas that you’re struggling with. Reflect on your journal entry with compassion. Imagine that you are responding kindly to a friend with your reflections.
Reframe your perception of failing as an opportunity to learn, grow and improve.
Monitor your self talk. When you hear your inner critic, talk back to it with kindness. Use phrases like “It’s ok to be angry about the situation.” “I don’t need to be perfect.” And when things don’t go as you wanted “Failing is part of being human.”
Limit the time that you spend on social media. Use that time for self care instead.
Prioritise your wellness and speak to someone when feelings of overwhelm persist.

This article was originally published at www.theresilientdoctor.com