How To Deal With Coronavirus Anxiety And Stress?
Rising Positivity Rate And Becoming The First Country To Cross Over 4 lakh Cases in May 2021!
Source: TOI
In India the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered mental health and worsened condition for people who suffer from anxiety, stress or depression.
Right now the covid positive patients and other people are at home taking every possible measures and precautions to be safe from the coronavirus.
Still this has taken a huge toll on their mental health making them face challenges like being stressed, overwhelming emotions, anxiety attacks and fear amongst adults as well as children.
Not just this, even the Youth of India is on the advent to face severe anxiety attacks that they feel like nothing left.
This is not the time to feel low.
This is the time to stay strong and stand united in every aspect, because right now India needs the Strength and Endurance of its Youth only to help its people “Fight Covid” and build much stronger nation than it was before.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress.
It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come.
On the first day of school, going to a job interview, or giving a speech may cause most people to feel fearful, and nervous and anxious about end result.
But, we tends to forget that it’s not the destination we would be remembering at the end, but the journey we took, the path we followed, the people we made memories with.
And, all these things are to make us feel calm and peaceful rather than making us anxious and facing anxiety issues.
What Are The Anxiety Symptoms Due To Coronavirus?
A person may feel overwhelmed and experience high levels of anxiety and stress due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The symptoms of anxiety can be physical symptoms as well as mental symptoms.
The range of anxiety could be from mild to severe wherein a person might feel or trigger the following emotions & feeingls:
# Sense of apprehension or dread
# Feeling tense or jumpy
# Being restless, impatient or irritable
# Anticipating the worst to happen
# Watching for signs of danger
# Panic or anxiety attacks, nausea, chest pain and more in cases of intense physical and mental symptoms
Why COVID19 Stress And Anxiety Affecting People?
The prescription fills, doctor consultation and demand for drugs have peaked drastically in 2020-21 with patients complaining of being in fear of getting caught with the coronavirus.
Losing a loved one, loneliness being home without meeting loved ones and all the worst possible scenarios.
It has been a year since the nationwide lockdown was announced with new terms coming into the vocabulary of people as the ‘new normal’.
Be it social distancing, wearing masks, confining within your home, sanitizing on time, no partying or meeting loved ones.
Even more standing in queues to buy groceries and adjusting in work from home with increased work pressure, pay cuts and less revenue making jobs & business conditions to be more and more low.
Even in the west, as per the survey, 630 out of 1000 Americans have been diagnosed to suffer from stress, depression or anxiety attacks with feeling at their worst during the COVID-19 pandemic than they were before.
India has been hit the hardest with this second wave of SARS Cov2 after a declined positivity rate between January to March 2021, wherein people started living a normal life to some extent.
The tensions arising due to financial insecurity, family issues, confinement, trauma or loss have been the triggering factors towards high stress, depression and anxiety attacks.
What Should I Do When I feel Depressed And Anxious Due To Stress From Covid19 Situation?
The precautions that must be taken to be safe and stop the spread of coronavirus especially through social distancing is making people isolated and lonely.
The unavailability of hospitals, oxygen beds, and medicines is making people panicking about hoarding much needed medical assistance at various levels, increasing stress and anxiety among patients and their near ones.
This panic buying is also adding to the high depression and amplifying chances of anxiety attacks in people of the society.
Be it from the grocery last year to buying oxygen cylinders, prescribed antibiotics and oxygen concentrators this year, citizens has got nothing but to face difficulties.
People are not just isolating themselves physically but also dipping themselves into the continued fear grip of what will happen if they get infected and are affecting their mental state and immune system as well, causing anxiety and situation of stress for everyone around.
But, one can learn to manage anxiety disorders.
Learning to cope with stress and anxiety issues in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and those around you become more resilient.
What Are The Best Techniques For Releasing Stress And Regulating Anxiety Issues?
Understand Your Anxiety And Stress Level:
Not knowing what may come next!
All of us are hooked on watching the headlines and slightly praying to god, “When is this Coronavirus infection going to end?”
It is surely vital to know what has been going around in your community, area and surrounding to follow advised safety precautions and do your part to stop the spread of the virus.
However, getting affected by the negative news or misinformation needs to be avoided for not feeding fear and anxiety issue within your mind.
Constant monitoring of updates fuels stress and chances of anxiety attacks rather than easing it.
Step away from the news whenever you start feeling overwhelmed and watch the news at a specific time once a day or find reliable sources of information from a person who would update you and keep you calm as well.
Likewise, for many people, this uncertainty surrounding coronavirus takes over their head and becomes the hardest thing to handle but you can follow these advices for lowing down your stress and anxiety problems:
# Stay informed but do not overthink about the updates or obsessively check the news.
# Stick to trustworthy sources such as WHO and local public health authorities.
# Avoid constant monitoring for updates and news.
# Consider limiting your media consumption to a specific time of day.
# Ask someone reliable to share important updates.
# Verify information before passing it on.
Focus On The Things You Can Control:
A few things in the world suffering from pandemic are out of our control about what will happen.
We can only try to prevent it from affecting us and mitigate it.
We need to accept the tough thing and try to divert our mind rather than letting anxiety take over us for circumstances outside our control and stop getting under the trap of anxiety attacks.
One needs to stop feeling drained, doubtful, overwhelmed and anxious.
You can’t control how severe the coronavirus outbreak is in your city or town, but you can take steps to reduce your risk of contracting it following the below steps:
# Washing your hands frequently with disinfecting soap
# Use sanitiser whenever going out with at least 60% alcohol
# Get Vaccinated booking on the COWIN portal at your nearest centre
# Avoid touching your face (eyes, nose and mouth)
# Cover your face completely with a mask
# Stay home as much as you can
# Avoid any public gathering or crowded places
# Avoid buying non-essentials items or going out for travel
# Follow all the latest recommendations from health authorities.
# Do not skip your medical appointments and prefer video consultation, if possible
# Start ordering things online as much as you can for grocery, medicines, etc., rather visiting the physical shops.
# Gently massage your fingers, joints as you wash your hands.
# Keeping the surroundings clean and hygienic
# Maintain a balanced diet, some exercise and adequate sleep of about 6-8 hours for keeping the immune system intact
Express What You Feel:
Often your heart will be filled with concern and fear, being confined in the four walls of the home.
Thinking and just rethinking about, “What will happen to your workplace, children studying just at home, some of your loved ones may fall sick, or you will be isolated”.
It’s natural to think of all the worst scenarios and possibilities.
Yet, start releasing a bit of your anxiety with these small steps:
# Write down specific issues bothering you about coronavirus or anything which is affecting your mental peace.
# Take small breaks from work and even writing about what you feel.
# Make a list of all the possible solutions you can think of. No matter how random it is.
# Try to find doable solutions than ‘perfect solutions’.
# Focus on concrete problems or things you can solve or change.
Talk to someone close to you about your problem.
Learn To Cope with Stress:
Belittle the stress with small moments of happiness in the day.
At times, the easiest way out of stress is to use your energy on things that make you happy, like:
# Take small breaks for what you like to do be it watching, reading, or listening to news stories.
# Start meditating, stretching and deep breathing exercises taking away the anxiety and stress
# Maintain a healthy diet and well-balanced meals avoiding intake of junk or alcohol.
# Make time to unwind; try to do some other activities you enjoy.
# Take a warm shower at the end of each day before bedtime.
# Connect and reach out and check in regularly with people you care about via phone call, text messages, Whatsapp, video calls, Facetime or Skype.
# Enjoy some of your favourite Livestream events on Youtube, social media platforms and Gaming communities.
# Create fun time for the day with some online game along with family and friends or organise zoom call party sessions.
Do anything & everything that brings you the peace of mind, and calm your surroundings. Because, right now all we need is Love, Care, Support, Kindess, Empathy, Generosity, and above all the Gratitude & Prayers.