Stress Management through the COVID-19 pandemic

• Youth Against Suicide(s) #Being_the_difference Date: 04/21/2020

April: Stress awareness month campaign

Welcome to April, the stress awareness Month in the Mental Health Calendar. We would like to share with you some relevant information about What stress is, its effects and some positive measures you could use to ensure that you can cope with a stressful situation. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all going through a shift from our normal lifestyle which can be stressful. In this document we are going to highlight some relevant examples of these situations and how you can deal with them. It is about a 15-minute read document, here we go…

Stress is the body's response system to any kind of threat or strenuous demand. The response could be Physical, mental or emotional.

Causes of stress

The causes can be derived from the definition, either a strenuous demand or a threat according to your perception. Your perception of a situation may be influenced by internal or external factors; these factors are referred to as stress triggers.

The triggers may be real-life events, such as losing a loved one, getting sick at this time or, internal factors such as fear of a bad outcome, or your attitude on a particular subject matter.

A relevant example now would be, the first videos during the COVID-19 outbreak were scary and eerie, that helped shape the attitude towards the disease, this was demonstrated by the dramatic reactions of people when new cases are reported in their country. Due to this attitude, many people are now stressed about the disease spread and their well-being along with that of their loved ones.

However, it would be important to point out that stress is a normal part of our lives which we deal with and get over, time after time. The problem is when we are unable to deal with the stressors and experience elongated periods of stress.

Symptoms

When you have any amount of stress, the strain can affect any part of your life, therefore one can express Physical, Emotional, Mind pattern and Behavior alteration.

🔶The emotional symptoms are felt by most people first where you can be moody, easily angered, feel overwhelmed like you are losing control and avoiding interaction.

🔶Physically, one could suffer from different aches and pains mostly headaches, you could have a troubled bowel movement, low body temperature, and a lot of shaking. Your body could react to stress through physical pain or discomfort.

🔶Your mind pattern changes when you are stressed and expresses this through many thoughts, inability to focus, forgetfulness, or worry.

🔶Since your thought pattern has changed, this influences your behavior so you could do things like pace around, have a change in appetite, increased use of drugs and alcohol, and implementing maladaptive coping strategies such as ignorance and procrastination.

Real-life situation: In the case of COVID-19 we witnessed symptoms of stress in ourselves and others, some people experienced actual body aches and pains after the first case was mentioned, most of us expressed it emotionally by feeling worried and anxious about what it means for us, we all started thinking differently just when the first case was announced and this was kind of expressed by the panic buying of sanitizers, food, utilities, with limited evidence of what one case meant to us

If you were not really in tune to identify a stressor, you could evaluate the symptoms you are showing through this pattern and use reverse identification to figure out your stressor and its triggers. The thing is these are just symptoms that your body showcases when you have stress

Now we can have an overview of what the effects of elongated stress look like:

The effects include:

1. Mental Health disruption by depression, chronic anxiety.

2. Developing personality disorders

3. Cardiovascular diseases

4. Gastrointestinal problems including ulcers, IBS

5. Lower life span

The long term effects, however, are dire but 100 % avoidable if we learn how to deal with stress in its earlier stages

Let’s now deal with POSITIVE WAYS to handle a stressful situation

Emotional Responses

v Let go – as we discussed earlier, everyone in life goes through what we can refer to as a ‘rough patch’, acknowledge that there will be times in your life when you can expect some lows. Therefore, when you encounter a stressful situation mark it as a low and as a part of your journey as a human and ride through the wave.

v Positivity is the Key - Now that we know that there are situations we can expect that may be overwhelming, it’s time to tune up positivity when in a stressful situation, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, try to play a game with yourself of ‘Finding waldo’ amidst the stressful situation. Waldo, in this case, being a positive aspect you may identify.

Real-life example: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have at least had a chance to stay indoors and spend more time with our friends or family that we live with, we have also seen a lot of people reaching out and most of us have reached out to other people to enhance our sense of social responsibility.

v The Future and the Past Perspectives – You could try to picture what your future looks like after the stressful situation and sought of humor yourself when you are going through, try to imagine how thrilling it would be after you overcome the situation. That helps to raise your spirits and relieve your mind of the pressure of the current circumstance. This way, you can constructively think about the situation and may find yourself stumbling on to some solutions or options you may have at the moment.

Let’s review the Past perspective, now that the ‘future seems bright,’ You can switch to the rearview mirror. It’s time to review your past and look back at your previous stressful experiences and their resolution. Try to figure out some of the processes you used to overcome the situation, a pen and paper would help at this point. Draw a sequence map of how they started to how they ended, look at how you felt and what you did about it. This not only helps you to come up with brilliant coping mechanisms suited for you but also allows you to reaffirm that “THIS TOO SHALL PASS”

COVID -19 relevance Example: In Kenya we have had a crisis before, ranging from terrorist attacks to the post-election violence, we have also tackled some fight against diseases before such as Polio and The HIV Pandemic. This proves that although we experienced some hurt before, we were resilient enough to work together and overcome these situations and lay down plans to ensure our continued safety. Therefore, with the case of COVID-19, this too shall pass and all we have to do is adjust to our current circumstance while knowing that we can get through this.

Physical Responses

ü Relax: Take a pause, learn how to stay chill. You could maintain a good sleep pattern and explore methods such as meditation🧘‍♂️🧘‍♀️, breathing exercises or even enjoying a nice Comedy show. This allows your body to calm down and gives your brain a chance to re-group for the next5 time you will address the situation.

ü Eat a well-balanced diet – Healthy eating practices allow you to give your body all the necessary resources it requires for the effort it takes to deal with the situation reducing or eliminating the strain and discomfort you may physically experience.

ü Exercise – This is a nice way to burn out all the anger and the frustration and allow yourself to express your emotion physically, it also serves as an usher to a relaxation period afterward which calms you down.

ü When it gets overwhelming: SEEK SUPPORT; Use the resources around you to get support, reach out to that friend, that sibling or that parent you like and share with them what you are going through.

Ø You also have the option to reach out directly to us, you are free to vent, to seek peer support in terms of different perspectives on the issue and also professional help

The takeaway

This COVID-19 time is truly stressful at an individual, national, and global level, we have been forced to rearrange the way we live and how we interact. However, as the human race, we have proved resilient time and time again, people are working non-stop to find a solution, Doctors are working to help the patients and our responsibility is to take care of ourselves during this time. Take care of your mental health by implementing positive coping mechanisms and feel free to seek support when things feel too heavy.

Thank you for reading through this, please reach out if you need support and refer any other person who may be in need.

Remember to follow all the guidelines as directed by your local authority.

-Written and Complied by Judah Njoroge