Self Care & COVID-19

Self-Care for Those Giving Care

Indisputably, COVID-19 has increased the level of stress and anxiety across all walks of life. This frightening and highly contagious adversary is particularly weighing heavily on our front line healthcare professionals and they are feeling the conflicting hardship of helping those they care for while at the same time ensuring their own safety. But you need to know that you’re not alone and there are some things you can do to help mitigate the negative effects on your overall well-being. American Psychological Association (APA) notes that managing stress early on can prevent long-term mental health troubles. “If you start to feel an acute increase in anxiety, depression, or other condition, consider seeking professional help sooner rather than later, if possible.” The following are some strategies and preventative measures to help you take action to integrate self care while giving care to others.

The Art of Self Support

Self-care and engaging in strategies to help maximize wellness isn't always easy, especially for busy healthcare professionals. This highly contagious disease does not discriminate over race, age, nor global logistics and so it is more imperative than ever for healthcare professional to commit to carving out time for their own self-care.   Self-Support Strategies: Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories and updates (including social media; hearing about the pandemic repeatedly can be upsetting). Take care of your body. Take deep breaths, stretch, exercise or try meditation. Try to eat healthy, well balanced meals. Get plenty of sleep and avoid alcohol.   Carve out time to unwind. A hot bath works wonders. Connect with others. With today’s abundantly available technology you can continue to talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fprepare%2Fmanaging-stress-anxiety.html

The Value of Self-Care

Have you ever heard some of these caretaker clichés? 1.) Take care of yourself first or you will have nothing left to give others. 2.) We can’t give what we don’t have. 3.) Taking care of ourselves is taking care of them too. We can all agree on the value of self-care. That said, it is interesting to note that healthcare professionals are often the ones that often forget or completely dismiss self-care practices altogether. So don’t forget to care for yourself so you can better take care of others. Self-Monitor for Stress: Along with self-monitoring for physical symptoms of Covid-19, assess yourself for emotional symptoms. Look for signs such as irritability, insomnia, fatigue, headaches and digestive problems. Be aware that it’s normal to be experiencing some manifestations of anxiety (such as restlessness and difficulty focusing) during this period of exceptional uncertainty. Practice Self-Care: Healthy activities can help maintain equilibrium in trying times. Exercise, eat healthy foods, maintain a sleep schedule, pray, dance in the living room. Stay Personally Connected: Despite social distancing and quarantines, we can stay in touch via telephone, FaceTime, Zoom meetings and other platforms. Set up group chats with friends and relatives to keep grounded in your personal lives and allay the concerns loved ones might feel about your work with a high-risk population. Sharing the Facts About COVID-19 and understanding the actual risk to yourself and people you care about can make an outbreak less stressful. When you share accurate information about COVID-19 you can help people feel less stressed and allow you to connect with them.

Meditation

Meditation and daily affirmations are a great way to get your own self-care program jump started. The time needed to pursue either can be flexible and easily retrofitted to accommodate your demanding schedule throughout the day. There is a variety of meditation practices that you can try. “Meditation” actually refers to many different practices. In the West, the most well-known set of practices is “mindfulness meditation.” That means paying attention, purposefully and non-judgmentally, to your experience in the present moment.  Studies have shown meditation to benefit on so many levels: Reduce stress Control anxiety Promotes emotional health Enhances self awareness Lengthens attention span May reduce age-related memory loss Improves sleep Pain management Decrease blood pressure Lastly but certainly not least, meditation can generate kindness. . . and that’s an added blessing that all of us welcome in our everyday lives. NOTE: Headspace, the meditation app, is offering free access to healthcare professionals this year.

Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to overcome self-sabotaging, negative thoughts. Identify the thoughts or behaviors that you'd like to change then come up with positive, credible, and achievable affirmation statements that are the opposite of negative thoughts. Repeat your affirmations several times a day, especially when you find yourself slipping into negative self-talk or engaging in negative behavior. Positive affirmations can be used to combat these often subconscious patterns and replace them with more adaptive narratives.  Source: https://positivepsychology.com/daily-affirmations/ The art of viewing self-care as something other than a selfish act is rather difficult thing for healthcare workers to accept but the simple truth is that self-care pursuits “benefit everyone”. . . the healthcare workers’ family, fellow colleagues and associates, and ultimately caring for ourselves benefits the residents we serve.   Thank you for all you do! Sources: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation#section12 https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/18/21181644/coronavirus-covid-19-mindfulness-meditation-anxiety https://www.mcknights.com/blogs/the-world-according-to-dr-el/managing-staff-anxiety-in-the-time-of-covid-19/ https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/3/26/21193122/coronavirus-mental-health-doctors-nurses-covid-19 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/affirmations.htm