“When we find a physical activity we like doing, we’re liable to stick with it,” Dr. Instead, try to find creative ways to satisfy the appetites in your home Exerciseįind an activity that appeals to you. Chatigny suggests limiting our sugar intake by cutting back on snack foods, canned foods, and soft drinks.Ī 2019 study suggests that added sugar can trigger metabolic, inflammatory and neurobiological processes tied to depressive illness inflammation. ![]() It’s only natural but we don’t have to indulge it.” Cut the sugarĭuring the pandemic, consumers have binged on less-than-healthy foods to comfort themselves, leading to the joke, “Shelter-in-place measures have been extended for another 10 pounds.”ĭr. Sometimes we can too preoccupied with our troubles. Volunteering for a worthy cause gets us out of ourselves, too. Time is better than money, for some people. For example, if you’re able to volunteer your time to improve a situation instead of donating money to it. “We have to actively take care of ourselves,” she says. She suggests the following can do a body-and mind-good. Chatigny says practicing self-care remains key to avoiding or lessening the dispiriting effects of disaster fatigue. Either stay away from alcohol or limit your intake of it.” Practice Self-Careĭr. You might drink to lift your spirits, but eventually alcohol has the opposite effect on your body and mood. “It’s challenging enough for us to keep our spirits up in the face of all the negative news. “We can focus too much on drinking when we’re sheltering at home,” says Dr. It also can lead to risk-taking behaviors, violence and mental health issues, Dr. The organization said drinking alcohol can increase the risk of getting COVID-19 and make it worse. In the early weeks of the pandemic lockdown, the World Health Organization issued an advisory warning about the dangers of overconsuming alcohol. Before turning out the lights, turn off your phone.” Avoid or limit alcohol ![]() “We’re checking our smartphones before going to bed at night and after waking up in the morning. “The average person checks their phone some 150 times a day,” Dr. “It’s emotionally exhausting and traumatizing,” she says about our constant exposure to the latest news about civil protests, pandemic figures, and economic turmoil. Chatigny suggests limiting our exposure to the news by electronically unplugging at least one hour a day. Parents can only do so much at home with children who, like their parents, are going stir-crazy. But the pandemic has closed schools, ending extracurricular activities, playdates and even trips to the playground. For now, we can’t do the things that typically bring us joy and restore us.”įor example, parents relied on after-school activities as a healthy outlet for their children. But sheltering in place has robbed us of that. “It used to be that when we found ourselves stressed, we could count on family life at home to comfort us. ![]() The recent civil unrest rocking the country has only worsened our mindset, stoking a “tinder box of psychic stress,” Dr. And in some people already prone to anxiety or clinical depression, the toll can be even worse.” We’re tired of seeing the numbers, the forecasts, the predictions. “Since COVID-19 started, we’ve lived in various states of stress, depression, exhaustion, sleep problems, anger, and growing cynicism,” Dr. Ashley Chatigny, a double board-certified psychiatrist and medical director of behavioral health with Lee Physician Group, walks us through what disaster fatigue is and how we can fend it off so we can protect ourselves and families. But in this pandemic year, emergency officials worry we’re suffering from “disaster fatigue,” which may affect our ability to prepare effectively for the 2020 hurricane season.ĭr. Just when you’ve adjusted to lockdowns, social distancing and workplace closures related to COVID-19, along comes the possibility of another disaster to upend our lives-hurricane season.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |