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Feeling a little bit more stressed out and anxious than normal due to the self-isolation and the numerous other issues we’re having to deal with in the wake of the current pandemic? You’re not alone, and it’s totally normal.
Let’s start out with a few simple and useful tips that will help, courtesy of Dr. Phil.
“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge, so you absolutely have to put this on your to-do list,” Dr. Phil advises. “You’ve got to say, ‘Okay, look, this isn’t a normal situation. I know that. I’m under stress and my body is reacting to that.
“And since it’s reacting, I have to start doing coping mechanisms,” he continued.
“Let me give you a good example. If you spend 10 minutes a day where you actually spend time relaxing, and I don’t mean chilling out and watching TV, I mean, for example, you tense your body up, every muscle in your body for 10 seconds and then relax for 10 seconds,” he explains. “Then tense up for 10 seconds, relax for 10 seconds. You do that 10 times, twice a day, then that lets the tension flow out of your body and the results last for up to 8 hours.
“And if during that time you can breathe in for three seconds, and breathe out for six seconds, the carbon monoxide exchange rate goes up to the point that now again, you’re restoring a level to your body where it can get into repair and your stress levels go way, way down,” he added.
“Just those two things, if you did that three seconds in, six seconds exhale, 10 times in a row, twice a day, along with the tense and relax, tense and relax, just those two things twice a day could have a profound effect on reducing the tension in your body.”
He also discusses how our internal dialogue, what we are saying to ourselves in this time of great uncertainty and fear, affects our mental and physical well-being.
Hope it helps. I think that it will because they work for me. And if it doesn’t, I have also provided some other useful tips from several mental health experts on managing pandemic-related anxiety and stress below Dr. Phil’s video.