Resiliency | Emotional Fitness
Global disease outbreaks can be stressful, especially when it starts to impact your everyday life.
While different people react differently to this type of stress, common reactions can be:
Change in sleep, eating habits and increased use of alcohol or drugs as a way to cope.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the following ways to support yourself (1):
While it’s important to educate yourself to reduce the fear of unknown, Avoid excessive exposure to media coverage of COVID-19.
Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories. It can be upsetting to hear about the crisis and see images repeatedly.
Share your concerns and how you are feeling with a friend or family member. Maintain healthy relationships.
Try to plan time to communicate with those in your support system.
If in person interaction with others is not possible, a phone call or video chat may be an option to consider.
Keep social distancing in mind. CDC recommendations for social distancing (Remaining out of places where people meet or gather, avoiding local public transportation (e.g., bus, subway, taxi, rideshare), and maintaining distance.
The following are adapted from National Library of Medicine (2):
Consider relaxation techniques:
Excessive digital media usage can worsen inattention symptoms.
Posted by R. Ryan Patel DO, FAPA OSU CCS Psychiatrist at 7:03am Posted in Coronavirus COVID 19, Resiliency, Stress Management	Tagged coping with corona virus, coping with covid 19, coping with pandemics, COVID 19 mental health tips, disease outbreak mental health, mental health tips corona virus, mental health tips for dealing with pandemics	