Listen to “How Stress and Fear Affect Your Well-being and How to Cope”.
For well over a year, people have been trying to figure out ways to adjust to life with quarantines, lockdowns, media fear-mongering and loss of freedoms, and coping with highly increased levels of anxiety, fear and stress.
A lot is going on in the world, and it has not been easy to keep calm and carry on. Now more than ever, we must start taking better care of ourselves holistically to be healthy in body and mind.
The potential consequences of fear on overall, physical, emotional, and spiritual health include:
- Immune system dysfunction
- Endocrine system dysfunction
- Autonomic nervous system alterations
- Sleep/wake cycle disruption
- Eating disorders
- Dissociation from self
- Unable to have loving feelings
- Learned helplessness
- Phobic anxiety
- Mood swings
- Obsessive-compulsive thoughts
Keeping calm is the best way to prevent stress. It requires the skill of having peace of mind despite the chaos around you, and it requires not letting the environment affect your cortisol levels.
Here are some of the ways you can help to keep yourself calm in an otherwise chaotic world.
Take a break from the news
The 24-hour news cycle can cause your anxiety to spike. Therefore, you should limit how much news you watch.
Try to stick to relevant news and what’s happening in your local community and only watch 30-60 minutes a day. Alternatively, check news updates just once or twice a day from 1 or 2 reliable news sources; this should be enough to keep you informed.
Stop Negative Self-Talk
A big step towards managing stress involves stopping negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you think negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that—thoughts, not facts. You can use DeepH meditation to help you eliminate negative thoughts. It is really worth trying!
Diet and Exercise
Poor food and drink choices can trigger symptoms of anxiety. For example, eating nutrient-deficient foods, not getting enough carbohydrates, protein, or fat in your diet, or simply not eating enough can fluctuate your blood sugar levels, triggering anxiety.
Finding ways to stay active is important, for both your physical and mental well being. Just 20 minutes of exercise a day will help lift your mood by releasing endorphins, as well as reducing feelings of tension.
The main aim is to get your blood circulating and give yourself an energy boost.
Cultivate gratitude
Research conducted at the University of California found that people who worked to cultivate an attitude of gratitude each day experienced improved mood, energy, and physical well-being. Lower levels of cortisol likely played a significant role in this.
Meditation
Try meditation apps to keep your stress under control
Once you unplug from the news for a bit, why not try the DeepH App healing or stress reduction meditation to help you let go of anticipatory anxiety? You can also listen to ‘open your heart meditation’ to feel your part in the universe and become one with a cosmic symphony on a higher plane of existence.
