Coping with Covid-19

The year 2020 will go down in history as the year in which the Corona virus spread
rapidly around the whole worn becoming the Covid Pandemic.In it’s wake the Pandemic left a trail of loss of human lives,disintegration of families,financial havoc with closure of businesses and massive job losses and social isolation of people.

Today South Africa has had 700 000 Covid cases and with the fear of a second wave of it is essential that individuals,families, communities and nations find coping strategies to deal with the effects of a Covid.

Fear of contracting the virus with loss of life resulting,fears of family or friends dying,social isolation from family and support networks means we need to focus on our physical,mental and emotional health to survive this highly stressful time.

Physical Health Strategies
Mantaining good physical health is essential so that our immune system is strong enough to fend off the virus.
A balanced meal plan with adequate amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables and taking Vitamin C daily with a good multivitamin such as Centrum is a good start.

Regular physical exercise helps to keep our blood circulation healthy,getsoxygen to our lungs and makeshifts muscles strong.Our body metabolism is Morris effective and we feel more energized.Use the exercise routine you are comfortable with.The key factor being that it must be regular and involve some activity outside with fresh air.The World Health Organisation recommends about 150 minutes exercise spread over a week.

A routine of good sleep hygiene helps the body from the daily grind and allows our organs to recover and restore its functions and our immune system to be stabilized.Breathing and muscle relaxation exercises before sleep and during the day helps relieve stress and improves sleep.

Emotional Health Strategies

Levels of fear,anxiety ,worry with sadness,depression and episodes of. traumatic shock in response to the life -changing events caused by the Pandemic have increased tremendously.

Dealing with loss of loved ones is difficult as one cannot visit them when ill in hospital
and their loss is often sudden and unexpected.Regular communication with the treating Medical staff team is important and mantaining telephonic contact with family support people is crucial to cope with this painful experience.Advising grieving family members or friends to seek Professional Psychological help is important to prevent them from a emotional breakdown and to give them comfort.

The fears and worry over Covid illness is aggravated by over exposure to taking in negative news about the illness.The World Health Organisation and South African Covid 19 website has useful information about the illness and gives coping tips as well.Speak to your a General Practioner to clear medical concerns and settle unnecessary anxiety.Knowledge is power and gives us insight into dealing with this stress.

Caring for others eg. family members who have lost jobs and families with financial hardship due to this is a positive way to feeling good and this help can also be being available to listen to them,giving them guidance on how to cope and connecting them with community resources for financial aid.

Mental a Health Strategies

A positive frame of mind is essential during this Covid crisis as its effects are often unpredictable.A attitude of flexibility to changing situations ( eg. Job losses),
readiness to speak to people for help and rational problem solving thinking is important to deal with crises and overcoming them.

The strain of working from home with family present is a huge challenge.The working parent has to keep up with work deadlines,help their children with focus on school work and maintain home duties at the same time.Parents have to help each other divide and rotates these multiple roles to prevent burnout and rising tension in the home.Planning the week,prioritising important activities and arranging family relaxation time together helps contain the family stability.

Mindfulness a therapeutic way of having awareness,attention and acceptance of daily situations is a good coping strategy.It involves awareness of the current situation and attention to the experience of the present moment( visual,auditory,olfactory and sensory ) and acceptance that it is ok without judging it as good or bad.Then coping with this present moment and moving forward.
Further information on learning mindfulness is available at www.psychcentral.com> new to mindfulness.