Managing anxiety during COVID-19 (Part 1)

PART 1 - Why do we feel Anxious?

These are stressful times; we are living in an uncertain world and don’t know what the future holds. Every conversation begins and probably ends with one topic; the coronavirus. What is even more mind boggling is that it isn’t restricted to our area, state, city or even country. We are facing the same problems and fears that our friends in Canada, Japan and Australia are. We are united by one common factor, which may be the first in most of our lives. Worldwide we are in lock down, movements are restricted and no one knows when this will end. This uncertain future is enough cause for worry.

Most of us are feeling stressed and anxious, but what is causing this anxiety? Let’s understand this from a biological view point. When our body senses danger it automatically sends a signal to the brain. The brain, in turn, goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode and the sympathetic nervous system gets activated. When this happens, our body starts gearing up for action, heart beat increases, pupils dilate, mouth dries up etc. We are ready to either take on or flee the predator. This is why we get anxious and energized. What I have described is the body’s response to an acute short-term threat (such as being faced with a mugging). We have evolved to deal with such threats. In the long term, we activate our survival mode where we are in a relaxed state, with slow heart beats, salivating mouth, uninhibited digestive system etc.

What has happened with the onslaught of COVID – 19 is that our body detects a threat and activates it’s ‘fight or flight’ response, but this is not a short-term threat, this is a chronic threat, it’s there all the time and it has many negative consequences. Not only on our bodies, but also on our lifestyle and our economic conditions. Therefore, we cannot take flight and only fight. But till when? There is no designated end date or event in sight. Our systems are not equipped to handle this long-term fight and it breaks down. The worry turns in to stress which becomes a vicious cycle. We lose sleep, and this is a known factor for increasing stress levels. The correlation of less sleep and high stress keeps the brain constantly activated. Less sleep also affects the body, lowering its immunity and hence becoming more susceptible to the enemy we are fighting: the virus.

Poor immunity, lack of sleep, worry over an uncertain future not only take a toll on our physical but also mental health. We lose emotional control; our body says ‘fight,’ but with whom? We turn to the people around us. Arguments in families will escalate, patience with others reduces and the overall environment at home becomes more volatile. To add to the anxiety is our isolation. Humans are social beings; we need to interact with others. It is an important part of our survival and currently we are being asked to cut that, too. Isolation along with the uncertain future is doing us more harm and increasing our stress.

While there are multiple ways to tackle this stress, I leave this chapter on an important exercise. Guided muscle relaxation or meditation, this practice has multiple benefits on the body. Both allow the body to rest and help us restore balance. Research has shown that meditation slows down brain activity and reduces stress while triggering hormones that activate and reinstate both the physical and mental state. This exercise alleviates anxiety, depression and other negative mindsets and is easily available in audio, video and text format online. It takes around 15 minutes to achieve this benefit and during these COVID-19 times it is extremely important to take back the power and control of our lives.

Our mind cannot exist in two different states, it can either be anxious or relaxed. We have to consciously work on relaxing and not allow the stress to fester.

It is important we reign in this anxiety and take care of our minds like we do our physical bodies. We have recognized how anxiety is triggered, we will learn more steps in the next chapter about how to take control and manage ourselves effectively.

Continued in part 2

Jumana Rajkotwala
Counselling psychologist