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FIGHTING STRESS!!!
I was reading a book, Canadian Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, by Elsevier. The topic I bumped into was stress. Do you know anyone who does not have stress? I don’t think so… Stress is real, depending on the severity it can make you very sick. Some people get ulcers, flue, anxious and mentally ill. Stress can either be psychological or physical event that your body needs to adopt to. In the book, it stated there is a negative stress and positive stress, negative is the one that drains you and make you feel anxious, depressed, confuse, helpless, hopeless, and fatigue. Positive stress, its the opposite, its an energy that makes you feel happy, hopeful, purposeful. Also, There are studies that stress is related to your immune response. If you are constantly distress, you will have low immune system. So for example if you are a student, and you are stressed about an exam, you are most likely to get sick, like you get flue on or before exams… So how do I get rid of “stress”? Unfortunately you can’t really get rid of stress, since they are everywhere, but you can deal with it.
Here is what I mean… First know what is causing you to get stressed? Is it a thing, a place, a person. Try to know when you get triggered, e.g. I get triggered by stress when I don’t get enough sleep. So this is why I see to it, that I get 7 to 8 hours sleep everyday. However, if you are already very distressed, here are the following you can try to ease it out stress. I’ll name 6 effective stress coping mechanism based on the book. Let’s save the best one for last:
1) Massage, when you are being massage, you tend to relax and as a result your heart rate slows down. Another advantage is it can improve your alertness.
2) Pets, we love them. Pets are used at schools and hospitals to decrease stress. Do you find that if you try to pet your favourite pet like; dog/cat, It feels soothing / calmness, sometimes you even feel the compassion of just being present ? That’s how pet can alleviate stress. 3) Music, ever heard of a soft tone and it brings you a sense of peace. That is because certain music has healing effects.
4) Reduce your coffee intake. That could mean your teas, colas, or chocolate drinks that has caffeine. This is obviously, for those of you who drink coffee more than 3x a day. Try not to drink caffeine drinks 3 hours before bed as caffeine will keep you awake. 5) Exercise. Exercise increases endorphins and can make you feel happy. Try to aim 30 minutes, 3x a week at least and 3 hours before bed time. Exercising is the most effective for diminishing chronic and acute stress; anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress. Ready for my last tip? And Last but not the least is SLEEP guys. Try to sleep 7 or 8 hours. What does sleeping do? Its the only time your brain can get rid of that chemicals in the body, it acts like a dishwasher. It also, helps your body to recover. In fact it is the only time your body recovers during sleep. So treat yourself better guys sleep.
THIS PANDEMIC
I just want to share my thoughts about CORONA VIRUS. I think it is important to understand why the need for social distancing, quarantine, and hand washing.
Social distancing as you know it you simply not to put yourself into any groups of gathering. If you have any respiratory symptoms meaning any symptoms for breathing SOB, Fever, Cough especially if you have been outside the country or simply in contact with positive COVID19 person, you must self-quarantene for 14 days as advised by health officials. What does this mean? This means that you are not going outside of your house to chat less than 3 feet away from your neighbours and not allowing visitors in your house. I know it is hard to just sit and stay at home. However, this is important because the COVID19 has an Rnaught of 2 or 3 people. What does the Rnaught mean this means how infectious a disease is. For every one person infected with COVID19 there is 2 to 3 people who gets infected. Therefore, if one person infected infecting 3 people and among those 3 people each person infect 3 more people, in total 9 people infected, then these 9 people can infect 27 more people. Comparing this Rnot to the regular influenza the Rnot for influenza is 1. This rate of contagion is not that fast compared to Covid19. In simple math, COV19 infection rate has an a exponential growth of 3. This is how fast the COVID19 virus can spread. The only way to protect ourselves is to limit contact. Hence, social distancing and self-quarentene.
In regards to self-quaranteene the incubation period for COV19 is 14 days some say it is 24 days. What is incubation? It is basically the days when the virus is in the process of forming the disease before the signs and symptoms show, and at this is stage the virus can be transmitted. Since, a person infected with COVID19 can be asymptomatic meaning some will have no symptoms even if one is infected. People usually think, I feel fine so, I don’t need to self-isolate.
Think about it. You are already carrying the virus and if you get in contact with other people especially people at risk with low immune system like 70+ older, pregnant women, and people with pre-existing condition, you will most likely transfer the virus in the period that you are not showing signs of infection. Please if you think you are feeling unwell, don’t go out and stay home and get better. If you are healthy and you really need to go out to buy groceries, stay in distance for 3-6 feet away from other people. If you are thinking of putting on a mask it has to be N95 mask for airborne diseases. However, the mask is not going to protect you as it can still go into your eyes and ears. You need the full and proper protective gear like what medical officials wear, googles, mask, gown, and gloves, the complete suite.
Last but not the least is hand hygiene. What does hand hygiene means? Its the habit of hand washing your hands with water and using Alcohol Based Hand Rub when water is not available. Based on CNN Health article, In 1847, an Austrain-Hungarian physicist and scientist named Ignaz Semmelweis, hypothesized that doctors who performed autopsies infected the mother delivering babies because they did not wash their hands, infecting the mother and dying from cases of “child bed fever”. Ignaz was mocked by doctors who did not believed in his theory and he suffered from a nervous breakdown. After Ignaz died in asylum, the germ theory was discovered and his worked was recognized and eversince followed as asceptic practice. There are people who still does not believe in hand washing and I hope you reconsider. This is a proven technique that has been passed centuries and we should make it a habit. My question to you is When should you do hand hygiene? According to Centre for Disease Control you should was hands or ABHR, before, during, and after preparing food, before eating food, Before and after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea, Before and after treating a cut or wound, After using the toilet,After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet, After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste, After handling pet food or pet treats, After touching garbage. *Hand washing technique. The goal is you are rubbing the germs away by lathering and rubbing. It is also important to clean underneath the nails especially if your nails are long. After, washing, it is important to dry hands because microorganisms loves moist,& you want to dry the area that is moist.
What is your higher power?
God, when I was hospitalized and it felt like my world stopped and I sinked to the bottom. I found solace in Him. I found through my faith that there is a higher being and that is God for me who helped me get through my hospitalization.
How do you know when you in sync with it?
A bishop Barron once mentioned to look into a Bible and look up Galatians Chapter 5 verse 22. When you experience the fruits of the holy spirit which are love (first and foremost), joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Bishop Barron explains some of the basics love, joy and patience. That love is not where egotism is where I scratch your back and you scratch my back. Love is breaking out of the ego and really living for the other. When someone is joyful he or she has the holy spirit in him or her. For example, mother Theresa of Calcutta based from her diary she wasn’t always in good space in mental health but beneath all these everyone said she was joyful. Lastly patience, when everything is about yourself, one become impatient. When there is patience, instead of what can I get out of this day, one questions, what occasions of love will present for me today?
Dealing with loss.
My dog, Bella had to be put down.
I felt a tremendous pain but I’m not here to make you feel bad. I am here to share what I discovered and how I’m dealing with the loss. IF you think of something or someone you lost lately. Either you have lost a memorable thing, relationship, a friend, a job, or a loved one? How did you feel? How did you deal with it? For me, I find that it helps to put the event into 3 phases… These are pre-loss, intra-loss, and post-loss phases, and I realize that on any of these three phases, one can experience the Kubler-Ross theory of grief cycle.
I have gone through the Kubler-Ross grief cycle which are Denial, Anger, Depression, Bargaining, and Acceptance, and it is not sequentially experienced whereas the pre-loss, intra-loss, and post-loss phases are normally sequential, even if one stage is skipped. Like an example in an accident where one dies, knock on the wood, there is really no time for the pre-loss phase to happen. Going back to Kubler-Ross first stage which is denial or shock when my dog was diagnosed with kidney disease our family was shocked, we weren’t expecting it. The second stage is anger, this is when you feel the frustration. This is when you feel angry directly or indirectly at something or someone. For example, I was angry to find out that there is no kidney transplant for dogs and that there is not a lot of options for my dog to get better. Third, the bargaining, this is when one struggles for meaning. Sometimes, this involves talking to God, a higher being, and or the universe. I know for me, I had to pray hard, I prayed to all the angels and saints, begging them for my dog to recover. I involved my church group, asking them for prayer for my dog and family. Finally, the last phase is acceptance. This is the phase we plan to move on.
I know that I may not go through the Kubler-Ross grief cycle sequentially but the hope is not to get stuck with any phase but to finally get to acceptance.
I can say, dealing with any loss is overwhelming and it helps to break down and deal with things in phases. If you can prepare and I say that there is no real way to prepare but have an insight in pre-phase, through research, reading, and asking people around who has gone through the same loss. Then this will layout a starting path to a much quicker recovery for you. The intra-phase is when you or your family handle the body of the dying. Like who will hold the dog and what will happen to the dog during the process. This is followed by the handling of the remains and the cost of the remains. Then the last phase is post-phase. This is where you normally connect to people or not connect to people (some people deal with this loss in solitude), but hopefully, you can move on regardless. Although, this phase is made easier when you reach out to a community for support. A simple support can be in a form of companionship, a listening ear where you can express your thoughts and feelings, through prayers and or thoughtful words. All together, knowing what phase you are at, the pre-loss, intra-loss, post-loss phases will help you sort and understand your feelings better. You will know what you are expected to go through and deal with the loss better.
Today, despite my loss, I hope I shared some useful strategies for you. If you find this helpful or if you know someone who is going through some grief or loss please share this with them.
Can I have 2 minutes of your time today, 2 minutes just to make yourself 1% better than yesterday.
So this is how this will go. I will ask a question and you write the answer down based on my question. So be ready, have a pen and paper, then you will do the work. I promise it will be worth it.
So question for today. To make yourself better than yesterday. What are you looking forward to today?
When you wake up first thing in the morning, what do you look forward to?
Is it your exercise? Is it your shake after exercise?
Is it your dog that you need to walk?
Is it the cold breeze in the morning?
Whatever it is… you have to have something that you look forward to:
Okay, you’re turn. Got a pen and paper? Good. When you are looking forward to something, write down how does it make you feel? (Does it make you feel good; like normal; better; fun)
And after you’re done. I want you to do the same thing with your week. Write down, what do you look forward to this weekend? Is it a break from school, a meeting with your friends, a party, any occasion or it could be a simple walk with your family.
If you don’t have one yet? then I challenge you to create one.
We are creative people by nature, right? At least I’d like to think all human being have the ability to be creative. So think of something, I challenge you, to think of something creative each week.
Alright, that is my minute mark right there. Now it is your turn to do the work! Do yourself a favour to make yourself 1% better than yesterday. Write down what you look forward to and put that into action, will you?