This is the second part of our three-part conversation with Jason Sullivan (Part 1 and 3 here), mental health expert and Therapist at Kuwait Counselling Center who is answering our questions about the mental toll of social distancing. In this part we are tackling the meaning of being isolated at home and maintaining our wellbeing.
It can be tempting to stay at home in pyjamas and not keep to a schedule when stuck at home, so, how does this affect our mental state and focus?
Our daily routines carry a lot of weight with our overall functioning. Roughly 58% of our day is based upon these consistent activities. This means that when there is a drastic shift in our routine, much of our subconscious and conscious minds are working diligently to regain a sense of balance. When we are compensating for the disruption of over half of our daily activities this can lead to a wide range of issues. Anxiety itself is a response to a real or perceived danger. A disruption of our routine can be translated by the mind as a perceived danger, hence, anxiety levels tend to rise. Along with the rise of anxiety we also may experience symptoms of dysthymia -persistent periods of mild depression, which can lead to chronic or major depression. which can lead to depression. This is due to a loss in sense of purpose, achievement, and even community. Community is especially significant as we are in a time of social distancing. Maintaining a daily routine is one of the most important components as we all adjust to the current situation.
“As much as possible, try to start your day at roughly the same time you usually would, and aim to schedule time each day for any form of physical activity, relaxation, maintaining your social network, and self-reflection with focus on the positive.”
Dr. Jelena Mustapić (Therapist at Kuwait Counseling Center)
We can find ourselves overeating, stress eating or restricting our food intake when confined. How should we structure our food intake to keep us in a healthy psychological state?
We often call this “eating our emotions” and it is a real and eminent struggle. When we face adversity, which we all do throughout life, our bodies will crave foods that will give them immediate energy to overcome the adversity and these are often foods that boost dopamine levels to give us a feeling of comfort and happiness. This is a natural part of the brain’s ability in coping and processing, but it does have its limits. Overeating as the primary means of coping creates a physical dependency on the stimulation that many foods provide. This functions the same way as any other addiction. Just as we are maintaining structure in other areas, it is also necessary to maintain that structure here.
“Diet choices can make or break your stress levels. Refined carbs which many people crave in challenging times, such as chips and doughnuts, spike blood sugar and then cause it to crash, increasing stress and anxiety. Fortunately, knowing which foods to fuel up on and which to avoid can help you get your stress levels under control. According to Harvard Medical School, including more complex carbs in our diet can do wonders for our stress levels because they digest more slowly and keep blood sugar levels more even. Sources of complex carbs include sweet potatoes and whole grains (such as whole-grain bread, quinoa, brown rice, and oats). Reaching for bananas, nuts, avocados, and leafy-green vegetables, which are rich sources of vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium and folates, can increase the production of the feel-good chemical dopamine and decrease stress and fatigue. Heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in whole fish like tuna, halibut, salmon, and sardines may help ease depression and boost our mood. Milk and other dairy with calcium and added vitamin D can help muscles relax and stabilize mood, while drinking enough water might decrease cortisol levels, which contributes to increased stress.”
Dr. Jelena Mustapić (Therapist at Kuwait Counseling Center)
If exercise at home can alleviate stress and insomnia, how do those with physical disabilities or who suffer from frailty cope, and what can help them in these cases?
Each of us has a limit and within those limits we can engage in tasks that do not overburden our bodies or discourage us from engaging. Exercise is does not carry the same definition for every individual. There are some that can run several kilometers without stopping and there are others that simply cannot. That is not a failure of any kind and definitely not something that should deter us. One exercise that is very good for the elderly or more physically limited might be taking one can of soup or vegetables in each hand and lifting them just as one might a bench press or curl. Walking a few steps around the house, for some, breaks the norm, remember it is not the distance as much as it is looking at our limitations and reasonably setting goals that fall within our abilities. Low impact exercises that focus on keeping the heart rate low can also be options these would include basic stretches, light yoga, Tai Chi etc.
At the best of times care-givers need respite, for example from responsibilities for their elderly parents or special needs child. What can they do for their own mental well-being, and what about those they care for, for whom mental vulnerability may already be an issue?
Those who are caring for loved ones at home or even working in the medical field have already experienced higher levels of demand, and this before the pandemic came to be. Most of us struggle to keep healthy limits because we care deeply for others and are sensitive to their needs often putting them before our own. This is an admirable quality for sure but it is not sustainable, especially in drastic times that exceed our capacities. One example that I would like to give would be from the Airline Industry. Anyone who has flown on a plane has heard and experienced the safety demonstrations which are given before each flight. “In the event of an emergency and loss in cabin pressure oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling. Place your own mask on before attempting to help anyone else.” This is said because in those instances we may lose consciousness before we can help those around us. Self-care is vital and inseparable from the care of others. One can only give what they have to offer and if we exhaust what we have then there is little to offer those we love who need our help.
Self-care can be as simple as taking 5 minutes to sit silently, introduce a 15-minute activity or exercise into our daily routine, or even invest in a hobby that we have always wanted to do.
With no end in sight, how do we mentally motivate ourselves to keep going?
I believe that life is a constant state of engaging adversity, overcoming it and learning more deeply about our strengths and weaknesses. This allows us to adapt and engage greater adversities and to make a larger impact on the world around us. Life itself from birth onward can be seen through a paradigm of negative or positive pessimism or optimism. In other words, I can see the bad in something good, the good in something good and the same with something bad.
This is a time of preparation. Not necessarily only in terms relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic but also in regards to personal development. We are in a place and time where we need to begin to look inwardly and assess our strengths and begin to develop the person looking back at us in the mirror. Many people do not like themselves and are in a position now to learn their independent value. This is something that may have never been a possibility otherwise.
The world has slowed down for a time and yet with this slower lifestyle there is so much to embrace. I would encourage each of us to take the challenge and truly look deeply inside to see the tremendous impact that we as individuals can make on the world around us. From there we can only look upward and onward.
Is there such a thing as cabin fever, or is it that we just need steps to overcome the mental strain of isolation. What would these steps be?
Technically no, but experientially I think the term embodies a restlessness that we experience when our sense of purpose, freedom, community, and self-preservation are affected. If you were to break down cabin fever it would come to a combination of limitations that cause us to feel out of control of one or all of those categories. When that happens, we feel a compulsion to move, to do something to regain one bit of that sense of control that we had previously felt.
Overcoming this restlessness will not be palatable to everyone; who wants to ‘get over’ being locked in a cage? It runs counterintuitive to our natural tendencies for control and hierarchy. Overcoming looks more like acceptance and coming to terms with our limits and doing this without shame. It reminds me of the words of Wendell Berry in his poem
The Peace of Wild Things:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
These are fitting words for our current time. Can you embrace and rest in the grace of the world and come to peace with things beyond control? This is tantamount to overcoming the adversities not just of the pandemic but those of continual life.
Reach out to Jason for a counselling session through the Kuwait Counselling Center or through Instagram @quietchaoskw and his website quietchaoskw.com to listen to his podcast and find more information on mental health issues. Photo by visuals on Unsplash.
