Simple Tips to Reduce Stress During a Pandemic

The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic is contributing to global fear, anxiety, turmoil, economic and social collapse, unease, ill-health, and death.   At the forefront, of course, our health is in jeopardy, and add to that, family dynamics are challenging, economics are rickety, daily schedules and normal routines have been disrupted. You, your co-workers, your friends and neighbors and your community — everyone feels the strain.

Here are are a few simply tips to help you relax during these uncertain times — while staying on a budget.

Recognize Stress for What It Is

Enough time has passed since the Shelter in Place recommendations took place earlier this year, that what was a sudden, abrupt and abnormal way of living already feels like the “new normal” — with no end in sight (and worse, some false starts to an end in sight).

Some of the stress factors are obvious — but it may be difficult to see it how many sneaky little ways the Covid-19 Pandemic, and our social isolation, is affecting you, contributing to stress, and preventing you from coping.

• Sudden, abrupt and significant change makes life feel surreal. 
• Many people are feeling very angry and lash out at each other or innocent targets in the community.
• Illness isn’t the only physical response you may be experiencing.  Even your skin “wears” stress.

Choose Positive Actions

What kind of self-care regimen are you practicing right now?   With “normal life” (whatever your normal life was, of course) disrupted, it’s easy to let positive routines get away from you — especially simple tasks and habits that would help reduce the very stress that disrupted the routines in the first place. It’s more important than ever to choose positive actions — from small and quick to challenging and new.

• Blow off steam with exercises that don’t feel like punishment or work. 
• Schedule some me-time into your day.
• Food is Medicine — so incorporate the perfect foods which are natural stress relievers.
• Your brain is processing a staggering amount of negative information right now.  Incorporate meditation in your routine to cut through some of that Mental Noise. 
• You may feel lazy, lethargic and find yourself sitting around the house more than ever — but that’s not the same as a good night’s sleep.  Recognize the difference.  Try some of the 5 best teas to encourage sleep or adopt a few of these tips.

Making It Happen

What’s in the way of you being able to adopt some of these Positive Actions every day?  Address those issues so you can cut stress out and slide relaxation in.

• You can set up a workout area with low-cost gym equipment.
• Create a simple space for yoga, meditation, prayer, or quiet time.
• Use inexpensive or free digital apps that help promote positive mental health.
• Unplug the microwave — home quarantine is the perfect time to dust off your slow cooker and create home-cooked, easy, nutritious meals by “cooking down” the contents of your pantry and freezer — especially on a budget and with groceries in short supply in some cities.   
• Browse this collection of healthy cuisine recipes and see how many pantry and freezer ingredients you have on hand to eat “lean and green.” 
• Use a smart assistant to help you get enough sleep.
• If your skin is showing the strain, this may be a good time to use promo codes and try a few skin-care brands you’d like to tray.  Often samples are available (we buy samples from manufacturers and even eBay before committing to a purchase). These promo codes help you land inexpensive beauty products, and there are great apps which apply promo codes to all online purchases from Amazon. 
• Remember that tip above, about inventorying your pantry?  Don’t be surprised — many of those ingredients are perfect for a DIY face mask and body scrub.

Quarantines at home take a toll in less than obvious ways, and you need to make a concerted effort to reduce stress with some of these easy tips.   If you chip away some of these little stress factors, you’ll have more energy for the significant ones, and that’s what will help you make it through. 

Contributions to this article are from Justin Bennett, an author and the creator of Healthy Fit, which collects valuable fitness resources from across the web.