Coping with Stress During a Pandemic

Recent studies have shown that stress levels have increased significantly in the past one year or during the pandemic. It is a very humane reaction given the sudden changes we went through. In order to understand how to manage and cope with the sudden rise in the stress level, it is important to know what is stress, when it is helping and when it is the problem.

Stress is a body’s natural reaction to challenges and demands. These challenges and demands are known as stressors. The two major types of stress are eustress and distress.

Eustress is the positive stress, the kind that drives you to do the task. For example, a new job , first day at school. In other words, it’s the feeling of “excitement”.

Distress is the negative stress, the kind that drives you crazy, for example, fighting with someone you love, doing anything you don’t like. In other words, it’s the feeling of “anxiousness or resentment”.

Every individual can experience different intensity of the stress. When we are stressed, hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released. These hormones help us to deal with or stressors. However, in huge quantities these hormones are proven to be lethal for the body and mind.

Studies have shown high levels of cortisol can cause mental health issues like anxiety, depression, comorbidity like diabetes and hypertension and cognitive degenerations.

We cannot simply stop working or do things that are stressful. But we can always mange and balance eustress and distress.

Few ways to manage and eliminate unnecessary stress are very simple activities we can incorporate in our daily lives:


1. Healthy Lifestyle:

Healthy eating habits, exercise and workout keeps our mind and body active. Getting restful and right amount of sleep will help us to keep lethargy at bay. That being said, following healthy lifestyle will surely reduce long hours of unproductivity, depression and uncalled mood swings and will keep us fit as well.


2. Time Management:

If we analyze every stressful situation, we will find most the stress arises due to lack of planning, procrastination and failing to manage the time correctly. Making and following a time schedule will help you be more productive in less hours. One must also set time boundaries, between work , hobbies and leisure or relaxation. Make sure you don’t work throughout the day and night just because you are working from home. Indulge in hobbies and relaxation activities in order to manage anxiety and excitement.


3. Emotional Support:

We cannot ignore our mental health. Be it a man or anyone , it is very humane to feel emotional connection and need to express oneself. It is very crucial to acknowledge our feelings, vent them out and make peace with them. In any case, if we cannot talk and connect with our friends and family, we must connect with mental health experts. There is no shame in accepting the need to be heard, understood. Try and make sure to keep in touch with your friends and family. A call or message just to “check in” n people’s health can make a difference in these times especially.


These were the few ways that you can introduce in daily life that will help you bring down stress levels significantly.

Incase, you want to understand in detail, how these methods work, you should checkout this video by SmartMedicalBuyer.com