Given all the Coronavirus concerns and uncertainty, there is certainly a lot of stress we're all facing right now which can leave us feeling overwhelmed. 

We all like a degree of control and certainty/predictability in our lives. With this virus it’s kind of like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion. We can’t do anything about it (low control) and we’re not sure exactly how it's all going to play out in the near (or distant) future. We know it's probably going to be a bumpy ride, but not how bumpy or for how long? We’re just not sure, which creates uncertainty, which creates stress.

All else being equal, low control and low predictability… is stressful.

We all handle stress differently, some with calm, some with denial—or a combination thereof. One can be overwhelmed with all the news and reminders of uncertainty. And while it's useful to be educated about what’s going on and getting updates, we can be emotionally and even physically overwhelmed if we are inundated by the news.

Allow the news to educate you, not inundate you

This is important to remember, because stress as we know can affect overall health and the ability of our immune system to ward off unwanted invaders. The more stress our mind and body deals with, the more the need for self-care to offset that stress, to keep ourselves and keep our immune system as resilient as possible.

With “social distancing” being the new buzz word lately, it is important to connect with others as social connections produce the hormone oxytocin, which helps inhibit the stress hormone cortisol (a hormone which does negatively impacts our immune response). 

Connecting with others in whatever way we can and that technology allows us can help us also to debrief and make more sense of what’s going on, not just in the news, but also how we are responding to it. Sleep, hobbies, exercise, meditation or journaling are also beneficial to keep stress at bay.

A little more about journaling, especially as it may be difficult to connect with others (at least in person) at this time. Multiple studies have attributed health benefits to “expressive” writing—i.e., journaling—writing about stressful or even traumatic life events.

Students at the University of Texas were asked to write about life events for 15 minutes for four consecutive days. Some were told to do expressive writing and others to write about trivial matters.

Six months following, students who wrote about their stressors and traumas took fewer pain relievers and visited the health centre less frequently than those who wrote about trivial subjects. Lasting effects occurred six months later, not bad for such a short investment of time.

Similar studies have recorded physical benefits for conditions including sleep apnea, asthma, migraines, HIV and cancer. Initially writing (or even talking) about stressful events and emotions is stressful. However when we do so, we are essentially purging thoughts and feelings out on paper, which helps produce human growth hormone and helps engage with things like improved immune efficiency and wound healing.

Expressive writing has been found to lower stress and anxiety. A University of Chicago study found anxious test-takers received better grades on exams when they wrote about their feelings before the test, compared to their peers who did not write beforehand.

“The process of writing may enable them to learn to better regulate their emotions,” suggests researcher Robb-Nicholson. “It’s also possible that writing about something fosters an intellectual process—the act of constructing a story about a traumatic event—that helps someone break free of the endless mental cycle more typical of brooding or rumination.”

Writing/journaling is an easy, low-cost technique to ease stress and improve health both mentally and physically (including of course our vitally important immune system).

Consider the following tips

• You can begin by asking yourself questions: What one good thing happened yesterday? What am I afraid of? What am I needing most in life, or the day ahead right now?
• Write whatever comes to mind and just let your thoughts flow onto the paper. The faster you write, the less censored you tend to be and the truer your thoughts are. 

Help detox your mind and body

I personally do a lot of writing and call it my “mental detox.” As the research indicates above it helps to externalize, organize the noise and chatter that goes on in our heads and we can then purge them on paper. This also helps with developing meta-cognition, which is the process of taking a step back from our flood of thoughts, getting off auto-pilot and being able to think more clearly.

When I ask clients, or when I present to groups, I ask if there are those who journal. Usually about a third of people respond “yes”. I then ask, “What do you get from journaling?” The most typical response I get is it helps people to be more calm, relaxed and focused.

You don’t need to review what you’ve written, unless you want to. Just the act of externalizing thoughts and feelings on paper or on an electronic device is what creates the benefits research is supporting.

We’ll provide more resilience tools and resources as the days and weeks unfold.

What are some of the ways that help with your coping and outlook with recent events? What's helped you weather some of your life's storms in the past?

This article was written by Paul Radkowski, CEO/Clinical Director at Life Recovery Program. He can be reached at 519-746-4554 and liferecoveryprogram@gmail.com.