The sudden change in our lifestyle is very overwhelming. But it can also be scary and frustrating for a lot of people. The intensity of impact is relatable. However, we all are impacted one way or the other. So, in order to cope with the fear of Covid-19, Dr. Eddie Murphy has given out some tips and advice.
Mainly people who suffer from anxiety are largely impacted by covid-19 fear. Along with that, people with pre-existing health conditions are very fearful as well. So first, we need to understand that fear and panic will only make it worse. Then we can look for ways that can help reduce the chaos.
Dr.Eddie Murphy is one of the leading clinical psychologists and the best person to seek for mental advice in this situation. In an article, he wrote a few tips for the RTE guide about the ways we could cope with fear at this time of panic. Here are the tips and explanations about how you can practice them.
1. Dr. Eddie Murphy’s advice on managing your emotions:
As someone who suffers from anxiety attacks, I feel that this is the first step in becoming calm. Anywhere we look, there is news about people dying and sick. Seeing the rate of affected increase every hour can be really scary for a lot of us. So, in order to make sure your emotions are on balance, you can do a couple of things.
Some of these are:
- Avoid watching too much news, and stay away from emotional triggers.
- Meditate to keep your mind clear and calm.
- Exercise and maintain a proper schedule.
- Avoid googling the symptoms and scaring yourself even more.
- Do the things that keep you busy and engaged.
Dr. Eddie Murphy says that checking too much news and tweets will lead to more anxiety.
2. Maintain schedules and routines to give structure to your life:
There’s this feeling of accomplishment you get when you have your life moving in schedule and routine. Most of us have started working at home. This reduces the barrier that previously existed between work and personal life. So, try to design schedules and routines that let you enjoy the most.
Give your life some structure rather than spending your whole day on the bed, scrolling through Instagram. Divide the time into personal and recreational activities.
As per Dr. Eddie Murphy, you can also divide your work into tasks of categories. As his friend said, he planned one physical task, one admin task, and one leisure task/activity per day. This way, you can cope with the fear of Covid-19 and not be overwhelmed.
3. Get a goodnight’s Sleep:
Dr. Eddie Murphy said, “I believe sleep is one of the most important aspects of self-care. Of course, worry about COVID-19 will intrude into many people’s sleep.”
I would totally agree with this. Without enough rest, our brain starts functioning less and less effective. As put by Dr. Waters, “Sleep deprivation, memory, attention, emotion, cognition … it’s all interlocking”. He added, “For example, sleep is really the other side of the attention coin. You can’t actually sleep while attending to something. And you can’t actually attend to something while sleeping. Attention impairs sleep, and sleep impairs attention”.
So, make sure you are resting properly and enough. Designate a proper sleep schedule and make sure you stick to it. Food, sleep, and exercise are the three keys to success.
4. Dr. Eddie Murphy’s advice is to Connect:
Human beings are social animals, and we need to have a company. Even if you are an introvert, after a certain time, loneliness creeps in. Since we have an online platform, devices, and the internet, we can freely connect with anyone we love.
Maintaining social distancing has become easy due to the existence of the internet and social media. So, make sure that you are using these devices to connect to people that you want to. Relationships are fairly difficult to maintain while distancing but use hacks to help you with online dating.
5. Maintain an Exercise routine and follow:
Try to go out for walks or run once a day if you are allowed to in the place you are living in. Otherwise, there are tons of apps that guide you on home workouts. The body movements are limited while you are staying home all day.
So, try to develop a habit of working out. Exercising is one way to keep your anxiety in check. This will also help you cope up with Covid-19 fear.
6. Learn to separate Real news and fake news:
One of the major sources of fear and anxiety is news. Especially when news channels exaggerate news to get more viewers. This can have a very negative impact on some people.
If you feel overwhelmed watching news, Dr. Eddie Murphy has some tips for you. He says:
“before you believe a piece of information, such as the fake news that ibuprofen can make the symptoms of COVID-19 worse – ask yourself if the source is reliable and one that has proven itself in the past to be trustworthy.“
Photo: Kip Carroll
Only believe the news that comes from credible sources like the WHO or your country’s national government news site. Don’t believe the rumors spread on Facebook. If you really want to cope with the fears, try to get updates about Covid-19 from sources that are credible.
