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Covid-19
It is important to maintain a routine, exercise and talk with our friends and loved ones
We are living what for most of us is a new situation: confinement in our homes with the aim of dealing with Covid-19 infections. It is normal that in situations to which we have never been exposed, at first we can feeling that we lack tools with which to cope At the same time, that the level of uncertainty is high and that this produces thoughts and emotions that are not entirely adaptive.
These days when we will stay more hours than usual at home, it is important to take into account certain psychological aspects. Laura Pineda, a psychologist at Grupo Virtus, gives us 11 keys to try to address this situation in the most adaptive way possible:
1. During the time that this confinement is prolonged it is important to try to maintain or adapt schedules and structure the time at home, that is, create a new routine. Try to keep the hours of rest, put aside the pajamas and get dressed, distribute the activities during the day and divide the time into daily tasks (teleworking, housework and other duties) and leisure. This is just as important for adults as it is for children.
2. Try to include physical activity as much as possible in your daily organization. This will help lower anxiety levels and improve rest.
3. Take special care of your diet during confinement.
4. In the case of leisure, it is interesting to insert ‘active leisure’ activities, in which what I do requires a moderately important attentional load such as reading, cooking, doing sudokus or hobbies, doing crafts, painting and coloring, making a puzzle, healthy cooking recipes … with other activities especially related to the new ones technologies, such as watching television, the use of social networks, etc.
5. Living in the age of communications makes it easier maintain interpersonal relationships virtuallyMake use of these tools and, if you need it, seek social support.
6. Take care of aspects related to coexistence since it cannot always be easy. Respect the spaces, interspersing joint and solitary time, respecting the right to privacy of each one so as not to saturate ourselves. This is especially important if you live with Adolescents. In the event that conflict arises, it is convenient for each party to take their time to lower the level of anger and activation before trying to clarify things and reach later agreements.
7. Identify your thoughts: the way in which each person interprets different situations is what generates different emotions and what we do when we feel them. Therefore, it is especially important identify the thoughts we are having in relation to the situation at hand, since they are behind the emotional discomfort that we are feeling. When the discomfort reaches high levels, you can take paper and pencil to try to collect what we are thinking so that we can work with it.
Once the thoughts are identified, try to relativize and detect possible biases that are distorting them, such as a polarization of reality, selectively abstracting negative information about the situation, guessing the future about what happens to us, generally in negative terms, etc. Achieving this will reduce the psychological discomfort.
8. It is a good time to start practicing Relaxation, which help control arousal and anxiety levels.
9. One of the frequent behaviors in situations of uncertainty is the constant search for information, which in the short term reduces anxiety and generates a sense of control, but in the long term generates maladaptive emotions. So try limit the amount of information on the topic, for example carrying out two searches a day and always in proven and reliable media.
10. Propose small daily goalsMake them realistic and comprehensible, taking into account the situation, and reinforce yourself when you get them.
11. Of course, if the discomfort persists and incapacitates, ask for help from a psychology professional, who through online dating or by phone we can help you.