Managing Pandemic Fatigue Anxiety

Simple tips to keep the anxiety associated with pandemic fatigue under control.

Pandemic fatigue is one of the phenomena that show the psychological impact of the COVID-19 crisis.. The way in which the pandemic affects us psychologically is not limited to the fear of becoming infected or the experience of having loved ones suffering from the disease: the entire social context has been transformed in response to the spread of the virus, and adapting to this new reality can be complicated.

That is why what happened during the coronavirus crisis has triggered many anxiety problems. In this article we will see some keys about what to do in the face of this phenomenon caused by pandemic fatigue.

How does pandemic fatigue arise?

Pandemic fatigue is a psychological state characterized by emotional distress coupled with the experience of apathy or demoralization in the face of the pressure we feel after months of suffering a pandemicWe are trying to adapt to a reality in which we cannot live as we always did.

This phenomenon combines elements associated with excessive anxiety, and on the other hand, disorientation and demotivation caused by the impoverishment of the stimuli and incentives to which we had access. In other words, on the one hand, both the fear of contagion and the prevention measures to tackle the pandemic make us feel stress or directly anguish and fear, and on the other hand, our daily lives are limited to far fewer actions due to the social and economic context of crisis. Add to this the time factor of having to experience the constant postponement of "getting back to normal," and the result is that pandemic fatigue causes us to burn out emotionally and worsens the mental health of many people.

Now, there is no single way in which pandemic fatigue gives rise to anxiety problems or other emotional maladjustments. Precisely because the coronavirus crisis and others like it have a global impact on society, each person experiences this in different ways: some suffer more from the fear of running out of income, others from not being able to have the social life they would like, others from the fear of losing family members, etc. In any case, it is possible to detect sources of stress and anguish that often affect many people:

• Economic instability
• Uncertainty about how and when restrictions will be applied
• Hypochondria or fear of contagion
• Frustration at being unable to pursue a particular hobby
• Social isolation due to movement restrictions
• Constant bombardment of bad news, or doomscrolling
• Traumatic experiences associated with death or illness

What to do to manage the anxiety generated by this context?

As we have seen, the context of the global pandemic and the restrictions associated with it creates the perfect breeding ground for anxiety problems to emerge, either through anxiety disorders, or through anxiety disorders.This can take the form of anxiety disorders such as phobias or generalized anxiety, or through excessive stress and anguish, but without constituting a psychopathology. However, in the face of these emotional imbalances it is possible to take measures, both from prevention and from the management of anxiety once it is present in us.

Of course, the best way to make progress in this aspect is to attend psychotherapy; psychologists are trained to attend each individual case and give the appropriate tools needed by the person we are attending, taking into account their particularities, and monitoring their progress. However, there are also some strategies that can be applied by oneself and that generally help to manage anxiety. Here are some of the most important ones.

1. Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Physical well-being is closely connected to emotional well-being.If your body is in good shape, it will have more resources to maintain a proper functioning of the nervous and endocrine system, with all that implies for your mental health. So, it's important that even though COVID-19 has meant the curtailment of some freedoms, you don't give up on maintaining a physically active lifestyle, or eating healthy.

2. Control your exposure to bad news

As I have anticipated, anxiety is fueled by exposure to a constant bombardment of bad news, something that has intensified in these times of COVID-19. That's why, it is advisable that you make a deliberate effort to control the time you spend surfing the Internet not only reading texts of this type, but also receiving headlines of this type.but by receiving headlines of this type.

For example, look at which media are more likely to broadcast pessimistic news, and stop to think about whether you can do something to prevent them from having that influence on you (e.g., by canceling a subscription).

3. Try Mindfulness

Many people benefit from Mindfulness as a regular practice that helps keep anxiety under control. In addition, there are several types of Mindfulness exercises, there are several types of Mindfulness exercises, some of which are so simple to perform that you will only need to follow the instructions of a short audioof a few minutes in length. You can incorporate this habit at key moments of the day when it is convenient to disconnect.

4. Set up projects

With the withdrawal of some incentive systems associated with face-to-face social life or physically going to various places, it is important that you create other sources of motivation and satisfaction. So plan projects that are meaningful to you, whether they are just personal or have professional implications. These projects will bring you several goals and sub-goals that will bring to your life experiences of progress and direction toward something that is important to youwriting a book, launching a website, learning a new language...

5. Structure your daily life

Staying at home longer than usual makes some people neglect time management, having the feeling that hours go by and everything remains the same. That is why it is advisable to follow schedules and it is advisable to follow schedules and, above all, to be very clear about when to go to bed.Lack of sleep is an anxiety bomb.