Try to lower your stress levels during lockdown.
Clarity House Therapist Amanda Buckley offers some advice
“Everybody experiences and handles their anxiety differently but here are some tips that have been helping me through lockdown.“
For someone like me who already battles with anxiety and has done for many years, a global pandemic was going to send it through the roof. Everybody experiences and handles their anxiety differently but here are some tips that have been helping me through lockdown.
You don’t have to be busy all the time – First and foremost this has been the biggest challenge for me. I felt a huge pressure to keep up with everyone I seen on social media. A lot of people are seeing lockdown as an opportunity to learn a new skill or come out the other end fitter (which is great), but I have realised that for me personally keeping my spirits up and getting through this very surreal period will be my biggest achievement. So, don’t beat yourself up if one day you have zero motivation to do anything, maybe your body and mind just needs the rest. I’ve been looking at it as a time to enjoy being at home and not feeling guilty about binge watching a complete boxset in one sitting.
Stay Connected – Technology really is amazing and there are so many fun ways to stay connected. My family have started doing a weekly cook off which is great. We pick three main ingredients that all three households already have in our fridges and cupboards. They then have to be the base of our dish and we can add anything else we have kicking about! We facetime each other once it’s all made and show each other what we have come up with.
Pressure Points and breathing – Sometimes my anxiety does get on top of me no matter how hard I try to keep it under control and I’ve found concentrating on my breathing and working on pressure points to be really beneficial. The below links will take you to some breathing exercises and show useful pressure points. It also shows which are not suitable to be used during pregnancy.
https://www.healthline.com/health/pressure-points-for-anxiety
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/ways-relieve-stress/
Lockdown List – I sat down and wrote down room by room all of the jobs I would never usually have time to do such as organising cupboards or cleaning all the windows. Slowly but surely, I’m working my way through them with a little sense of achievement every time I get to score one off. Whenever I want something to do, I just have a little look and see what I can get done.
Exercise – I have never been a person for working out, but because of the sheer amount of food and wine I have been consuming I feel like I have to do something. Through the powers of YouTube I am trying to do a workout video every day during the week and have the weekend off. I recommend The Body Coach workouts in particular the 7-day sweat challenge to get started! They are only 20-minute workouts and I do it first thing in the morning so it is over and done with quickly! Below is the link to Day One.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXmdXilQaqA
Taking a day away from the news and social media – Sometimes the news and social media can heighten my anxiety so I think it’s really important to take a day off from it. To avoid temptation of looking at my phone I message my family in the morning letting them know, turn it off and leave it in a drawer. I also got a shock when I checked my average screen time so have challenged myself to get my weekly screen time down!
Audiobooks – I started using audiobooks to help me with my fear of the dentist. A friend recommended putting my earphones in and listening to a book during my appointment and I was amazed at how well it distracted me. I sometimes struggle to sit down and read a book but have been enjoying having a lie down and listening to one. I downloaded an app called Audible which you can use if you have an Amazon account and at the moment you are getting a 30 day free trial. I have also downloaded the app onto my Alexa and if I’m struggling to sleep find listening to a book helps.
Remember everybody is going to deal with this differently, just remember to be kind to yourself! Stay safe, stay at home and I can’t wait to see you all back in the salon.