Posts Tagged Stress
[Infographic] 38 Ways to Relieve Stress
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Caregivers on October 17, 2023
[WEB] Could virtual reality be the answer to post-stroke rehabilitation?
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in REHABILITATION, Virtual reality rehabilitation on September 19, 2023
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- By Neha Mathur ,Sep 19 2023, Reviewed by Sophia Coveney
In a recent article published in eClinicalMedicine, researchers evaluated the effectiveness and safety of virtual reality (VR), an innovative neurorehabilitation modality, in people diagnosed with cerebral stroke.
Background
Over 12 million new strokes occur each year globally. However, by 2050, the global stroke burden may double.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, upper limb impairment, decreased ability to self-care, and social inactivity are common in stroke survivors, which can cause a deterioration in quality of life.
Given the continuous expansion in the number of stroke survivors, there is a need for more engaging, interactive, patient-centered, and relatively inexpensive modalities to enhance functional recovery.
One can access VR via personal computers, mobile devices, VR glasses, and head-mounted displays. It allows a patient to immerse in environments similar to real-world events and objects.
Moreover, they provide real-time feedback through their sensory channels. Furthermore, VR can be non-, semi-, or fully immersive based on the extent of a user’s perceived presence and interaction with the virtual environment.
Systems that utilize concave surface projection, head-mounted displays, or video capture are immersive, while single-screen projection or desktop displays where users can interact with a computer-generated avatar are non-immersive. VR glasses that enable users to navigate by a visual stimulus are semi-immersive VR.
VR appears to have the potential to maximize motor learning after a stroke. Many previous systematic reviews uncovered the discordances of VR use on upper limb function (arm and hands) and activity compared to conventional therapy, emphasizing the need for an overview of reviews in accordance with the Cochrane guidelines.
About the study
In the present study, researchers searched 11 databases, e.g., SCOPUS and grey literature, from inception to January 17, 2023, and identified systematic reviews published in English that covered adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of stroke undergoing VR intervention with/without conventional therapy vs. conventional therapy only.
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Eligible systematic reviews with and without meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or both RCTs and non-randomized studies of interventions (NRSI) involved adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute or chronic stroke who had motor impairments and were undergoing non-, semi-, or non-immersive VR interventions.
The primary study outcome was upper limb function and activity, and secondary outcomes were measures of gait, activities of daily living (ADL), participation restriction and quality of life, cognitive function, and other adverse events.
Results
The current overview of multiple (n=58) systematic reviews summarized the evidence from 42 meta-analyses, including 345 primary studies on VR intervention used for stroke.
Almost 40% of the trials were published in the last five years, suggesting the need for new evidence to update the available evidence.
Multiple meta-analyses using the Fugl Meyer Assessment scale (FMA-UE) to measure upper limb function and activity found that VR with or without conventional therapy was superior to conventional therapy, with low to moderate certainty of evidence (CoE) and probable to definite clinical relevance.
On the contrary, VR motor rehabilitation did not affect arm activity assessed with the Box and Block Test (BBT), Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), and Action Research Arm Test (ARAT).
Some reviews reported equal effects of VR and conventional therapy between study groups. VR might be useful for patients who need to perform a cognitive task but also refine the quality of movement during task execution. Further, VR might have a beneficial effect on mobility, balance, and ADL.
Thus, overall, VR could be considered a safe neurorehabilitation intervention with few mild adverse events. However, there is a need to minimize the risk of falling during balance training.
Conclusions
Clinicians should evaluate ways to incorporate VR into post-stroke rehabilitation interventions for patient’s motor recovery.
Depending on a patient’s training aims, they could introduce tailored exercises with visual, auditory, and tactile feedback, which might help patients improve performance and personal capacity.
Given the current expansion of knowledge regarding gender medicine and individualized therapy, clinicians should incorporate this research into VR rehabilitation.
For example, higher stress levels might increase female susceptibility to simulator sickness and discomfort during VR. Clinicians should be ready to handle this by defining the type of technology and intervention dose appropriate for each patient.
According to the authors, this is the broadest overview of systematic reviews examining VR as a stroke rehabilitation intervention yet. However, since many of the reviews included in this overview used poor methodological quality, its findings must be interpreted with caution.
Journal reference:
- Bargeri S, Scalea S, Agosta F, et al. (2023). Effectiveness and safety of virtual reality rehabilitation after stroke: an overview of systematic reviews, eClinicalMedicine. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102220. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00397-8/fulltext
[WEB] Physical Health, Brain Health and Mental Health
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Depression, REHABILITATION, TBI on November 8, 2022
Physical health is one of the determinant that can impact our brain health. Although it’s probably the aspect that is most commonly talked about, I’d love to expand a bit further about what falls under physical health and how it can impact brain health.
What falls under physical health as a determinant of brain health?
When addressing physical health, we can think about factors that can directly impact our health such as genetics, infections and diseases. As we know, genes are passed down from previous generations and although we have very little control over this process, they have the power to impact our brain structure and functioning. We know that certain type of infections such as meningitis, encephalitis and Zika virus can affect our brain directly by attacking the nervous system or by triggering systemic inflammation which can in turn trigger neuroinflammation. Other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes and their associated risk factors (e.g. obesity & high blood pressure) can harm the brain as well. Stroke & dementia are great examples of how health associated risk factors can alter brain functions.
Then, there is a range of factors that fall under physical health that we have more control over. Those include maternal health, nutrition, exercise and other health behaviours such as quality of sleep and substance use. These factors have the power to enhance or lower our brain health but also to impact the development and functioning of the brain.
So how can overall physical health also impact our mental health?
Physical health and brain health are closely intertwined and have the power to influence one another. On one hand, what we feed our brain can hugely influence its functioning and on the other hand, our brain controls many aspects of our physiological processes (heart rate, hormones, etc.) which can also influence our physical health. Everything is connected.
Let’s take nutrition as an example. Research has shown that adequate nutrition is crucial in maximising brain development in our earlier years, but this remain true throughout the life course of an individual. We hear more and more about the gut-brain connection and how looking after our microbiome can directly impact our physical and mental health. You are probably familiar with this saying “you are what you eat”. Feeding yourself good food has a real impact on how you feel and therefore can influence your mood, ability to cope with stress and mental health. Certain pesticides are also recognised as harmful for brain health. They can induce neuroinflammation which can in turn dysregulate the hypothalamus/ pituitary /adrenal axis, impact neural function and immune cell activation…which can all be linked to mental health challenges such as depression.
Another example, alcohol consumption impairs the functioning of our brain and can also alter brain development, both of which potentially having an impact on our ability to manage certain situation and decision making. In this instance, alcohol can lead to changes in brain chemistry which can worsen symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression.
Several research have also linked regular physical exercise to brain health as exercise stimulates neuroplasticity and increases the production of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) which in turn contributes to reducing inflammation in the body. [1] From a mental health perspective, exercise releases endorphins, increases the blood flow to the brain, promotes better sleep, can improve cognitive functioning and substantially improve mood, decrease anxiety and contribute to preventing serious mental illness such as depression.
The air that we breathe can impact our physical health and recent research demonstrate that air pollution can impact the development of the brain. Exposure to air pollution in pregnancy and childhood is linked to a smaller hippocampus (which is important for emotional functioning, learning and memory) and a larger amygdala (fear centre) by pre-adolescence.[2] These changes that can occur in the brain may make us more prone to developing mental health problems such as emotional lability, anxiety and reduce our ability to cope with stress.
How can reduced brain health impact your mental health?
When brain health has been compromised through ill health such as a stroke or say an accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury, flow on effects can range wide for an individual. The ways in which an individual may have to adapt to new limitations can be really challenging physically and emotionally. Other life altering neurological disorders, such as dementia, can lead to mental health challenges not only for the person affected but also for their family.
Families navigating health problems, whether it originates from a neurological disorder or not, often find themselves faced with a number of external stressors. Left unaddressed, those stressors can feel overwhelming and start impacting a person’s mental health.
Improving our mental health by optimizing our brain health
Prevention and adopting a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in maximizing our physical health. As I’ve demonstrated through this blog, there is a direct connection between our physical health, brain health and mental health.
There is a lot to take into consideration as they are closely intertwined, but we don’t have to be intimidated by this. Because they are so closely linked, you may find that gradually altering some of the physical health determinants can have an important flow on effect on your brain health and mental health. It is never too late to start either. Every little steps you take to better your brain health will add up.
Which determinant of physical health do you think you can make adjustments on in order to give your brain and mental health the best chance to thrive?
I’m looking forward to read your comments to find out more about what you are planning to do.
[1]: de Sousa Fernandes MS, Ordônio TF, Santos GCJ,
Santos LER, Calazans CT, Gomes DA et al. Effects
of physical exercise on neuroplasticity and brain
function: a systematic review in human and
animal Studies. Neural Plast. 2020;2020:8856621.
doi:10.1155/2020/8856621.
[2]: Lubczyńska MJ, Muetzel RL, El Marroun H, Hoek
G, Kooter IM, Thomson EM et al. Air pollution
exposure during pregnancy and childhood and
brain morphology in preadolescents. Environ Res.
2021;198:110446. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.110446.
[WEB] Tips to Get More Energy after Stroke or Brain Injury
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Fatigue on October 20, 2022
Stroke affects more than 900,000 people in the United States yearly, 15 percent of those who succumb minutes afterward, 25 percent recover partially, and 10 percent undergo long-term care in care facilities. Most stroke and brain injury patients have a mild or severe impairment that leaves them with long-term physical, psychological, and mental fatigue. Observe the following time-tested tips to regain psychological and physical energy after brain injury or stroke.
Eat Healthy and Well
Nutritious food builds your immunity, strengthens your body and muscles, and improves your overall well-being. After a stroke or brain injury, you’re likely to experience weakness or paralysis on one or both sides of your body, leading to poor balance and coordination. In many instances, you might experience mild or severe tiredness a few days after the stroke, making it difficult for you to walk. You need healthy and nutritious food to repair your brain and mitochondria.
You need good food to rebuild your energy and regain your muscle and body strength. Recommended supplements such as omega-3s boost your body’s mitochondrial function, repairing your brain and boosting your brain function. They restore the blood-brain barrier breached by stroke. Omega-3-infused supplements and foods also boost energy production, enabling you to regain your energy and mobility within a shorter time frame.
Manage Stress
After a brain injury or stroke, the pains and discomforts may leave you stressed. In other words, stroke and brain injury affect your emotional and psychological well-being, leading to lower energy production. Stress and grief deprive you of your happiness and energy, making you unable to live happily. Fortunately, there are many ways to manage stress and easily regain your energy.
Mindfulness and meditation practices enable you to review your unconscious and correct your conscious being. It leaves you relieved, fulfilled, and relaxed. It’s also the same case with low-grade exercise, including Tai Chi and yoga, which helps you reduce stress, fatigue, and anxiety, rebuilding your energy levels. If you’ve impaired mobility, listen to mind-relieving music and keep company with people that give you emotional support.
Keep Off Toxic Substances
Toxins directly affect the functions of mitochondria, your body’s energy-generating cells. Toxins can curb or stop the efficient production of energy by mitochondria. After a stroke and brain injury, the mitochondria are at the lowest production level. Using toxic substances worsens the situation, keeping you in an emotionally and physically fatigued state.
Among the toxins, you must keep off from include food allergens, deodorants, herbicides, cosmetics, processed wood, pains, and more. Other time-tested stroke recovery approaches include using chemical-free cosmetics and shampoos, avoiding alcohol and smoking, eating foods grown organically, and keeping off toxic elements.
Use Cognitive Thinking Techniques
Brain injuries and strokes leave you fatigued and mentally unstable. You’ll feel exhausted and uncomfortable even in situations that aren’t too demanding. The same strategies you have always employed when completing tasks and undertaking different activities will leave you emotionally and physically drained. Overthinking or overworking yourself during such a situation can worsen the situation, making it difficult for you to concentrate and think clearly. Mostly, cognitive problems become obvious when you have got a brain injury.
Don’t be staggered if you start forgetting things quickly and making mistakes often after a brain injury or stroke. The most effective way to restore your energies and stray mentally fit in all situations after a brain injury is to utilize available thinking resources and cognitive strategies. Cognitive strategies such as setting alarms to alert you to complete certain tasks at a specific time and using a diary to schedule and organize your undertakings can go a long way in helping you stay energized. Consider using flow charts to help you in decision making and planning and checklists to track your activities.
Brain injury and stroke aren’t conditions anyone wants to suffer from, considering the many side effects and the risk of incapacitation and premature death. Staying fit after a brain injury or stroke takes time and requires a total change of lifestyle and modification of your diet. You must also stop smoking, drinking, and consuming foods that contain toxins and harmful chemicals. Planning your life and lifestyle can go a long way to fight fatigue caused by stroke and brain injury.
[Abstract] Toward applying a device to reduce motion artifact during imaging: a randomized controlled trial
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Radiology/Imaging technology on April 10, 2022
Abstract
Objective: One of the most critical problems in different types of medical imaging modalities is unwanted patient movement during imaging procedures, which mainly occurs because of stress, anxiety, and restlessness in patients, resulting in poor image quality and decreased diagnostic accuracy.
Methods: This prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial comprised 267 patients who underwent MPI, randomly divided into three groups; Group I: streaming music with a special binaural beat frequency (MBB); Group II: streaming simple music (SM) and Group III: control group. Anxiety level was determined by the Depression Anxiety Stress-Scale (DASS) questionnaire and heart rate was monitored.
Results: Stress and anxiety scores were significantly lower in the MBB group compared with both SM and control group (P˂0.0001). Additionally, a significant decrease in heart rate of patients who were in the MBB group in comparison with the SM (p = 0.005) and control group (P = 0.018) was observed. The study revealed a significant decrease in motion artifact in the MBB group compared with the SM (P = 0.003) and control (P˂0.0001) groups.
Conclusions: Using the proposed device capable of streaming special binaural beat frequency embedded music can cause a significant reduction in anxiety level, heart rate, and consequently motion artifact.
[WEB] How Listening To Music Benefits Your Brain
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Music/Music therapy on September 16, 2021
It’s long been said that music is mind medicine. Advances in neuroscience and brain imaging are revealing what’s happening in the brain to prove this true.
Research shows that listening to music can reduce anxiety, depression, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, memory, increase some cognitive functions, enhance learning and concentration, and ward off the effects of brain aging. Music is so good for your brain because it is one of the few activities that stimulates your whole brain. Because music is structural, mathematical, and architectural based on relationships between one note and the next, it’s a total brain workout.
When you listen to music, much more is happening in your body than simple auditory processing. A recent imaging study found that music activated auditory, motor, and limbic brain regions no matter whether people were listening to Vivaldi or the Beatles. Research determined that the motor areas process rhythm, the auditory areas process sound, while the limbic regions are associated with emotions.
Music Reduces Stress and Depression
A meta-analysis of 400 studies validated the many health benefits of listening to music including lowering of the stress hormone, cortisol. In one study reviewed, patients about to undergo surgery who listened to music had less anxiety and lower cortisol levels than people who had taken drugs. The analysis determined that music had documented positive effects on brain chemistry and associated mental and physical health benefits in four areas:
Listening to music triggers the brain’s nucleus accumbens, responsible for releasing the feel-good neurochemical dopamine, which is an integral part of the pleasure-reward and motivational systems and plays a critical role in learning. Higher dopamine levels improve concentration, boost mood, and enhance memory. Dopamine is the chemical responsible for the yummy feelings you get from eating chocolate, having an orgasm, or achieving a runner’s high.
Science shows that music can help alleviate depression and help a person feel more hopeful and in control of their life. There is even evidence that listening to music can aid in rewiring trauma in the brain. Playing music with others or enjoying live music gets the brain hormone oxytocin flowing increasing feelings of connectedness, trust, and social bonding.
One study found that listening to music reduced chronic pain by up to 21 percent and depression by up to 25 percent, and other research showed that music therapy significantly improved depressive symptoms.
How Music Enhances Cognition
Music has the power to improve specific higher brain functions and really can make you smarter. In particular, science has shown that listening to music enhances reading and literacy skills, reasoning, and mathematical abilities.
In studies with people who listen to and play a lot of music – professional musicians’, brain scans reveal noticeably more symmetry, larger areas of the brain responsible for motor control, auditory processing, and spatial coordination, and more developed callosum. The corpus callosum is the band of nerve fibers that connects the two sides of the brain to each other, allowing communication.
Learning to play a musical instrument is one of the best things you can do for your brain, at any age. One study showed that just four years of music lessons in youth improved certain brain functions in tests 40 years later!
However, if you’re not a musician, just listening to music for enjoyment has positive effects too. Seniors who listened to specific types of music showed increased processing speed and improved episodic memory. Other tests revealed that listening to background music can increase productivity and enhance cognitive performance and creativity on some tasks.
Be careful, though. The type of music and task matter here. Certain music, like popular tunes with words, asks your brain to multi-task and can interfere with reading comprehension and information processing and is best used during breaks.
Music Boosts Memory
Your brain is hard-wired to connect music with long-term memory. Specific brain regions linked to autobiographical and episodic memories and emotions are activated by hearing familiar music. Listening to music has been shown to significantly improve working memory in older adults.
Even for persons with Alzheimer’s or severe dementia, music can tap deep into emotional recall. Personal music favorites can often calm chaotic brain activity and enable the listener to focus on the present moment and regain a connection to others. Research showed that scores on memory tests of Alzheimer’s patients improved after they listened to classical music.
Science has also confirmed that it’s possible to use music to help a young brain retain information and enhance learning.
Giving Your Brain A Musical Boost
Research is showing that music therapy can improve health outcomes in a wide variety of populations, from premature infants and children with autism, ADHD or developmental and learning disabilities, to people with emotional trauma, substance abuse problems, brain injuries, physical disabilities, acute and chronic pain, depression, Parkinson’s disease, and more.
Science has recorded measurable changes in the brain following music therapy. Music therapy can involve working with a trained professional or completing a self-paced online program. You can also achieve benefits on your own by introducing children to music.
About a decade ago, I included music therapy from Advanced Brain Technologies as an integral part of the rehabilitation tools I used to heal from a serious brain injury. I still enjoy listening to their music today to relax and facilitate my meditation practice. Companies like Advanced Brain Technologies allow anybody to use music easily to improve their brain and life.
Advanced Brain Technology’s The Listening Program is a sound based program using the science of music to better your brain. The Listening Program trains your brain to improve how you perceive, process and respond to all of the sensory information your brain is bombarded with every day.
For more than a decade, The Listening Program has helped hundreds of thousands of children and adults with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional difficulties. People have used The Listening Program to think, speak, read and write better, prepare for college entrance exams and athletic events, improve productivity, learn new languages and musical instruments, and just to relax and sleep better. Learn more here.
[Infographic] 38 Ways to Relieve Stress
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Uncategorized on August 14, 2021
[BLOG POST] Reducing stress and anxiety through actions to increase optimism and resilience
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Caregivers, TBI on February 23, 2021
Many studies over many years have explored the correlation between an individual’s optimistic or pessimistic outlook and the impact on stress, anxiety, health and well- being. Consistent consensus has been made that optimism is positively correlated with improved psychological health whereas a pessimistic outlook may increase vulnerabilities for poor psychological health.
There are also strong associations between optimism and resilience.
“A resilient person works through challenges by using personal resources, strengths, and other positive capacities of psychological capital like hope, optimism, and self-efficacy.”
Pennock, 2020
“The results indicated that psychological well-being is influenced by personal characteristics such as resilience, and the individual’s optimism regardless of his/her degree of resilience can to some extent provide for psychological well-being.”
Souri and Hasanirad, 2011
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811021240
I recently explored this with a friend who had a performance review planned with her Manager. Her last performance review (with a different company) left her feeling deflated and unsupported as the poor feedback from her Manager was unexpected, and unwanted. She was expecting the worst from her upcoming review as well, and the only ‘qualifier’ for this pessimistic view was her last performance review. Jill had been working for this company for over a year, and over our coffee catch ups, I recalled events and stories that appeared to indicate a positive work environment and signs that she was a strong performer in the workplace, so I queried her negative outlook.
– “So, what about that quality assurance project you lead, with great outcomes?” “Yeah, that went well, but the team did most of the work.”
– “Who delegated the work?”
– “I did.”
– “So, you collaborated with the team, as their project manager, provided them with direction, agreed to task roles and ultimately guided the team to a successful outcome?”
Jill’s experience with predicting future outcomes in a negative framework, based on experience is not uncommon. To help Jill feel more confident going into her review, we brainstormed all the positive outcomes she contributed to or was personally responsible for. This included achievement of KPI’s, positive reviews from customers, and her contribution to positive team culture. By challenging her low expectations of the review, she was able to develop a plan to go into the meeting feeling confident, positive and adequately prepared if her Manager did happen to raise any issues. This would also help to put any criticisms that may be raised, into context. After all, none of us are perfect, but if the positive outcomes outweigh the ‘room for improvement’ results, we are winning!
Your current way of thinking may be keeping you where you are, but is that where you want to be? Are your current actions moving you closer to your goals or further away from them? If you would like to improve your current situation, it is likely that you need to start by changing your mindset.
Developing a positive mindset, if you are not already manifesting this, will take a conscious effort. Included below are some tips on helping to manifest a positive outlook in your own life:
- You may have heard about practising gratitude. This is a simple and reflective process you can add into your routine at the end of each day, to reflect on something positive that happened during your day. It may be as simple as receiving a friendly smile from a stranger or feeling gratitude for the comfortable roof over your head. Many studies have found that expressing gratitude increases optimism.
- Reframing your thought processes: This can start with challenging your own negative thoughts e.g., ‘My life is not going the way I would like it to’. To challenge this, you might break it down by looking at one aspect of your life – “I have a great social life.” In the words of author Martin Seligman (2019), “The key to learning optimism is learning how to recognise and then dispute unrealistic catastrophic thoughts.”
- There are numerous studies regarding the practice of meditation and how the regular practice of meditation can improve your mindset, improve your memory, help you manage stress more effectively and many other health benefits. Meditation is a form of brain training. There are multiple studies which show that meditation can actually change your brain.
- Try to surround yourself with positive people. When you seek out positive people, you will be around solution-focused thinking and can-do attitudes. Being in such company can influence your own thinking. These types of people are often found in groups which are focused on goal achievements such as business networking groups. You may already know someone who has a ‘glass half full’ attitude. Meeting up with them more frequently will be a start to increasing your network of positive people.
- If you can join a gym or any type of exercise class, such as yoga, you can meet people trying to improve their lives, well-being and fitness through exercise. Any group that focuses on personal development and growth is likely to include positive people. There is significant evidence that exercise is also good for the mind.
My own personal experience with embracing optimism was best reflected in my journey after a severe traumatic brain injury, and waking up from my coma unable to walk, talk, see or have control over any of my bodily functions. Medical opinion was negative about my outlook. Prognosis predictions included life in a vegetative state, an inability to finish school or achieve the goals I had set, little hope of ever being able to participate in meaningful work, and more. My story of using those negative predictions as a powerful motivator to prove those doctors wrong, to lead a full, productive and meaningful life is documented in my new book, Holding on to Hope, Finding the ‘New You’ after a Traumatic Brain Injury.
[BLOG POST] Self-Care When You’re Overwhelmed
Posted by Kostas Pantremenos in Uncategorized on November 11, 2020
Feeling overwhelmed and stressed? Here’s how to stay emotionally healthy.
Are you feeling overwhelmed? Is your stress level rising? Obviously, it’s been an especially difficult year. So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed out, you’re not alone!
What do you do when you’re overwhelmed and stressed?
When we feel overwhelmed, many of us revert to unhealthy coping patterns and bad habits, like overeating, drinking, and zoning out in front of the television. And while these aren’t the best ways to take care of ourselves when we’re overwhelmed and stressed, it’s completely understandable.
When we’re mentally, emotionally, and physically depleted, we don’t have any bandwidth left to think of and implement healthy forms of self-care. So, we revert to the fastest and easiest ways to comfort ourselves – things that we know will immediately give us some relief. And, let’s be honest, eating a bag of chips or drinking a bottle of wine will quickly provide comfort, numbing, and respite from our troubles.
However, we all know that drowning our problems in potato chips and wine isn’t actually going to help – and if we use them repeatedly, they will cause additional problems. Potato chips and wine aren’t real self-care.
What is self-care?
Self-care is an activity that you do to care for yourself, to improve your physical, emotional, or spiritual health. Acts of self-care can include going to bed on time, ending a phone call with a verbally abusive caller, writing in your journal, meditating, or going to the dentist.
As you can see, self-care isn’t just pampering yourself. In fact, self-care isn’t always enjoyable – it’s the stuff we need to do to keep ourselves healthy, so we can be our best selves.
Self-care can be a preventative activity that we do, to stay healthy, like exercising or eating healthfully. We also need to practice self-care in response to stress. And the more stress we are under, the more self-care we need. For example, if your spouse is in the hospital, you need to care for yourself in some additional ways beyond your regular preventative self-care routine. During this stressful time, your self-care might include praying in the hospital chapel, calling a friend, asking your sister to help watch your children, and so forth.
What do you need when you’re overwhelmed and stressed?
Of course, practicing healthy self-care is easier said than done. It can feel like one more thing to do when you’re already exhausted or on-edge. And, for some, it can seem selfish to do something for themselves when a loved one is sick, or you can’t pay your rent, or our country is in crisis. however, self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s meeting a real need that you have.
The feeling of being overwhelmed or stressed is your mind and body telling you that something is wrong, that you need to attend to your needs and rebalance yourself.
When you feel overwhelmed or stressed, what do you need? The answer will be different at different times, but you might need rest, emotional support, or to quiet your mind and stop worrying. Once you’ve identified what you need, you can figure out how to meet that need. For example, if you need rest, you might take a nap, or ask your partner to do the shopping so you can have a break, or you might call out sick from work.
When we’re under a lot of stress, our minds are overloaded and it’s hard to muster the extra energy and brain-power that we need to check-in with ourselves, find out what we need, and identify healthy forms of self-care. So, we want to make this process as easy as possible. Use the tips below to help you.
Tips for practicing self-care when you’re overwhelmed and stressed
- Make a list of self-care activities that might help you when you’re overwhelmed or stressed. Keep this list somewhere handy, like on your phone or next to your bed. You want to be able to access this list easily, so you don’t have to come up with new ideas when you’re already overwhelmed.
- Remember that self-care includes both what you do and what you don’t do. For example, self-care can be adding exercise or it can be limiting how much time you spend on social media or declining an invitation.
- Try to maintain your regular healthy habits and self-care practices, such as exercise, getting enough sleep, hobbies, and so forth.
- Ask yourself: How do I feel? What do I need?
- If you use an unhealthy coping strategy, give yourself some grace, and move on. There’s no need to beat yourself up for smoking a cigarette when you’re in crisis, even if you quit ten years ago. Forgive yourself and make a plan to meet your needs in a healthier way.
- Self-care is essential, it’s not a luxury or something to do if you have time.
- Remember, the more stressed and overwhelmed you feel, the more self-care you need.
Read more about self-care
Treat Yourself Like a Toddler (and Other Tips for Those Who Struggle with Self-Care)
TBI Rehabilitation 