Anxiety and COVID-19

As a television series in which each chapter is a new challenge to face, many people are at the expectation of what will be next, which new symptoms will find associated with the COVID — 19, how many more will be infected, and how many will die.

Most people have no experience with pandemic. It’s a new experience that wakes us up the uncertainty of how to handle it.
The unresponsive questions are multiplied, especially if there is no immediate and accurate information on how much people are recovered. This is something that can bring relief to many people that are emotionally suffering.

According to a recent survey, 69 % of American families said they felt stressed and concerned about the possibility of their families being infected with COVID — 19. The American Psychiatric Association has clearly said that more than a third part of the American population is already psychologically affected by this pandemic. Various problems associated with the situation are reported, and the following may include:

Difficulty to sleep
Inability to focus
Frequent forgetfulness
Irritability and anger

If our brains don’t receive the deep sleep hours, the melatonin release (a substance that helps us to sleep) is going to be inhibited. So, it will eventually affect the biological system, especially the release of dopamine, a substance associated with pleasure and gratification that regularly helps us to be in a good mood. The lack of dopamine will irritate us.

It’s not a secret, that many of us are sleeping badly, other people are confusing normal allergy symptoms with COVID-19. This may affect us, losing control, and transferring anxiety to our children. When they see their role models losing control, collapsing, and succumbing to anxiety, they will be emotionally affected.

How do you get the balance?

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these are the steps to be taken:
1. Reduce your access to pandemic information
2. Do breathing exercises
3. Improve your diet
4. Try to do activities that relax you
5. Talk to others you trust
6. Make your child feel safe, show that he is in control of the situation
7. Do exercise and study routines with your children
8. Take small rest times during the day

Author

MIT-HMS Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp Alumni

Joel Acevedo, Ph.D., Healthtech innovator from Puerto Rico