The New Stressed Out
By Sarah Kittle
“I’m tired.” We have been hearing that from friends, colleagues, family members and coworkers for over two years now. We are tired of COVID, tired of taking precautions, trying to catch up, working from home versus working from the office, Zoom calls, mask mandates, vaccines, booster shots, and the back-and-forth of it all. We are living with uncertainty, financial pressures, altered daily routines, and in some cases, continued social isolation.
It is affecting our health in a big way.
For meeting and event planners such as myself, we have had to broaden our plans to include a Plan C and Plan D, and work on all possible outcomes at once, not knowing what will actually transpire until the last minute. These virtual meetings and events we’ve been dealing with are missing a key component to our ‘feel good’ vibes - the emotional engagement of meeting in person. It’s so easy to get distracted when you are communicating via screen - by kids, pets, other people, or whatever is happening around you.
Mental health workers and cosmetic doctors also report that people are experiencing a new phenomena of body and facial dysmorphia from having to see themselves when telecommunicating, and from overuse of facial filters on social media. Users are unsatisfied with themselves because they don’t look like their online profiles.
An uptick in the amount and severity of mental health disorders has been widely reported. Suicide numbers have skyrocketed. The impact of a worldwide pandemic, food shortages, and regional wars have maxed out our stress levels. And we aren’t coping well.
According to Dr. Ryan Gindi, a cardiologist at Henry Ford Heart & Vascular Institute, “We have unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress, including poor dietary habits, increased alcohol consumption, decreased exercise, and poor sleep.” He added that in outpatient clinics, he and his colleagues have also seen decreases in visits and adherence to medical therapy.
“It would be nice if we as a society gravitated towards meditation, taking walks, and mindful exercise as ways to cope,” says Dr. Gindi, “but often that is not the case.” Stress eating, binge-watching TV, and trying to drink away our worries - all coping mechanisms that have increased in use - have placed us in a very precarious situation. All of these factors when taken together have a very significant negative impact on our health.
Unfortunately, bad health habits can become a downward spiral. You eat, drink, smoke, etc. because you feel bad, and then you feel bad because you do those things.
So what can be done about it? Even if COVID were no longer a concern, the U.S. economy is in the dumps, interest rates are rising, businesses are failing, and the global environment is giving us some nasty payback.
If you can change just one thing, says Dr. Rena Daiza, a family doctor affiliated with Henry Ford Health, it should be increasing the amount of exercise in your life. Being and staying active is the single best thing you can do for your health. Exercise prevents health problems, builds strength, boosts energy, and can help you reduce stress. It can also help you maintain a healthy body weight and curb your appetite.
Exercise has been proven to make you happier, increasing the production of endorphins and decreasing feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress. It produces chemical changes in the parts of the brain that regulate stress and anxiety and can also increase brain sensitivity to the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, which relieve feelings of depression.
Exercise also plays a vital role in building and maintaining strong muscles and bones. It releases hormones that promote the absorption of amino acids into muscle. Young people that exercise are building up their bones to help stave off osteoporosis later in life; older people that exercise are helping their bodies maintain muscle strength.
It doesn’t even matter how much or how hard you work out, you get the benefits. Work out a little, get a little benefit; work out a lot and reap lots of benefits! Besides helping stay fit, exercise may help you sleep better, eat better, and avoid excessive screen time.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, I’m not trying to say exercise alone will “cure” you. It is, however, something you could do today, right now. As with any crisis, often the only way out is through, and additional exercise is a great first step. Literally.
This summer, try to spend some time walking, biking and swimming. Your body and your mind will thank you.