Dealing with Stress During COVID
May 28, 2020Information
Dr. Gary Soffer discusses ways to cope with stress during the time of COVID-19
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- 00:02Hi everybody, I'm doctor software on
- 00:05the integrative medicine physician
- 00:06here at Smilow I've been asked to
- 00:08talk to you about a number of subjects
- 00:10in the field of Integrative Medison
- 00:12and how they might relate to Cove,
- 00:15it or quarantine an one of my favorite
- 00:17topics and I think one of the most
- 00:20important ones that we deal with this stress.
- 00:23So if you're anything like me,
- 00:25this process has been pretty stressful.
- 00:27You know, I'm working full time
- 00:29with their kids at home.
- 00:30My exposure to nature is.
- 00:32Limited and you're dealing with
- 00:34your own issues.
- 00:35I'm sure your exposure to nature
- 00:37is also been limited.
- 00:38Maybe you're dealing with illness or
- 00:40loss of income, or really loneliness.
- 00:43I mean, this process is been
- 00:45super lonely for many of us.
- 00:47You know, I like this.
- 00:49Think about stress in two
- 00:51ways is acute stress.
- 00:52Which are these big moments in our lives?
- 00:56Of pain of hurting English,
- 00:58but then there's chronic stress.
- 01:00These small moments throughout the day.
- 01:03Whether somebody cutting you off.
- 01:06And the way I like to think about it,
- 01:08I like to think about acute stress.
- 01:10Is these big rocks that we drop in these
- 01:12rocks are generally very identifiable,
- 01:14and sometimes they're a little
- 01:15bit easier to deal with.
- 01:17'cause we can focus on them.
- 01:18If you deal with them.
- 01:20But these chronic stressors throughout
- 01:21the day, or like little pebbles,
- 01:23you know when you grab a big
- 01:25Rock You feel the weight of it.
- 01:27You know you feel the burden of it.
- 01:30But as you grab these little
- 01:31pebbles throughout the day,
- 01:32you may not feel the weight
- 01:33of just a single one, but.
- 01:35They add up and we put them in our sock
- 01:37and they slowly slowly build in overtime.
- 01:40We feel the weight and we don't
- 01:42think about it in the same way.
- 01:45So it's really important that you
- 01:47learn and find ways to deal with these
- 01:50moments both as their happening,
- 01:52but also after their happening.
- 01:55You know,
- 01:56stress is so important because it
- 01:58impacts our health in so many ways,
- 02:01so it impacts our cardiovascular system
- 02:03needs. Things like hypertension.
- 02:04It impacts our immune system.
- 02:06It can really stress,
- 02:08can suppress our immune system.
- 02:10Um and it impacts are sleep.
- 02:13But really,
- 02:14over Ologist makes us feel lousy and
- 02:18exhausted and tired and burdened.
- 02:20So when patients come to see me,
- 02:22we talk a lot about coming up
- 02:25with a daily practice.
- 02:27So coming up with a habit or a pattern
- 02:29that you find is distressing is so
- 02:32important to kind of counteract
- 02:34these micro stressors that we
- 02:36feel throughout the day.
- 02:38So what is a daily practice?
- 02:40Well, first of all,
- 02:41it's daily right that makes sense,
- 02:43but more importantly,
- 02:45it's something that we do with regularity.
- 02:47We set aside the same time everyday
- 02:50to create moments for ourselves.
- 02:52We're not talking hours here really,
- 02:54just talking minutes just talking
- 02:56about giving ourselves just a
- 02:58small space of time.
- 02:59To reflect on our data reflect on ourselves,
- 03:02so for some people that's journaling for some
- 03:05people that might be a guided meditation.
- 03:08I can think about going out for a walk
- 03:11in nature, or doing yoga or Tai Chi.
- 03:15But giving ourselves these
- 03:17moments to decompress.
- 03:19It with regularity throughout,
- 03:21you know every day.
- 03:23So a lot of these things that I mentioned
- 03:25are actually available to you on our website,
- 03:28so I encourage you to go to our website
- 03:30and check them out and download the videos
- 03:33'cause they're free and there there.
- 03:35So. A lot of the things I just mentioned
- 03:39really deal with stress after they happen.
- 03:41How do we decompress?
- 03:42How do we sort of remove our struggles?
- 03:45But another important question is how
- 03:48do we deal with stress as it comes
- 03:51up when it's right in front of us?
- 03:53Do we get angry?
- 03:54Do we bottle up the feelings inside?
- 03:56Do we grab that little Pebble and we put
- 03:59in their back and let us weigh it down.
- 04:02And I think the tendency for most of us
- 04:05is just sort of kick the can down the
- 04:07road and think that will deal with it later.
- 04:10But we don't realize that we're
- 04:11actually dealing with it now and
- 04:13just unhealthy and unproductive way.
- 04:15So two techniques said I like to
- 04:18think of when I'm thinking about
- 04:20how to deal with stress as it comes
- 04:24up our mindfulness meditation,
- 04:27which is a specific type of
- 04:29meditation and biofeedback.
- 04:31So biofeedback is technology based.
- 04:34There are different programs online.
- 04:36Heart math is one example that you can
- 04:39go out and purchase some technology
- 04:42and what it allows you to do is
- 04:45learn how to control your Physiology.
- 04:48So whether that's your heart rate
- 04:50or the amount you sweat and it's
- 04:52worth looking into or some medical
- 04:55institutions offer it so it's
- 04:57worth asking your doctor about,
- 04:59but the other one that's free an I
- 05:02love dearly is mindfulness meditation.
- 05:05Now there's a lot that falls under the
- 05:07umbrella of mindfulness meditation,
- 05:08so I wanted to be very clear to
- 05:10you what I'm talking about.
- 05:12I'm simply talking about the act of
- 05:15sitting and focusing on our breath.
- 05:17Seems like a really simple idea,
- 05:20but it does take work and it does take
- 05:23commitment. So the idea is simple.
- 05:25It's just finding a chair or a
- 05:28comfortable seated position.
- 05:30Closing your eyes and just focusing
- 05:32on your breath.
- 05:33And some people like to bring that focus
- 05:36to the cold air coming into their nostrils,
- 05:39and the warm air exiting their nostrils.
- 05:41Some people like to focus on the
- 05:43expansion and contraction of their lungs,
- 05:45whatever it is,
- 05:47just simply focus on your breath.
- 05:49Anne, what inevitably happens
- 05:51after the first 15 seconds?
- 05:53Maybe even less.
- 05:54If you're anything like me,
- 05:56is our mind starts to wander, and that's OK.
- 05:59That's normal.
- 06:00You know,
- 06:00when people have experienced meditation,
- 06:02I think the biggest frustration
- 06:04they say is that I
- 06:06just can't focus,
- 06:07and it's expected that you can't focus.
- 06:11The idea is that you just bring
- 06:13your thoughts back to your breath.
- 06:16Try it out for a minute
- 06:18or two after this video.
- 06:19It's not as easy as it sounds,
- 06:22but just by giving yourself a minute or
- 06:24two and then slowly building overtime
- 06:26to 1015 minutes a day is a really,
- 06:29really nice way of training our mind.
- 06:32And that's what's so special about
- 06:34being human being is that we can
- 06:36train our mind that we can alter how
- 06:38we interact with our environment.
- 06:40We can alter how we interact
- 06:42with the people around us.
- 06:44Just threw some training and mindfulness.
- 06:46Meditation is a really nice
- 06:48way of doing that training.
- 06:50So we talked about.
- 06:53Dealing with it as it comes up,
- 06:55we talked about dealing with it afterwards,
- 06:58but we also have to think about the
- 07:00little things in our day-to-day life
- 07:02that are going to impact our stress.
- 07:04So environment.
- 07:05For one, you know.
- 07:07It's easy when you're quarantined
- 07:08to just let the Clutter Build
- 07:10and let's the stacks happen,
- 07:12but you know a messy room is
- 07:15going to lead to a messy mind.
- 07:18So try to keep your environment clean.
- 07:20Try to keep your environment in order.
- 07:24The Simple Act of making your bed
- 07:26every day can really have a profound
- 07:28effect on how you interact with the
- 07:30rest of your day little things.
- 07:32You know setting up some incense or
- 07:35mist vaporizer with some essential oils
- 07:37can have a really calming effect on us.
- 07:40The music in the sounds that we
- 07:42listen to you can have a really
- 07:44really nice impact on us as well,
- 07:47so putting yourself in an environment.
- 07:50That's going to temper some of the
- 07:53stresses that you feel throughout
- 07:55the day is really going to help.
- 07:57Another subject that I'm hopefully
- 07:59going to talk about in a future video,
- 08:02but one that I want to bring up
- 08:04right now is nutrition because I
- 08:06think during this time we're all
- 08:09relying on foods that we call comfort
- 08:12foods and what a misnomer that is,
- 08:14because yes,
- 08:15they might make us feel good immediately.
- 08:17Those carbohydrates in those fatty foods.
- 08:20But think about how you feel.
- 08:2215 minutes or half hour later,
- 08:24most of us feel miserable and
- 08:27exhausted and weighted down.
- 08:29So I want you to think about what
- 08:31you're putting in your mouth and the
- 08:32nutrition that you're giving your body,
- 08:34because that's really,
- 08:35really going to have an impact on
- 08:38how you feel throughout the day.
- 08:39So.
- 08:40The last and most important thing
- 08:43is just being kind to yourself and
- 08:47being kind to the people around you.
- 08:50Making a concerted effort to
- 08:52be gentle with yourself,
- 08:54be gentle with everybody who's going
- 08:57through the same frustrations as you are.
- 09:00Is so important and it's going to change
- 09:02how you feel about yourself and how
- 09:05you feel about the world around you.
- 09:07So thank you so much for taking the time to
- 09:10talk to me today and listen to me today.
- 09:13If you ever need anything or Department
- 09:16of Integrative Medicine is available
- 09:17to you and just please always feel
- 09:19free to reach out. OK, take care.