15 September 2020 | Product and Promotions Guide
Healthy coping mechanisms
and managing stress
Now that we know how to identify it, how can we address
it? Every person's body reacts to the stress they experience
in different ways, but happily there are many actionable
options to combat it.
• Get outside. Getting outdoors has been proven to offer
restorative, mood-boosting effects by releasing chemicals
like serotonin and endorphins. Enjoying a short walk
during lunchtime is a great way to incorporate some fresh
air into your day.
• Practice meditation, mindfulness, or yoga.
Deep relaxation and tranquility of mind promote
self-awareness, calm, focus on the present, and
emotional stability.
• Laugh! Put on a funny movie, watch some stand-up
comedy, or indulge in your favorite comic strip. Humor
can actually be a powerful tool to help moderate the
neurochemicals involved in the fight-or-flight stress
response.
• Take a break. Take frequent small breaks throughout the
day to step back from the workload and reorient yourself.
Cultivating a lifestyle conducive to
mental and physical well-being
A healthy lifestyle consisting of regular practice of any or all
of the activities below is in itself a wonderful prophylactic
measure!
• Maintain a healthy diet. We all know how crucial this is
for physical health and it's no less important for mental
health.
• Exercise. Exercise is your body's natural stress reliever,
and regular physical activity is a well-documented means
of releasing feel-good neurotransmitters. Use this as an
occasion to reconnect with your body's needs.
• Establish a routine. It's easy to let quarantine and self-
isolation break your normal patterns, but these patterns
keep us productive, motivated and regulated; and they
contribute to our sense of control. Cultivate healthy habits
including a regular sleep-wake cycle, standard work, and
recreation hours and timely meals.
Tending to our emotional needs
Nobody is going through this alone. Avail yourself of all the
(responsibly distanced) social resources to make sure your
emotional needs are met.
• Seek support from the community by connecting with
clubs, advocacy groups, and communal or faith-based
organizations.
• Communicate with your family and friends when you need
to vent or express your feelings.
• Communicate with your coworkers. You're all adapting to
the new circumstances as best you can; maintain an open
line of communication so you can identify problems and
improve the workflow.
• Keep a healthy media diet. Take breaks from news and
social media as needed.
• Cultivate an amenable work environment and have
confidence in the efficacy of the safety precautions your
practice has put in place.
• Set aside some "self-care/me" time. Do what you enjoy.
• Focus on the things which are under your control and do
the best you can under those parameters.
• Foster a sense of purpose. What you're doing is
important, and you're doing your part to keep the world
functioning.
Mental fatigue and stress can be dangerous byproducts
of today's world, so now more than ever we should be
proactive about our mental health as an integral component
of personal and professional well-being.
Covetrus offers products, services, and software to
help veterinary practices in their everyday life. For more
information, contact your Covetrus representative at
855.724.3461.
Sources: https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-symptoms-effects_of-stress-on-the-body#2
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/mental-health-non-healthcare.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html
https://www.stress.org/how-being-outdoors-and-getting-active-impacts-stress-management
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002962915361929
