To Your Health: Don’t worry about things you can’t control

By GILLIAN SLADE on March 16, 2020.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders and drop your lower jaw to release tension.

So much of our energy, emotionally and physically, is sapped by worrying about things that will not happen or things that we can’t control.

If you are worrying unduly about either COVID-19 or something else in your life it will help to look at the facts.

Perhaps something is happening in your life that has you feeling anxious and even struggling to sleep.

There is the possibility that some of your fear is related to a previous experience that made you feel as though any crisis was out of your control. That can be frightening. Sometimes we need to decide whether our previous lens is appropriate or not at this stage.

In the case of COVID-19 we have officials being abundantly cautious for our protection. When they announce decisions on closures and restrictions it is because they have determined this will help to protect us all. It is not an indication that things are out of control – in fact the opposite is true.

Take comfort in the fact that they are well informed and are acting out of consideration for you.

Unless you are the kind of person that normally only shops for what you need each day, there is no need to rush out and stock up.

I stood behind someone at the supermarket last week who told the cashier she had plenty of toilet paper at home but because other people were panicking about buying this product she thought she’d better do so too.

This is panic buying. It is unnecessary and can simple add to fears.

Think about this rationally. Determine how many rolls of toilet paper you use in a week. Count how many rolls in your supply at home and work out how long your current supply will last you. Most of us have more than enough to outlast a 14-day self-isolation period.

I saw people buying bottled water in large quantities a few days ago. The fact is the tap water is safe to drink. Even if you prefer bottled water you could drink tap water without any issue – if you needed to.

Read autobiographies of great world leaders and you will see that in a time of crisis it is their ability to make a decision, with the facts they had at hand at the time, that sets them apart for the pack. If they’d panicked things would have gone awry.

If you need more information Alberta Health’s website for COVID-19 is comprehensive and detailed. That source can be trusted.

There is no need to panic.

Here’s to your health.

To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or 403-528-8635.

19
-18