‘Long Haulers’ Describe What It’s Like When COVID-19 Lasts For Months : NPR

>Long after a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects smolder

>Covid-19 can be a prolonged illness, even for young adults, CDC report says – CNN | The Patient Advisor

Some people who get COVID-19 are stuck with lasting, debilitating symptoms. Two women share their stories of how they’ve been suffering for the “long haul.”

11 Minute Podcast and full story of excerpts below at Source: >’Long Haulers’ Describe What It’s Like When COVID-19 Lasts For Months : NPR

“Support groups on Facebook include thousands of people who say they have been wrestling with serious COVID-19 symptoms for at least a month, if not two or three. The groups have coined a name for themselves: “long-haulers.”

“Long-haulers are often left out of the COVID-19 narrative. Data sheets count cases, hospitalizations, recoveries and deaths…Many long-haulers say their doctors doubted their symptoms were as severe as they were saying. Roberts says her original primary care physician insisted it was just stress and suggested she watch Lifetime movies and do puzzles to calm down. “I know stress,” Roberts says. “This was not stress.”

“The heartbreaking loneliness of the pandemic has been difficult enough for healthy people. But it’s been a terrifying challenge for those like Roberts and Nowell who also must live with foggy minds, intense fatigue and continual fear of erratic symptoms. Roberts says she’s still afraid to go anywhere because the worst symptoms still come on so fast.

Continue with full story at source link above.

Find Your Center in the Time of Coronavirus through Meditation Journaling

See >Drumsoul post on Meditation Journaling

“Form a mindfulness habit and recognize the impacts of a meditation practice to get the most from your waking life. Baronfig and mindfulness expert, Justine Bloome, introduce Bloom Meditation Journal—a guided journal that aims to increase self-awareness through the practice of meditation.

 

 

Your ‘Doomscrolling’ Breeds Anxiety. Here’s How To Stop The Cycle : NPR

“With too much time on our hands, some people are spending a lot of time seeking out bad news. It’s called doomscrolling. Dr. Janet Johnson from UT Dallas talks to Good Day about why people seek out bad news.

3 Minute Podcast and Full Story of excerpts below at Source: >Your ‘Doomscrolling’ Breeds Anxiety. Here’s How To Stop The Cycle : NPR

“This self-destructive behavior has become so common that a new word for it has entered our lexicon: “doomscrolling.” The recent onslaught of dystopian stories related to the coronavirus pandemic, combined with stay-at-home orders, have enabled our penchant for binging on bad news. But the habit is eroding our mental health, experts say.

“Our minds are wired to look out for threats,..The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get. That grim content can then throw a dark filter how you see the world..Now you look around yourself, and everything feels gloomy, everything makes you anxious. So you go back to look for more information.

“Aldao, the director of Together CBT, a clinic that specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy, has worked with her patients to cut back on doomscrolling.

Click on the source link above to see her advice

“Life gives you plenty of time to do whatever you want to do if you stay in the present moment.” Deepak Chopra

Anxiety makes us bad decision-makers. Here’s how to do better – CNN

>How Does Anxiety Short Circuit the Decision-Making Process? – Psychology Today

“Anxiety is on the rise globally amid the pandemic, and it can interfere with our ability to make decisions. Experts say, however, there’s a lot you can do to manage anxiety — techniques you can use to feel better and make wise choices. Here’s how.

Full story at Source: >Anxiety makes us bad decision-makers. Here’s how to do better – CNN

“Anxiety often goes up in any moment where our bodies perceive a real threat,,, It certainly makes sense in the middle of a pandemic. For many, anxiety is something that you know when you feel it. The American Psychological Association defines anxiety as an “emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” Other physical symptoms can include a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, sweating and trembling.

“While anxiety is distinct from depression, another mood disorder, it’s common to experience symptoms of both at the same time. There are several main types of anxiety disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and phobia-related disorders. And while the symptoms of anxiety can be deeply unpleasant…the emotion is actually an essential tool our body uses to get us out of dangerous situations. “Anxiety, as a biological response, is a state of fight or flight…Escaping from a lion? The hypervigilance associated with anxiety can help.

“But while that heightened awareness and vigilance makes biological sense …the emotion also erodes our ability to make well-reasoned choices. When you have a lot of anxiety you actually have trouble making decisions. That’s something I’m seeing in my clinic…Patients are having trouble figuring out: ‘Is this a good decision or not?’ And that’s because their brain is not fully on to be able to make decisions.

“That’s concerning: As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolds, many are facing daily decisions with high stakes for their families’ lives and livelihoods.

Learn more how to deal with anxiety and make good decisions in the full story at source link above

“Practice paying attention to your thoughts and the judgments that your mind tends to make. Don’t try to stop or resist them, just curiously notice them. The Mind is like a label maker.” >I Am Here Now: A Creative Mindfulness Guide and Journal

>Drumsoul on Mindfulness

 

New Site for Healing Music, Mindfulness and Non-violence

Hello! I modified my drumming site for the times.  Posts related to meditation and mindfulness will be in there. Go to the below link to follow:

See: >DrumSoul Nonviolent Communication

Encouraging Nonviolent Communication with the Arts and Mindfulness
“There is wisdom in every moment, if we are looking and if we are not looking, there is illusion”
“The problem with violence is that it becomes the problem”
— DH

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Coping with coronavirus – Harvard Health

Dealing with daily stress, anxiety, and a range of other emotions

4 Videos and 4 podcasts and Full story of excerpts below at Source: >Coping with coronavirus – Harvard Health

“Perhaps you’re older, worried that you may become infected and seriously ill. Maybe you’re doing your best to keep your family healthy while trying to balance work with caring for your children while schools are closed. Or you’re feeling isolated, separated from friends and loved ones during this period of social distancing.

“Regardless of your specific circumstances, it’s likely that you’re wondering how to cope with the stress, anxiety, and other feelings that are surfacing. A variety of stress management techniques, which we delve into (resource link above), can help.

Wednesday, April 29th LIVE Virtual Event Via ZOOM: Family Communication Dynamics During Times of Stress | Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona

“Wednesday, April 29th 2-3PM MST LIVE Virtual Event Via ZOOM

“Family Communication Dynamics During Times of Stress

“Communication is key for survival in any situation and will be critically important in the family unit in after quarantine as we adjust to a world of uncertainty.  How can families who have been living under extreme stress and uncertainty work together as a team to move forward and thrive?  Let’s discuss how we can we discuss important, but potentially “loaded” topics like money, safety, and appropriately express our needs within the family unit.

“Joyce Marter, LCPC, is a renowned psychotherapist, entrepreneur, national speaker, blogger and media contributor. Since 1998, Marter has been providing therapy for individuals, couples and families dealing with a variety of issues related to mental health, addiction, relationships and personal/ professional development. She is an expert in self-esteem, mindfulness, conflict resolution, career and relationship issues and the psychology of money.

Register at Source: >Mental Wellness of Families of Essential Employees | Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona

What we need right now: 3 Ways to Better Control Your Mind and Thoughts | HuffPost Life

“The fact that you and I can think, reflect and so often regret the past, imagine and so often fear the future, even to be unconscious of our own capacity to be conscious is the biggest curse humans live with and so try to escape from almost continually.

“In other words, “Thoughts,” as Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, “can be our best friends and our worst enemies.” … Until what is on the inside — that is, your mind — is corrected, the external world, that is, how you perceive and experience the world around you will be a mere reflection of it.

“In other words, if the world around you is to you an unfriendly, hateful, scary, and judgment-filled place, why is this so? Have you ever sought to know why? Is this the way the world really is? Or, is this the way you really are? Often we project onto the world, as well as onto other people, the afflictive, negative thoughts and emotions that we cannot admit. Or refuse to acknowledge.

More and more, I am convinced you and I create the world in which we live. Pop psychologists glibly suggest, “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

“While this is true, the problem for most people is how to change their negative thinking and the afflictive emotions that are its inevitable consequence. Want to change your inner world? Better control your mind, as well as your thoughts? Here’s the only way possible:

Find out how at Source: >3 Ways to Better Control Your Mind and Thoughts | HuffPost Life

Got Coronavirus Anxiety? These 5 Tips Can Help Calm Your Fears : Shots – Health News : NPR

Anxiety thrives on uncertainty. And, as the coronavirus spreads, our unanswered questions can make us feel vulnerable or fearful. “Will it come to my community” or “Am I at risk?'”

We’ve got national anxiety at the moment, a kind of shared stress, and we are all in a state of extreme uncertainty,” says Catherine Belling, an associate professor at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, who studies the role of fear and anxiety in health care.

And here’s a catch-22: The more you stress, the more vulnerable you can become to viruses, because stress can dampen your immune response. But there are steps you can take to push back against the communal anxiety.

See the 5 tips and 3 minute podcast at Source: >Got Coronavirus Anxiety? These 5 Tips Can Help Calm Your Fears : Shots – Health News : NPR

>Three Mindful Ways to Calm an Anxious Mind

>A 23-Minute Anxiety Practice

How Your Breath Controls Your Mood and Attention – Mindful

“New research explores the relationship between the pace and intentionality of your breathing, and the brain networks involved in mood, attention, and body awareness.

Slow down, and pay attention to your breath. It’s not merely common-sense advice. It also reflects what meditation, yoga, and other stress-reducing therapies teach: that focusing on the timing and pace of our breath can have positive effects on our body and mind.

A new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology may support this, revealing that several brain regions linked to emotion, attention and body awareness are activated when we pay attention to our breath.

Paced breathing involves consciously inhaling and exhaling according to a set rhythm. For example, you might inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6, and repeat. Prior research shows that paced breathing exercises can both focus attention and regulate the nervous system. To date, however, we have known little about how this affects brain function in humans.

These findings represent a breakthrough because, for years, we’ve considered the brain stem to be responsible for the process of breathing. This study found that paced breathing also uses neural networks beyond the brain stem that are tied to emotion, attention, and body awareness. By tapping into these networks using the breath, we gain access to a powerful tool for regulating our responses to stress.”

More at Source: >How Your Breath Controls Your Mood and Attention – Mindful