Have students experienced anxiety due to the crisis? If they have, they are not alone. Professor of Psychology at Saint Petersburg University, Ivanova gave advice on how to deal with these feelings.
Tip 1. If you feel really bad, do some exercises.
Help the body to utilize stress hormones: sit or stand with both feet on the floor, straighten shoulders, relax tense muscles, breathe deeply and evenly so that the exhalation is twice as long as the inhalation. If the body, on the contrary, asks for a load, people can squat or run.
Tip 2. Practice mental hygiene.
If they feel sick from reading the news or talking to people, do the following. Disconnect temporarily from all sources of panic: social networks, news feeds, and possibly from socializing with certain people. This period of “silence” should last from one to three hours a day.
Tip 3. Avoid activities that will only hurt.
No need to attack others. No need to waste time and effort on internet wars. Ask questions “but how can they, why are they so …” (behave, speak). Quarreling with relatives who may have differing opinions will do nothing to better mental health.
Tip 4. No need to focus on what’s not there.
It’s a bad idea not to take care of everyday life, because supposedly people should not care about anything except war. But life must go on. To help, people need to be in their resources and patiently cultivate their tiny plots without succumbing to panic.
Advice is also given by political scientist Ekaterina Shulman. She says that the best way to keep up with current events and stay mentally stable is to choose 1-3 news channels, which are trustworthy, and read only them. Sometimes people read the news and it becomes a rabbit hole. They go from one news channel or a politician’s blog to another. It repeats again and again.
Today it is a hard time for everybody. These tips and this advice can help those who struggle with anxiety and uncertainty.