There is a legit reason you feel so drained right now, and feeling a little ‘over it’.
The psychological reason for this has something to do with ‘surge capacity’. What is ‘surge capacity’?
“It’s a collection of adaptive systems – mental and physical – that humans draw on for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations, such as natural disasters.”
The issue is that our surge capacity only allows us to adapt to major disasters if they are temporary.
However with the pandemic, the disaster stretches out indefinitely.
Many have had preplanned and pre-paid travel or events canceled, to find out it’s non-refundable because of this epidemic. This hits the wallet pretty hard! The unknown of the future including the inability to plan. Social connections that provide support are missing – no hugs, limited physical closeness even laughter, and dancing.
Not- to- mention, your pain doesn’t stop or is suddenly onset because you have taken the opportunity to catch up on the ‘honey-do’s’, and overexerting yourself with exercises. Or, just deconditioning in general due to lack of energy caused by stress and anxiety.
Even the ones who are coming for physical therapy feel that the current state of the world is affecting their progress with PT.
Therefore, because this pandemic is going on, and on, and on…..your surge capacity is depleted and it needs to be renewed. Which now means the emergency phase has become chronic.
Even our own anxieties have increased dealing with work/life balance, so some have started using a guided meditation app in the recent past. And, as some of our patients expressed, they too had reached their limits, so we recommended meditation to them and have had really positive feedback.
So, here are some links providing evidenced-based research on the benefits of meditation, as well as some meditation apps that can promote resilience and help you cope better during these unprecedented times.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED141339
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858
