How to Reduce Stress During a Crisis

Being a private practice owner comes with a lot of responsibility, and is often incredibly stressful. Given the current state of affairs, with many owners navigating uncharted waters during this COVID-19 pandemic, we know you’re probably under much more stress than usual. However, neglecting your own health can compromise your immune system and have bigger repercussions on your livelihood.

Our team put together some tips on staying healthy and taking care of yourself during these tumultuous times. Stress can wreak havoc on one’s body, so ensuring you remain in good health is of utmost importance.

Say NO to sugar – Eating foods filled with processed and added sugars suppresses your immune system.

Get enough sleep – When you don’t get enough sleep, your body is more prone to illness because your immune system then suffers.

Try to reduce stress, and stay calm – You can ask yourself the following each day:

What am I grateful for today?
Who am I checking in on or connecting with today?
What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?
How am I getting outside today?
How am I moving my body today?
What beauty am I either creating, cultivating or inviting today?

Eat nutritious and immune-boosting foods – Fresh herbs, garlic, lemons, vegetables, and bone broth are essential to giving your gut and cells the nutrients they need to keep your immune system thriving. 70% of your immunity originates in your gut, so you really want to care for it now!

Take your supplements – When your body is defending itself, it can run through vitamins and nutrients more quickly, so be sure you are compensating for this by being diligent with your supplement intake. Here are some great ones to help boost your immunity.

Most of these can be found in a high-quality multivitamin, so chances are you may have many of them on hand already:

- - Zinc
  - Selenium
  - Vitamin C
  - Vitamin D
  - Magnesium
  - Vitamin A
  - B complex vitamins
  - Vitamin E
  - Oregano Oil – 1-2 drops added to water or olive oil in a capsule

Increase your hydration – Getting enough water should be a priority all the time, but especially when you are trying to keep sickness at bay. Adequate hydration helps your body circulate nutrients to your cells and clear out the junk that accumulates. Bump your hydration up a notch by adding a drop of lemon for some antioxidant support for your liver and immunity.

Support your gut with probiotics – Probiotics help your immune system fight from the gut! Your microbiome health is crucial to keeping the rest of your body healthy, so supporting a balanced digestive system is super important when you face sickness.

Move your body – This will help your lymphatic system drain and keep your blood transporting nutrients where they need to go. For example, try free, at-home yoga on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene

This is the ideal time to encourage family, friends and colleagues to focus on building a strong immune system through exercise, healthy nutrition, stress reduction, and smoking cessation. Remember, fear only creates stress, which further compromises our immunity. So take this time to learn all that you can to help yourself and your family stay safe and healthy.

If you’re looking for more resources on how to navigate your practice through the COVID-19 pandemic, you can view all of our resources here https://www.megbusiness.com/covid-19-resources-info/.