With the unfolding global coronavirus pandemic leading to people being confined to their homes, borders being shut and economic instability, it can be hard not to feel overwhelmed by the state of the world at the moment. The good news? Even in times of stress and anxiety, you can take proactive steps to lift your mood.
The science of emotions is incredibly complicated, but it is also well-studied. Over the years, BBC Future has interviewed dozens of world-leading experts in psychology who shared with us practical, everyday tips for coping better with stress. We recently trawled through the research. Here are some of the top tips we found – some of which may surprise you.
1. Distract yourself.
It’s easy to run over and over the topic that’s stressing us out, whether that’s the new coronavirus outbreak, the state of the climate or something else. But stopping people from ruminating on a recent stressful event – by offering a distraction – can lower their blood pressure back to normal levels quicker than offering no distraction.
2. If you meditate, be aware that it might not work for everyone.
In times like these, many people might find meditation and mindfulness helpful. But others might not – for precisely the reason above. For some people, practicing stillness might simply invite rumination. It can be difficult not to think about stressful events when trying to clear our minds. This may be why evidence for the benefits of mindfulness and meditation is patchy. For those people, a more compelling distraction than meditation might be required.
3. Reframe the situation.
How we interpret our emotions is largely down to how they’re framed – in other words, the context. While talking about his 2017 book Happy, Derren Brown gives the example of a tennis player going into a match thinking “I must win”. If they set an expectation that winning is everything, if they start to lose, they feel like an abject failure. This is a trap perfectionists tend to fall into, and it’s why perfectionists tend to respond with more guilt, shame and anger when they feel they aren’t succeeding. They may even be more likely to give up.
The player who goes into a match thinking “I will play the best I can”, however, believes that they are less hurt by losing, so long as they are doing their best. The signs of failure are interpreted differently by both players based on the expectations that they set for themselves.
It’s worth thinking about how you can apply this in your daily life: can each moment or day be about doing the best you can in a stressful situation (“I will practice proper hygiene and social distancing”), rather than focusing on an outcome out of your control (“I will not and cannot get sick”)?
That control part is key. Stressful situations are often beyond our control, and we create anxiety and worry when we try to control what we can’t. Focusing on what can be controlled, on the other hand, can decrease feelings of anxiety.
4. Don’t obsess over being positive or happy.
This one may seem counterintuitive: it can be a bad idea to chase positive emotions. Actively pursuing happiness can lead to the reverse effect. For one thing, the more we focus on our own happiness, the less we focus on the happiness of the people around us, which has been shown to contribute to feelings of isolation and disconnection. There is also a link between searching for happiness and feeling that time is slipping away.
And again, if you’re focused on an outcome like “I must feel happy”, you may feel worse about yourself if you don’t succeed – even though it’s perfectly natural to have a more difficult time feeling happy in stressful times.
