How are you doing? I reached my limit recently; decided to take time off-work to recharge my batteries. I attended @imogenwall's very excellent Psychological PPE webinar and thought it would be helpful to share some info because life is hard at the moment, for everyone.

Lockdown 3 has been HARD. It is cold and dark. It has been a year of changing guidance (>64 iterations) to understand and digest. We are living in an environment of constant stress. And there isn't a clear roadmap ahead...

Stress manifests in different ways for different people - its a very individual thing. So its (sort of) reassuring to realise that almost everyone is regularly experiencing symptoms of stress.

The problem is our body's stress-centre (the amygdala in the brain) is not overly sophisticated. It was originally set-up for acute stress (running away from predators) not the exhausting, relentless pandemic which we are all experiencing.

So what can we do? To help ourselves, we need to engage our parasympathetic nervous system. That means taking time to REST. Slow down, take deep breathes, and relax. And I don't know about you, but I have not been prioritising this enough...

I love how there are SO MANY different ways to relax. @imogenwall shared that for some its watching horror movies (I did watch Greenland recently; OMG what a film but not great for relaxation!), practicing mindfulness, yoga, reading, crafting. What works for you?

So I'm going to finish this thread here. Its worth reflecting on where your mental health is right now. And what could you do, to help yourself slow down a bit more often? Here are some resources to help here >> https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/resources/resource/?id=48b51c37-3ca5-e811-8147-e0071b668081