Many of us are feeling like we are walking on pins and needles waiting for those election returns to come in. As a result, we can be suffering more stress than ever wondering what the next four years or even the upcoming days following the announcement of a winner is declared. Therefore, it is important to try to put that anxiety to rest because post election day stress disorder can only wreck your health by possibly causing a stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure to panic attacks. Here are some tips for that anxiety that can help keep you on the right track during this uncertain time.
One of the best things that you can do to control that post election stress disorder and mountain of anxiety is not watching the television or social media for constant news updates on the status of the ballots in states that are still counting the returns. Instead, give yourself a break from the source of that anxiety by doing something that can relax you.
Taking a walk or any form of exercise can help produce more of those stress-relieving hormones to reroute brain chemistry from its destructive path. Another advantage of walking during times of anxiety is how this activity increases blood flow through the brain for clearer thought processing. In fact, if you keep up a somewhat regular walking program, you can even increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus that gradually shrinks as we age according to one study. You can also jog, ride a bike to start some serious cleaning, which can have the same beneficial results for coping with this anxiety.
Something I love to do is escape into a good novel or listen to an audio book when anxiety and stress set in. Finding yourself immersed into a new story can take your mind off of other problems. There also has been an interesting research study that reading fiction does help the mind’s creative process. Oddly enough, this does not hold true for reading nonfiction. After all, your mind has nothing new to create unlike fiction where your imagination pictures the look of characters and the settings, etc.
Whatever your hobby may be from painting, sketching, woodworking projects, puzzles, knitting, crocheting, sewing to crafting is the type of activity worth exploring for handling anxiety. The goal is to unburden your mind and redirect that negative energy into a more productive and blissful way.
Meditation is also a wonderful tool for anxiety. Learning to train the mind to redirect thoughts can do wonders for calming when stressed.
Our dietary habits could also change when under excess stress and anxiety. You may be eating more junk food than normal instead of healthier meals just to watch the progress of the election. Many people are also drinking more alcohol now just to settle their nerves. The problem is the more alcohol you consume, the more B vitamins that can help with stress that you also lose. Take extra drinking and factor in junk food meals can really deplete important nutrition for how you think, feel and react to stressful situations and anxiety. Though more glasses of wine or alcohol may temporarily help with that anxiety, it also can backfire as well to suppress your immune system. After all, proper nutrition and mood-boosting foods are important, but more so now for anxiety relief.
When you notice that your candidate is making progress with what may be even a slight lead, this can give you hope for what the future result later may be. Using that time to imagine the possibilities of what the result can be can help make you to feel more at ease. The important thing to remember is to stay in the present instead of overreacting to what may not be the end result.
Think of it this way, but the hard part is over. You voted and exercised your right as a responsible citizen that is entitled to us being a democracy. Every vote matters and needs to be counted. Keep that thought in mind because this is democracy at work. Regardless of who wins, you need patience to accept the will of the people even if that choice of a winner if not the one you voted for.
