If the COVID pandemic revealed anything about human nature it is that in times of stress, it is vital to human health and wellness to be able to appropriately manage those stressors. It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree that healthcare professionals had a really tough job to do.
Healthcare in general is a very demanding role, but when hospitals become overcrowded, people are dying at alarming rates, and there are still major questions about what and how to treat the symptoms, stress levels quickly give way to burnout. Easily findable nursing statistics demonstrated that the number of medical professionals that chose to leave that industry during and after the pandemic was drastic, and most of those resignations were due to burnout caused by unmanageable emotional strain.
While everyone can benefit from proper self-care routines, it is particularly important for healthcare professionals— like psychiatric nurse practitioners— to practice such things, not only for their own well-being but the health of their patients. Those that don’t run the risk of making mistakes that can quite literally cost others their lives.
To combat the stresses inherent in the medical industry here are some self-care routines for healthcare professionals to help manage stress in demanding times.
Sleep
It is very likely that this tip for self-care has been heard before, and there is a good reason for that: it is essential to the wellbeing and proper functioning of body, mind, and emotions. There is plenty of evidence that has been touted by (ironically) medical researchers for years about the necessity and benefits of getting around eight hours of sleep a night. Much of the reason for this is that getting less than that puts the body in a state of duress, one that needs to be overcompensated for in order to keep functioning at sufficient levels.
One of the ways the body attempts to balance itself out when not receiving adequate and consistent sleep is that it starts producing more cortisol. While it is ok in small doses from time to time during times of panic or danger, cortisol is important to ensuring the protection of the body. However, over even just a few days, excess cortisol begins to have a negative impact on the body.
Therefore, making every attempt to get good, long, deep sleep is one of the first and most important strategies for wellness and combating stress. Sometimes though, it can be hard to maintain that habit. That is where setting proper boundaries comes in handy.
Boundaries
One of the best ways to help support healthy habits— including sleep— is by learning to set healthy boundaries. What are boundaries? Quite literally, they are standards that, once established, help to maintain the ability to say, “yes”, or, “no” to people, opportunities, and responsibilities. Everyone and everything are quite consistently demanding a part of our time. Cell phones make people appear and feel pressured into being constantly available. This constant of being easily reached has greatly reduced the feeling that it is ok to be unavailable.
Disconnecting from work is harder with email notifications going off; choosing not to go out one night with friends after a long day is difficult when anyone can call. Those are just a few examples. When it comes to healthcare professionals though, the amount of time and energy expelled during the unusual (and arguably unnatural) 10-12 hour shifts means that by the time the day is done, energy levels are significantly more drained.
Not being able to acknowledge, alone respect that need to recharge, makes it much harder to go back to work refreshed. That, compounded over weeks, and months, quickly adds up to heightened stress, so learning to set boundaries is vital to self-care.
Personal Time
Personal time can look like many things, but the foundational principle of this strategy is just doing something that recharges the mind, body, and spirit. There are plenty of options that can be chosen to pull from in order to recharge oneself, but some great examples include going for a walk, taking a nap, listening to music, playing an instrument, or playing with an animal.
The problem with personal time is that it requires boundaries to be able to say no to other things. Many people struggle with “finding” personal time, and that is the problem right there: it’s not about “finding time”, it requires boundaries to “make time”. Becoming clear about what activities are enjoyable and then setting a regular time and date to do those things does wonders for a stressed-out human.
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