How are you feeling right now? I’m working hard to rise above a mix of anxiety, trepidation and fear as the storm clouds gather, but it’s not easy. The lack of control is the hardest thing – will I get corona virus? How bad will it be? How will long-term isolation affect people over 70? DO I HAVE ENOUGH LOO ROLL?? And – the biggest thing – how will it affect my loved ones? Are we all going to come through unscathed?
Fear and anxiety suppress our immune system, and I’ve already got a bad cold which is making me feel awful. I know it’s not the virus – no fever, sore throat or cough, lots of sneezing – but it’s making me think about how best to support my immune system. I’m resting up; drinking lots of water, cold-busting smoothies and turmeric tea; sleeping loads and eating lightly. There’s more on supporting immunity here.
A sense of self-preservation has necessitated reducing my current affairs intake: I’ve deleted the BBC news app and now restrict my social media time. I’ve already read – and cried over – too many reports from Italian doctors, overwhelmed by the crisis in their hospitals. The balance between bearing witness to global heartbreak and increasing my own sense of helplessness is hard to maintain, but stepping away from the 24-hour news cycle helps.
THE SCIENCE
Annabel and I spend a lot of time reading medical research, and papers on Covid-19 are coming thick and fast. It’s clear that enormously talented teams across the world are working full pelt to expedite vaccines, explore the virus’ DNA and decode epidemiology best practice. We should take comfort from that. If you want to take a deeper dive into the science:
- A vaccine may be close but clinical trials take time. An article in today’s Observer is a good sum-up of the immunisation situation.
- This Amplify Nursing podcast comes from the US and discusses reducing corona risk with epidemiologists from the University of Pennsylvania.
- German researchers have identified how the virus enters our bodies – there’s an explanation here.
- My take-out from this highly-academic research paper is that anti-oxidants (from brightly coloured vegetables and fruit) and the mineral selenium (best source = Brazil nuts) may quell lung inflammation caused by viruses. The authors also recommend zinc supplementation to support immune cells.
- I find this medium.com article frankly terrifying, but I share it as explains transmission rates with useful graphs, and is an indicator of where we may find ourselves very soon.
My focus is on staying well and happy in the coming weeks and months. If you read my post on the vagus nerve a few weeks ago, you’ll understand the power of the brain-body connection and how we keep it tuned by spending time with family and friends. We’re social animals, not designed for isolation. We thrive with our ‘tribe’, hugging loved ones, socialising with friends, sharing the drama of a football match with a crowd, enjoying a concert or play in unison.
This virus challenges us at a fundamental level. I’d urge you not to see self-isolation as a reason to avoid all human interaction. Connect with your tribe in different ways, make use of FaceTime, WhatsApp groups and Facebook – or even the phone! I’m sticking to my ‘a friend a day’ mantra and staying in touch with my pals as much as I can, despite cancelled trips and missed events.
FINDING THE SILVER LINING
I’m trying to find the positive in all this. I’m working on acceptance, being adaptable and staying optimistic. Here are a few things I’m doing:
- A 40-day meditation challenge, with a short session of Kirtan Kriya every day. This style of meditation comes from kundalini yoga and involves chanting and finger movements. It’s been found to increase cerebral blood flow and is recommended to reduce Alzheimer’s risk. I use this 11-minute YouTube video. If you’re new to meditation, this might be the time to give it a go as it’s calming and requires quiet time alone. This New York Times guide gives a good general explanation of how it works and includes free meditations by Tara Brach, who is a mindfulness goddess.
- Reading. It’s one of the best Age-Well practices: readers, as we explain in The Age-Well Project, live longer, healthier lives. I’m engrossed in Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light which, at almost 900 pages, will keep me going for a while.
- Filling the freezer with nourishing soups, stews and Annabel’s healthy sticky toffee cake. I’ll do a separate post about eating for immunity (and making use of store cupboard basics) but Turkish lentil soup, lentil and herb soup and black bean chilli will all be finding their way into my freezer soon.
- Learning: I spotted a hashtag #coronauniversity yesterday in a tweet encouraging us to make good use of any unexpected free time. If you’re ill you need to rest and recuperate, of course, but if you’re at home and well, why not take the opportunity to learn something new? The ageing brain thrives on novelty. I have an urge to try something crafty, so may have created a patchwork quilt by the time this is all over!
- Smiling: Gloria Gaynor doing the handwashing challenge while singing ‘I will survive’ is the anthem we need now. It’s on TikTok and YouTube here.
Do make use of this lovely Age-Well community, here and on our social media channels. Please share your feelings, hopes, fears, store cupboard recipes, immune-supporting tricks and secret loo-roll stockists (the newsagent opposite my house has some, if you’re local!)
Susan
Brilliant thanks so much. These are some of the thoughts I have been having but seeing it here with the science is really helpful.
Thanks so much Jan!
Thank you so much for this Susan, brazil nuts, zinc and vit C ordered 🙂
Good plan! I’m sure they’ll be more information like this coming soon – I’ll share as soon as I see it
Through all the fear and bad news being thrown at us through the media do you not think that perhaps this will give our poor planet a well earned rest from the pollution we keep throwing at it. Fewer planes flying, fewer cars out on the streets. Maybe we should all sit back and take a long hard look at our lifestyles. Perhaps this break over the whole planet will just save us and make us realise what is really important in life.
Self isolation is causing panic. How on earth can people cope? Think about all the lonely old people there are who are isolated permanently because their friends and siblings have gone before them and perhaps their families are spread far and wide. This is, hopefully, a short, sharp shock but we will in all likelihood in a few months be able to get back to our “normal” lives. Hopefully as better more thoughtful people.
Yes hopefully we will see benefits – I’ve seen fascinating images online charting the staggering reduction of Chinese pollution levels when industry shut down. But imposing isolation on people who are often already lonely is a cruel irony.
Hi girls thank you so much for all the positivity as well as the hard science, it’s really brilliant and informative. Loving your newsletters. Working from home here in Ireland, teaching our students online, it’s working really well. Keep up the fantastic work, loved your book, re-reading it at the moment. Kind regards. Marion
Thanks so much Marion, that’s really kind! Really glad to hear that teaching online is working well – won’t be long before our kids are doing the same! Susan x
Fabulous post. Thank you. I and my 74 year old husband (I’m 64) are currently in sunny Spain in our Motorhome in the lock down
If the ferry doesn’t get cancelled on Saturday evening and we are still able to leave, we will be home Sunday night. The weather here is glorious and we are able to walk around the campsite and leave for essentials. I even saw a couple go jogging off site this morning.
That said, despite the increasing situation in the UK and the cooler climate, we feel being back home is still the best place to be.
I have waves of anxiety, sometimes I’m ok other times I get a tightening in the chest which I believe is because I’m feeling anxious. One of the ways I deal with this is to keep a good sense of humour. On Facebook there are many jokes flying around, mostly to do with toilet rolls. We share amongst friends and some of the comments are hilarious. I recently wrote a post to emphasise that I’m not blasé about the situation, I am just as worried as everyone else but this is how I deal with it. I had many of my friends urging me to keep the jokes coming as we all recognise a sense of humour is very important.
So keep smiling, washing your hands and stay safe and well. We will get through this.
Thank you Jan. Hope you get back OK. Yes you’re right, we have to keep smiling, keep the jokes coming and keep washing our hands!
Thank you for this! My husband and I are both high risk so are self-isolating mostly. With the exception of small-group reformer Pilates (1m distance and super scrupulous hygiene kept there) we won’t be seeing many people. Today we took the heartbreaking step of telling our adult children (not isolating, living as if nothing was happening) that they need to stay away to protect us. We have a couple of friends who are also older and self isolating and we agreed to swap visits. They came today for tea and homemade rhubarb crumble and it was lovely. We stayed at a distance, just in case, and their cups will go in the hot dishwasher. They will return the invite next week. Just round the corner so no bus to catch! As he was leaving, the husband offered to fix our wooden gate Which is in tatters! It will give him something to do and we really appreciate it. We will also start preparing our allotment for planting, clear the shed and might even declutter and sort out the spare room from hell! Walking around when the streets are quiet, yoga on YouTube, finish reading all the books we have not looked at, making sauerkraut and fermented veg salad. My husband has started a new sourdough starter. We pray that this horror leaves us and our communities soon, we pray for all affected, for the good, brave, amazing frontline people. For our children out there and for the children of all parents out there. For the vulnerable, frightened people already affected by floods, fires, poverty. We hope that there will be a new flood of love, peace and humanity on the other side of this.
I love this, Maria, thank you so much for sharing. Your idea of swapping visits is a wonderful one and I share your hope that something good will come of this in the end. You put it all so beautifully, do you mind if I share it on social media? I won’t give out your details, but I think other people will find your thoughts inspiring. Susan x
Beautiful. Lovely idea with your fiiends. Keep safe and well