COVID-19: Managing Anxiety and Stress

everyone reacts differently to stressful situations like the kovat 19 pandemic this can be a time of strong emotions in both adults and children you may feel anxious anger sadness or overwhelmed find ways to reduce your stress to help yourself and the people you care about learn the common signs of stress such as changes in sleep or eating patterns difficulty concentrating worsening or chronic health problems and increased use of alcohol tobacco or other drugs take breaks from new stories including social media take care of your body take deep breaths stretch or meditate try to eat healthy well-balanced meals exercise regularly get plenty of sleep and avoid alcohol and drugs make time to unwind try to do activities you enjoy connect with others by phone text or email share your concerns and feelings with people you trust if you or someone you know have pre-existing mental health conditions continue with treatment and be aware of new or worsening symptoms contact a health care provider with any concerns or if stress gets in the way of daily activities for several days in a row if you or someone you care about are feeling overwhelmed with emotions like sadness depression or anxiety get support by calling 1-800 nine eight five five nine nine zero or text talk with us two six six seven four six learn more at cdc.gov kovat 19 and coronavirus gov let's take care of ourselves our family and our community