The war in Ukraine has been going on for years, and every day that our citizens live is stressful for them. This applies to everyone: military personnel, residents of the occupied regions, those lucky enough to live in relatively calm areas, IDPs and refugees. Stress during war affects everyone in one way or another, although its strength, intensity, and consequences for mental and physical health may differ.
Features of stress during martial law
Stress is a reaction of the body that occurs as a response to physical or mental stress or a threat to life. During the war, all these factors combine to complicate the situation. The very nature of stress is quite complex. It involves various organs and systems of the body, namely the hypothalamus, adrenal glands, and pituitary gland. Stress triggers a kind of chain reaction, which in turn causes a number of characteristic symptoms. For example, it leads to a sharp increase in adrenaline levels, which affects the cardiovascular system and metabolic functions.
You can either adapt to stress or eliminate its cause. Since it is difficult to stop the war right now, Ukrainians have to adapt to new realities, and in particular, to the fact that stress will now be constantly present in our lives. However, it is necessary to fight it. And you can do it both on your own and with the help of specialists.
Symptoms of stress
Stress during war can manifest itself in a number of characteristic symptoms. These can include both psycho-emotional and somatic disorders. The former include increased irritability, aggressiveness, decreased ability to experience pleasure, problems with concentration and cognitive thinking. Also, under stress, people suffer from various gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes, insomnia, and tachycardia. Many people under stress develop panic attacks – sudden attacks of fear and severe anxiety, accompanied by a feeling of shortness of breath, sweating, tremors of the whole body, nausea, and a significant increase in heart rate.
If stress has already become chronic, the symptoms described above may not be as pronounced. But despite this, the body continues to suffer. In this state, a person may try to “eat” stress or, on the contrary, begin to refuse to eat. The result is severe weight loss or weight gain. In addition, various diseases can develop on the background of stress during the war – diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, psoriasis, infectious diseases, etc. And, of course, our psyche suffers greatly from stress. Therefore, it is especially dangerous if a person has a history of mental disorders.
How to deal with stress: useful tips and tricks
The question of how to overcome stress during the war is a concern for every Ukrainian today. Therefore, we offer some tips on how to normalize your condition and avoid negative consequences.
- Focus your attention on the things you can control. This can be taking care of your family and friends, organizing a safe space for you and them, and other things.
- Take care of a proper and balanced diet. It has a great impact on health, so you should neither refuse to eat nor consume unhealthy sweets or fast food in large quantities. A healthy, vitaminized diet will strengthen your body and make you feel much better.
- Follow only official and reliable sources of information. In times of war, people are much more likely to follow the news because their lives often depend on it. However, excessive interest can turn into a kind of addiction. It is also dangerous to get information from unverified sources. They often broadcast fakes, which increases anxiety and worsens an already disturbed mental state.
- As practice shows, people feel calmer when they have supplies of food, drinking water, and medicine. So take care of this in case of an emergency.
- If possible, organize a proper rest and work schedule for yourself. Of course, air raids and bombings leave little room for leisure, but if you have free time, devote it to sleep and rest.
- Don’t forget about physical activity. Even minimal loads in the form of walking or cycling have a good effect on our psyche.
- If you feel that you are not coping, do not hesitate to seek professional help. Today, psychologists provide help both offline and online. In addition, you can always find charitable organizations that do this for free.
- Do your favorite hobby. If you have a hobby that gives you pleasure, be sure to devote time to it. This will improve your mood and restore your internal resources.
It is unlikely that you will be able to completely get rid of stress during the war. However, if you take care of yourself, your mental and physical health, it will be much easier for you to survive all the trials of this difficult period.
The Association of Resource Psychology and Psychotherapy, with the support of BST The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation a PROJECT OF THE GERMAN MARSHALL FUND, conducts free online and face-to-face (Kyiv and Pereyaslav) psychological consultations for persons affected by Russian military aggression.
To make an appointment for a consultation, you must apply via Telegram.
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Black Sea Trust or its partners.