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We have talked about the resilience skills of humor and self-care a number of times in this blog. Perhaps we have not emphasized humor enough, however. Humor is an important survival skill. Laughter is good for us. It produces positive chemical changes in our bodies. And most of the late-night talk shows find a lot of things these days to laugh about, especially about the current administration in Washington.
I recently saw a great cartoon. It was a container of Clorox labeled "Chewables.” This cartoon was in response to the president's comment about injecting disinfectants into the body. Now that could be quite funny if it wasn't so tragic. Yet there are other things to laugh about, such as how we look in a mask.
As for self-care, it is probably more important now than ever. Obviously washing our hands and not touching our face is critical. But of equal importance, if not more, is doing things to build our immunity. We can do this. Unfortunately, with the stay-at-home order, many of us have been sitting at our kitchen table and grazing and grazing and gaining weight in the process. Scientists are finding that those who contract the virus and have difficulty surviving it are often obese. Being overweight, for a number of reasons, decreases our immunity and makes us more susceptible to infection and disease. Losing weight during this crisis rather than gaining is a very good idea.
And obviously getting enough sleep is important, especially now if we want to increase our immunity. Schedules have been disrupted as well as sleeping patterns. Getting eight to nine hours of sleep is important now more than ever.
Maintaining a good diet is also critical. We should be getting takeout certainly to support our local restaurants. But if we are going to maintain a good weight and eat healthy, we need to be preparing many of our meals at home. Fruits and vegetables are available. We should be buying them since many of the restaurants are closed, as are the schools who usually buy a large percentage of these.
Lastly, we need to be getting exercise. We can at least walk if we can't go to the gym. If we can afford it, maybe it's time to buy that treadmill for the basement party room. And we can always do calisthenics on those rainy days. Exercise is a critical piece of building and maintaining our immunity. Just do it.
