Plan a Staycation
Pitch that tent and set up some lights! Make it a theme or celebrate a birthday!
Double Masking
The UK Variant
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
Requests
Healthful Living
Healthful living is a choice and a lifestyle to include exercise, hydration, and adequate sleep.
Mindfulness
Download an App such as CALM – a 10 minute daily guided breathing exercise.
Physician Appointments
Do not avoid your physician appointments – to the contrary, attention to hypertension, diabetes, weight, sleep apnea, COPD. smoking and physical well being is more urgent than ever before.
Emergency Room Visits
Do not avoid the ER should you have concerns for stroke, heart attack or any other possibly life altering conditions. The fear of COVID19 must be weighed against the fallout from unaddressed ailments. This makes attention to your overall health more pressing
Vulnerable Lungs
Do NOT smoke more or pick up vaping. We know that vulnerable lungs are more susceptible to more severe COVID19 infection. Please do not use this time of stress or uncertainty to pick up habits that have never been medically sound or healthful.
COVID Distraction
Find a COVID distraction. One that makes you happy and preoccupies your time. My personal COVID distraction was the development of a YouTube channel entitled: Culinary Karma-One Dish with Dr. Abha.
Mental Health
Mental Health is of paramount importance. Getting sleep and meditating, walking, exercise are all stimulators of mental wellbeing. But do not be afraid to talk to your caring doctor about the need for a therapist, an antidepressant, or tools for getting through these tough times.
Affirmations
Affirmations: surround yourself with positivity. Know the facts but turn off the 24-hour news cycle, get off your phones, get a book you enjoy and read as a means of healthy distraction. Connect with loved ones and dear friends by phone or letters. Start a pen-pal correspondence with a long-lost friend or loved one and engage in a therapeutic card or letter writing endeavor. Friendships are imperative but must be done with health at the fore. If you have a pod and an arrangement to stay within a 2 or 3 person pod, great. But do not forsake your relationships, just be safe and selective to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Seeking Professional Help
This too shall pass – despair has no place. By engaging in healthful living and seeking counsel and help from trusted professionals, we will all see COVID19 affect fewer people and hopefully see the numbers plateau
Mask Up!
WEAR THAT MASK WITH PRIDE – NOT AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO YOUR FREEDOM, RATHER AS A GUARANTEE THAT YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES AND THOSE WHOM YOU WALK AMONG HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE OF GATHERING SAFELY.
Pitch that tent and set up some lights! Make it a theme or celebrate a birthday!
… with friends and family here and abroad. Play a game of bingo or charades online.
… people you know need some joy in the mail.
… enjoy the process of negotiating with an interested buyer.
… to love and care for. They will also love and care for you.
Physical movement liberates endorphins.
Turn up the volume and move!
A good sense of humor can’t cure all ailments, but data is mounting about the positive things laughter can do. Read more from Mayo Clinic on the short & Long term benefits of laughter.
Release those endorphins!
Memories makes us smile!
… this can be relaxing and even meditative.
…at a place that needs help such as an animal shelter, homeless shelter, soup kitchen, library, senior center …
Consuming the news can activate the sympathetic nervous system, which causes your body to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Planning a vacation, even if it is not in the very near future, will add excitement and also a distraction.
Get on medication, or vitamins, or get your labs drawn. Do not neglect your health or fear seeing your health care professional.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Each week we have spent time talking with local experts about the latest on COVID-19 around the world and especially here in Michigan.
Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Abha Gupta Varma joined us once again to discuss the latest on the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine along with ways to mitigate COVID fatigue.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The UK Variant: Each week we have spent time talking with local experts about the latest on COVID-19 around the world and especially here in Michigan.
Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Abha Gupta Varma joined us once again to discuss the latest on the UK Variant and travel restrictions. Dr. Abha also talked about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which could receive FDA approval soon.
We also talked with her about double-masking and making sure you keep your health in check throughout the pandemic.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The new COVID-19 variant has made its way to West Michigan with a case in Kalamazoo and another in Kent counties.
This is happening as two more vaccines prepare to seek FDA approval behind Pfizer and Moderna.
Courtesy Fox17 News: GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There are many myths you may have heard about the side effects or impacts of the different COVID vaccines.
This morning, we were joined by Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Abha Gupta Varma, MD to talk about what you need to know about deciding whether or not to get vaccinated.
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