Omicron, holidays a ‘perfect storm’ for stress and anxiety. Here’s how to cope
Global News
Keeping in mind what you can control, staying kind and compassionate and exercising regularly will help Canadians cope during the second COVID-19 holiday season, experts say.
The holiday season always comes with its fair share of stress and anxiety, be it from the social pressures of family gatherings or the economic pressures of gift-giving.
Factor in the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in Canada, and the measures the federal and provincial governments have introduced to reduce its impact, and you’ll have added stress and anxiety affecting Canadians, says Keith Dobson, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Calgary.
The lack of predictability, uncontrollability and the pandemic, itself, has created a “perfect storm” this holiday season, Dobson said.
“On top of that, we have varying kinds of guidance across the country about getting together and not getting together … so this is a whole new layer of stress to us,” he said.
“Stress and anxiety is a very typical, or predictable, response to the circumstance we’re in … We should acknowledge it, recognize it and support each other as best we can.”
For weeks, Canadians have watched their governments react to Omicron, which was discovered late last month and has spread to at least 106 countries so far.
The variant is now factoring into the rise of infections across Canada, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said at a virtual briefing on Dec. 22.
Canada recorded a high of 14,456 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. The country logged more than 11,000 on Tuesday, and averaged roughly 5,000 new infections a day last week, Tam said.
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