Parents wear many hats: they are personal chefs, chauffeurs, laundry do-ers, boo-boo kissers, diaper changers, and much, much more. We are living through unprecedented times, we are home together… all the time… every day. In addition to juggling their roles and professional responsibilities, parents have to navigate uncharted territory where they help their kids cope with what’s going on around them. From addressing the loss of a loved one, to helping kids understand why they can’t see a friend or family member, to sharing physical space, to making hard decisions like whether or not to send your kids back to school (or not having a choice), or changes in your family’s financial health, parents are dealing with more stress than ever before.
We know that stress, real or implied, is a threat to the psychological or physiological health of the individual. The wear-and-tear of chronic stress can result in high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and changes in your brain that impair memory, executive functioning, and mood. Chances are if you’re a parent you were already managing chronic stress before the pandemic swept the globe. Public health ordinances such as social distancing can make people feel isolated and lonely, which exacerbates stress, and increases the risk of anxiety and depression. Add to that the already-existing disparities in domestic responsibilities between women and men, and you have a recipe for living, eating, and breathing stress non-stop.
It doesn’t help that many parents have had to shelf self-care to simply survive a day juggling kids, meetings, meals, and deadlines. As if it weren’t already a challenge to carve out time on a daily basis for movement, preliminary research shows that Americans are exercising less and sitting and looking at screens more and that due to social distancing measures there has been a 32 percent reduction in physical activity. Anxiety and depression peaked in mid-April. Shelter-in-place orders meant not only having our kids at home with us while working or looking for employment but limited opportunities for child care from grandparents and other caregivers. For many parents, this has meant taking “shifts” where you oversee childcare while your partner works, and vice versa. Many parents are working before their kids get up in the morning or into the evening after their kids are asleep. Others feel a blurred line between their role as a parent and their role in their professional life and feel as though they are not doing either particularly well. Routine has gone out the window.
For some parents, coping has meant not only an increase in the consumption of alcohol but also consuming alcohol in front of their children more often than pre-COVID life. Seeing a parent drink an alcoholic beverage can influence a child’s beliefs (either positive or negative) on alcohol consumption and can influence current or future behavior. That’s not to mention alcohol impairs the absorption of important nutrients, interrupts sleep, impacts hormones, and leads to weight gain.
We know that stress, less physical activity, and more alcohol can all impair your immune system, something parents need to keep strong in order to do their jobs and take care of their kids.
Finding the support to manage stress and take care of ourselves in healthy, productive ways requires a commitment to ourselves. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Many parents are doing their best to turn lemons into lemonade.
Cosmo Insurance Agency is a full-service independent insurance agency based in Hackensack (Bergen County) and Lakewood (Ocean County), New Jersey that offers an all-encompassing range of insurance options for both individuals and businesses. Cosmo keeps its promise to assure an efficient and creative approach to the services we offer. Each of our clients experience a personalized and long-term relationship with us. Our New Jersey based team of health brokers guides our clients in helping them choose the most cost-effective options. By incorporating our knowledge of the insurance guidelines for healthcare, employee benefits, life insurance, self-insurance, dental, disability, and long term care insurance, we keep our clients up-to-date with affordable plans that cover all their specific insurance needs.
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Source: ParsleyHealth
