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Updated January 30, 2015.
Some other things you can do to help minimize stress:
- Make efforts to maintain your usual routines in place, such as regular family meal times and other rituals. These will help you to feel as though life has some sense of order.
- Upsetting times can cause people to drink alcohol or to use other drugs in a way that causes other problems. Try to cope with stress without increasing your drinking or other drug use. Increasing usage will not help in the long run.
- Don't let yourself become isolated. Maintain connections with your friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers and church members. Talk about your feelings with these important individuals.
- Make connections. Good relationships with close family members, friends, civic groups or others in the community are important.
- Take care of yourself. Pay attention to your needs and feelings. Engage in activities that you enjoy and find relaxing.
- Identify the feelings that you may be experiencing. Understand that your feelings are a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.
- Accept the fact that things may be disorganized or chaotic for some time -- you may feel overwhelmed or distracted -- take one task at a time, one day at a time.
One of the most critical things you can do is get enough sleep. Here, the "news fast" comes into play, because many people are staying up late, watching 24-hour news coverage. You may even be leaving the television on all night, with this coverage as background while you sleep, preventing you from actually getting deep, restorative sleep.
As a result of stress, many people experience sleep disruptions, including trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, waking early, or having nightmares. In order to help people address their need for sleep and sleep problems, and maximize the sleep they do get during these trying times, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) has some suggestions:
- Engage in a relaxing, non-alerting activity at bedtime such as reading or listening to music. For some people, soaking in a warm bath can be helpful. Avoid activities that are mentally or physically stimulating.
- Do not eat or drink too much before bedtime.
- Only get into bed when you're tired. If you don't fall asleep within 15 minutes, get out of bed, go to another room and engage in a relaxing activity such as reading. Return to your bed when you're sleepy.
- Create a sleep-promoting environment that is quiet, dark, cool and comfortable.
You can find more information about Katrina, as well as some places where you can help, at About's Katrina Coverage page.