Raise your hand if you have been checking the news more than usual in the last few days? It seems like following the news as it unfolds moment to moment is the new mindfulness. Follow the instructions: keep your attention on the news at all times; if you notice your mind wandering away from Corona — label your thoughts — thinking, planning, forgetting the crisis — and gently bring your attention back to the pandemic. There is a part of us that believes if we take our attention off it for a moment, our negligence might allow the virus in.

Epidemics, health crises, or any unexplained physical symptoms are an open door for anyone with a tendency towards anxiety, and the corona virus is quite probably the biggest health crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes. It is fast gathering epic proportions and the logical thing to do is worry about it. Or is it?

It certainly is adaptive to worry to a degree if it keeps our ears up and our body ready for action so that if we see or hear the slightest danger we can immediately run away or fight back. But to live in a state of readiness for action all the time is extremely detrimental to our bodies, souls and ultimately also our immune system — which is critical in these times.

While it is normal and adaptive to stay abreast of the news and the health ministries’ guidelines as they emerge, and to take all necessary recommended precautions such as hand washing and staying away from gatherings of people, it is not adaptive to desist from our regular activities, to stop our usual work or leisure pursuits because our attention is elsewhere.

So what can you do to prevent your anxiety from getting out of hand?

Here are some cognitive behavioral therapy suggestions if you feel like you can’t stop thinking about the spread of Corona:

• Limit your news checks to twice or three times a day, and only allow yourself five or ten minutes with the news each time.
• Choose a time of day to think about the virus and at that time make lists of things you need to get or do and/or write thoughts or worries in a journal.
• The rest of the day, if you find your mind wandering back to Corona, notice it and gently remind yourself to bring your attention back to the here and now — to your work, family, hobbies etc.

If you are feeling panic, sit in a comfortable position and bring your attention to your breath and your body. If you notice tension in your chest, belly or throat or elsewhere, place a hand there and direct your breathing to that spot. Allow yourself to regulate your breathing. As you breathe, remind yourself that, as Jon Kabat Zin the mindfulness and MBSR expert says, as long as you are breathing, in this moment there is more that is right with you than wrong with you.

• Remind yourself of your priorities, your values and what you want to accomplish today.
• Think of something you are grateful for.
• And go back to your tasks, your work, your life your family.

Anxiety is not adaptive, taking sensible precautions and being aware of the news is. And so is putting yourself and your mental health first.