Focus on small tasks may help alleviate stress: Experts

Kolkata: A couple of years ago, the former First Lady of the US, Michelle Obama, had spoken about taking up knitting as a hobby and how it helped manage her stress levels and stay calm, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Calling the activity ‘a release', Michelle once said in a social media post that during the peak of the pandemic, when everything felt so bleak, the act of stitching, purling, casting on and off is how she kept anxiety at bay. "It's the idea that narrowing your focus into a small and seemingly insignificant task can remind us of our own agency. It shows us our own ability to build, create and succeed. I truly believe that when you know you are capable of small tasks, it makes the bigger ones feel easier.

In this case, every small stitch builds into a bigger purpose," she added.If one were to look at it from a mental health perspective, how much can small and insignificant tasks help to manage anxiety? Prachi Rathi, a therapist with nearly eight years of experience, said a person first needs to identify the activity they connect to the most. "I first need to identify what helps me stay calm, which is that one task that requires me to focus on one thing only.

If you search online for measures to stay calm, meditation will be one of the top suggestions.

While that definitely helps, not everyone may be able to meditate in a quiet room every day," she said.In such cases, activities that encourage mindfulness by requiring focused attention on the present can help. Knitting and gardening, for instance, fall in that category. "These tasks can be meditative," Rathi said, adding, "The idea is to connect with oneself.

Thanks to smartphones, we are constantly connected to the outside world and social media is continuously feeding us with the latest trends in fashion, food and whatnot.

But given how social media works, what is trendy today, may not be so a few months later. Clients have often told me that keeping up with such trends just to fit in with their peer group is stressful. That's why it is important to disconnect from the outside world from time to time and connect with oneself by taking up meaningful hobbies/activities that require consistency and bring you joy."

While daily habits can impact one's mental health, experts also pointed out that a therapeutic activity is helpful for those feeling anxious. "Those diagnosed with an anxiety disorder require medication and other forms of treatment. Such patients experience physiological symptoms like an increased heart rate, for instance. But there is also another form of anxiety, which is psychological, when a person has negative thoughts, especially about the future, and that constant worrying is making him/her stressed and anxious.

In such cases, daily activities play a big role in managing our emotions," Dr S K Padhy, a psychiatrist at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, said."What we need to keep in mind is that not everyone who is feeling anxious has an anxiety disorder. Nowadays we often use the word ‘anxiety' very loosely. I have had clients coming to me complaining of suffering from anxiety because they are worried about their child's future. They are actually feeling anxious and in such cases, meditative activities can help them feel more at ease," Rathi added.