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I’M OVERWHELMED, exhausted, dazed, shattered, bushed… aren’t you? It feels like the flood of daily bad news has turned into a tsunami.
The Gupta emails (the gift that keeps on giving) just roll on and on and on and on… will we never plumb the depths of these mind-boggling revelations of sleaze and corruption?
Edward Zuma has just threatened us with a ‘series’ of letters ‘on his personal capacity’ (I wonder what makes him think his personal thoughts add anything substantial to the discourse?) which, on the first outing, it would seem will largely consist of red-button terminology like ‘white monopoly capital’ (a term dumped by the recent ANC policy meeting, you will remember) and colourful words like ‘revulsive’ and ‘vomit’.
Meanwhile, it seems that the offices of various prosecutors are on a list of ‘Premises To Be Robbed’, the Western Cape’s dams aren’t even a third full, and the crims have discovered a new wrinkle on hijacking which I certainly find terrifying, using acid instead of guns.
And across the world there are massive fires in France, unbelievable LGBTI prejudice surfacing at the highest level in the USA, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatening to bomb indigenous schools (to kill off would-be rebels, you see), over three million people facing starvation in Somalia alone; and a new study “casts doubt on humanity's ability to meet the Paris target of holding temperatures below 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels”.
It’s like slowly drowning in sewage, isn’t it? And what is it doing to us, each and every one of us gaping in dismay at the latest horror story unfolding on the little screen in our hands?
Violent, unpredictable and challenging environments often result in traumatic stress, so chances are a lot of us are being affected, mind and body – for example, researchers from the University of Stellenbosch recently found that “More than 20% of South African children have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and urgently need treatment”.
A paper by South African researchers, Chronic traumatic stress and chronic pain in the majority world: notes towards an integrative approach, Louise Frenke , Leslie Swartz and Jason Bantjes, published in Critical Public Health in April, outlines a different way of framing PTSD: continuous traumatic stress (CTS).
Never-ending roller-coaster of gobsmacking awfulness
Which sounds more like what we’re experiencing at the moment – a sort of never-ending roller-coaster of gobsmacking awfulness, spanning the macro- and the microcosm and seeping into every area of our lives.
CTS affects some people where there’s “pervasive and unpredictable danger”, where the threat is continuous and doesn’t go away; and in environments (ranging from refugee camps to inner city areas plagued by gang violence) where there’s a loss of control, a sense that the normal institutions such as policing systems aren’t working properly and can’t be relied upon.
I wonder how many of us adults and children have this condition at some low level?
Stress has physical impacts as well as mental. Even before the last couple of incredible years, during which the pace of the insults to our minds, bodies and hearts has quickened so much, South Africa was showing an increased incidence of a number of stress-related non-communicable diseases.
Heart disease, of course, we all know about that; but did you know that weight gain and Type 2 diabetes are also strongly linked to stress? The link comes via cortisol, one of our stress hormones, perfectly evolved to get us ready for an instant fight-or-flight response, but bad for us when it’s being pumped out constantly, as happens in continuous stressful states.
What can we do about it? Apart from changing the whole damn system, we can look after ourselves (a healthy revolutionary is far more likely to succeed, after all).
First port of call is exercise. “Exercise is a very effective way of coping with stress,” says Dr Ina Diener, president of the South African Society of Physiotherapy. Just don’t be hyper about it – getting OCD about targets can be a stressor in itself.
Get out into nature and walk, run, cycle, amble… there’s a huge body of research showing that exercising in touch with open spaces, a bit of greenery and fresh air is very good for mind and body.
Do all the things the magazine articles suggest – deep breathing, cutting down on caffeine and smoking and alcohol, get eight hours’ sleep. Eat real foods. Foods that don’t really need the support of advertising, stuff that comes in the packaging nature gave it. And eat with other people, lovely leisurely meals which you can enjoy.
But mostly… take back control. Get involved. Help someone (always the best cure for the blues – do something for someone else; in South Africa there’s always an opportunity to help within spitting distance). Find your cojones (business people, clergy, schlebs, I’m speaking to you!) Speak up. Find a cause and fight for it. “Get on your feet/Get up and make it happen/Get on your feet/Stand up and take some action!”
This is our country and our planet. We are the people. We can lie down and wait for disaster; or we can assert our rights to health, dignity, integrity and a green, living and liveable world. See you at the barricades, dear fellow South Africans!
* Mandi Smallhorne is a versatile journalist and editor. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter.
