EHP FYI
Newsletter from Employee Health Promotions
March Edition 2021
Victory!
You don’t have to be the best.
You don’t have to win.
You only have to be yourself.
You only have to be real.
And speak from the heart.
And know that you have the right to see how you see,
and think how you think, and feel what you feel,
and desire what you desire.
You don’t have to be a success in the eyes of the world
and you don’t have to be an expert on living.
You only have to offer what you offer,
breathe how you breathe, make mistakes and
screw up and learn to love your stumbling and
say the wrong thing and stop worrying so much about impressing anyone
because in the end you only have to live with yourself
and joy is not given but found in the deepest
recesses of your being
so there can be joy in falling and joy in
making mistakes
and joy in making a fool of yourself and joy in
forgetting joy
and then holding yourself close as you crumble to
the ground
and weep out the old dreams.
Joy is closeness
with the one you love:
You.
You don’t have to be the best.
You really don’t have to win.
You only have to remember this intimacy with
the sky, the nearness of the mountains and feel the sun
warming your shoulders and the nape of your neck
and know that you are alive,
and that you are a success at being alive,
and that you have won already,
and you are victorious already,
without having to prove
a damn
thing.
To anyone.
This poem is excerpted from You Were Never Broken: Poems to Save Your Life by Jeff Foster.
COVID-19 Dreams? Here’s What They Mean
Those vivid, intense dreams may signal underlying anxiety. Whether the cause is stress related to working from home, wearing masks, lack of day care, or limited access to health care, COVID-19-related anxiety has spilled into nearly every aspect of our lives. Apparently, it has even invaded our dreams.
People are reporting strange, intense, colorful, and vivid dreams—and many are having disturbing nightmares related to COVID-19. But Christine Won, MD, a Yale Medicine sleep specialist, who has noticed an uptick in patients reporting recurrent or stressful dreams, provides reassurance that this is no cause for concern. “Nightmares and bad dreams, in general, have not been shown to be unhealthy,” she says. “Some think it’s a way for us to work out our daily stresses or preoccupations during the day.”
Susan Rubman, PhD, a Yale Medicine psychologist and sleep specialist, agrees, noting that these dreams and nightmares are surprisingly common. “People say they feel alone in having so many strange dreams, but it is a significant phenomenon, and it’s happening with some frequency during the pandemic,” she says. “It’s important to realize that this is part of human nature and to know you are not alone.”
What’s more, doctors aren’t surprised to hear reports of anxiety-related dreams about COVID-19. At least one small study after 9/11 showed a significant increase in something called “central image intensity”. The researchers concluded this arose from increased emotional arousal after the trauma. As the number of COVID-19 cases has increased, a Harvard researcher reports receiving thousands of responses to an online dream survey she created. These showed clusters of COVID-related dream content around specific topics, including fear of getting the virus, frustration over social distancing and sheltering at home, and forgetting to take steps to avoid the virus.
by Kathy Katella, published July 24, 2020 Yale Medicine
Please join the Employee Health Promotions team in the March 10K-A-Day trek to the South-Eastern Coast of Australia! If you aren't sure how to participate, contact your EHP Site Representative. If you are unsure who your site representative is, please check this list.