Expert advice: how to prepare for emergency situations without stress and anxiety | Life

He knows he needs to prepare, but he doesn’t

As Donatas Gurevičius, civil safety specialist of the Fire Protection and Rescue Department (PAGD), who visited the 15min studio, explains that a part of the population does not feel prepared for various emergency situations, which became especially evident after the start of Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine. At that time, many anxious appeals were received, and what should be done in the event of such an accident.

At the moment, according to the expert, residents already have more information, they know that they need to be prepared in advance for a possible emergency. And it doesn’t have to be a war – we may have to evacuate suddenly, for example, because of a fire, and stay at home for a longer time because of a snowstorm.

Despite this, says D. Gurevičius, some people, even knowing these things, choose not to do anything.

“Apparently, there are some psychological things here that need to be opened up and see why a person does not approach that risk, why he does not consider that worst-case scenario. You don’t even need to consider the same worst case scenario – disasters, whatever they may be, can happen here and now,” asserts the PAGD representative.

As Emilija Grigaliūnienė, a psychologist at the Management Security Service, notes, preparing for an emergency can in itself cause stress. Therefore, to avoid additional stress, a person may choose to ignore the potential risk, especially if it does not seem really likely.

However, the psychologist continues, in order to properly prepare, it is best to act in advance, when nothing has happened yet. Even if the preparation is stressful, it’s better to feel it now, but be more confident when the day X comes.

“When we are stressed, our body starts to work in a special way, our attention and memory work in a completely different way. Well, for example, the muscles receive a huge amount of energy, we are ready to run, exercise widely. When sirens are wailing, it can be very difficult to collect small, important items and documents from different rooms. Because of this, it is very valuable to use the time while it is calm, before that extreme situation has yet occurred”, says E. Grigaliūnienė.

It is important to strengthen psychological resilience

According to PAGD civil safety specialist D. Gurevičius, the first advice on how to prepare for a possible disaster is to have food and water supplies for a longer stay at home, and a departure bag for leaving home.

“Let’s develop in our families, among our loved ones, the skill to evacuate quickly. Let’s have a departure bag, let’s see what goes in it. It is necessary to discuss which of the family members will grab the departure bag. I work at one workplace, the children are at another, how will we behave, who will pick up the children, will they stay at school. You need to discuss and find those answers, no matter how difficult the topic. The more a person knows how to behave, what scenarios and recommendations are possible, the better,” the expert assures.

In order not to overburden ourselves psychologically, E. Grigaliūnienė, a psychologist at the Management Security Service, would advise packing the departure bag little by little, and not all at once.

“It’s important to remember that there’s nothing in that bag that you don’t essentially need on a daily basis.” It is not something very big and new that we have to buy. You just need to think about yourself, your loved ones, make sure that you have all the necessary medicines. You can divide that bag layer by layer, pocket by pocket, and in the long run that very big thing will become lighter,” advises the specialist.

Speaking about preparing for possible disasters, the interviewer emphasizes that it is important to strengthen our psychological resilience every day, to accumulate positive energy by relying on activities we enjoy.

“Probably one of those key things is being here and now. When we think of an emergency, we think about the future. If the future is undefined, unclear, still associated with danger, anxiety and fear naturally arise. And when we come to the here and now, we see what we can actually do.

This is a practical advice to do things that we are good at, activities that are familiar to us, where we feel mastery, because that feeling of mastery is always uplifting. But it is also important to try new activities and plan new things. Now it is spring, we are going to the gardens, maybe a new variety of potatoes can be planted. This is also such a charging and strengthening thing,” E. Grigaliūnienė teaches.

According to the psychologist of the Management Protection Service, when stress arises, it is very important to talk to your family and friends and not accumulate tension. When anxiety strikes, the specialist would not recommend alcohol as a quick way to calm down.

“Alcohol seems to be calming in the here and now, perhaps making us more drowsy, but it can cause long-term damage and disrupt sleep quality.” Although it seems that we fall asleep very easily, in the long run, the rest, the recovery that we normally get during sleep, may be a little worse,” says the interviewer.