If you’re itching for a change of scenery right now, you’re not alone. We’re a little over a year into the pandemic now, and being cooped up and far from favorite people and places is wearing skin-thin.
But as you take time off, don’t throw caution to the wind just yet, doctors say. Many people in the U.S. haven’t been vaccinated yet, and extra-contagious variants of the coronavirus are on the rise.
In this transition time, when lots of coronavirus is still circulating, even if you've been vaccinated it's best to limit the size of any get-together and take extra precautions (masks and physical distancing) around anyone who hasn't been immunized or is less than two-weeks out from full vaccination. In general, driving is still safer than flying (in terms of COVID-19) if you must travel, say infectious disease specialists -- partly to avoid airport crowding.
When you feel like your tank is nearly empty at work, it can be hard to keep going.
Burnout is more than emotional and physical exhaustion, the people who study it say. It has a twist of cynicism, too, “as you begin to switch from trying to do your very best all the time to do the bare minimum.”
Next, self-blame kicks in, notes research psychologist Christina Maslach of the University of California, Berkeley. You start thinking " 'What has gone wrong with me?' " Maslach says. " 'Why am I not good at this?' 'Why can't I handle it?' ” Recognizing the symptoms is a first step toward getting better.
Doctors have been seeing a significant spike in alcohol-related liver damage, recently, especially among young women -- starting with fatty liver disease and moving on to alcoholic hepatitis and the irreversible scarring of cirrhosis.
"I couldn't keep down any food," says Jessica Duenas, who was diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis in 2019, at age 34 -- the same year she was selected as her state’s “Teacher of the Year.” Though a gifted educator, her drinking had edged up gradually, until she was typically downing a liter of alcohol a night.
"My belly was supersensitive,” Duenas recalls. “Like if I pressed on certain parts of it, it would hurt a lot. My eyes were starting to get yellowish."
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