Now that its day who-even-knows-anymore in the coronavirus pandemic , and the initial shock of it all is starting to wear off, you might find yourself distracted by a barrage of mental and physical symptoms that werent as prominent back when panic-induced toilet-paper hoarding was hogging your attention.

This is because the prolonged levels of anxiety weve been enduring the last few months are straight-up wearing us down.

The early optimism and community support begins to erode as the mind and body struggle to manage the persistent stress and sense of being out of control, said Kimberly Johnson , an assistant professor of clinical mental health counseling at Touro College in Bay Shore, New York. Couple this with feelings of grief, both tangible and intangible, and people have less resources with which to deal with life.

Much of what were feeling, both emotionally and physically, are normal responses to an abnormal event, Johnson added. But the prolonged effects can be damaging if were not aware of them and make an effort to mitigate them (translation: self-care).

To make changes, it can be helpful to understand how the body particularly the brain responds to stress and change. Heres what you should know.

Uncertainty Activates The Fight-Or-Flight Response

The pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders are things none of us have experienced before, so the brain doesnt have data from past experiences that it can draw from to make informed decisions.

Uncertainty is a major trigger of stress that can boil over into clinically significant levels of anxiety, said David A. Merrill , a psychiatrist and director of the Pacific Brain Health Center at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute.

Uncertainty activates the autonomic nervous systems fight-or-flight response , which prepares the body to fight a threat or flee from one. Once that threat is dealt with, the mind and body go back to their regularly scheduled programming.

But COVID-19 isnt a temporary threat at least not right now. So the ongoing stress, anxiety and worry (Am I washing my hands enough? Cleaning surfaces enough? Going out too much?) have sent the fight-or-flight response into overdrive.

Stress Can Make It Hard To Concentrate

Chronic stress leaves the brain swimming in the hormone cortisol, which research suggests can disrupt the functions of the prefrontal cortex the area of the brain responsible for attention span, decision-making, problem-solving and emotion regulation. Cue brain fog, apathy, indecisiveness and mood swings.