A year into the Covid-19 pandemic and if you're not feeling quite yourself, there's a good reason why. Here are expert tips on how to recognise the red flags
It's been nearly one full year since much of the world declared a moratorium on leisure travel—closing borders, ordering local and regional lockdowns, cancelling flights, and docking cruise ships. And while, as humans, most of us have reluctantly adapted to the way we live now out of sheer necessity and care for the communities around us, if you've felt a sense of disquiet, growing feelings of anxiety and depression, or an emotional flatness that's hard to describe? You're not alone.
Because on top of the emotional weight and worldwide grief of the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting the behaviour of a highly mobile society—avid travellers, adventurers, day-trippers, city breakers, long weekenders—to a fully stay-at-home culture has reshaped our outlooks and reined in our horizons.
We talked to therapists, travel experts, and psychologists about how to recognise signs that social distancing and lockdown might be affecting your sense of wellbeing, when to seek help, and things to try at home to feel better. Here's what they said.
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Is cabin fever real?
"Cabin fever is an expression coined for people who are forced to stay in their homes for extended periods of time," says Iris Waichler, licensed clinical social worker at Choosing Therapy. "Add the additional layer of not being able to see people you are close too, imposed isolation from family and friends, and anxiety and depression are very real outcomes, not imagined. Also many people are having to work from home which creates an additional layer of isolation and change in what would be a normal routine outside of the home. People who have previous history of anxiety, depression, are at higher risk.
"Physical contact releases endorphins that create feelings of happiness," Waichler tells Tatler. "Being deprived of things that bring pleasure like a change of scenery, a change of weather, seeing friends or family who are both geographically local and farther away, reinforces negative emotions and can disrupt mood. An additional factor is the uncertainty created by the pandemic. We don't know when we will safely be able to travel which adds an additional layer of anxiety, isolation, and stress."
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Without travel, people can be left without a an outlet for stress
"There's a unique sense of freedom, thrill, and mystery that navigating through unfamiliar places provides, and it's those elements that make traveling a great habit for stress relief and improving wellbeing," says Yulia Saf, founder of Miss Tourist. "With the pandemic causing travel restrictions to be imposed, people's anxiety and depression rates spiking are absolutely warranted as most lifestyle habits that we all rely on, including leisure travel, to help manage our stress on a daily basis have become inaccessible to us. Not being able to travel definitely causes a psychological downfall, especially on frequent travelers and adventurers, as it's one of the few ways people can really reflect and gather themselves after this modern day and age's fast-paced life."