Almost three months at home: what does that do to your brain?

It almost feels like the new normal actually feels normal now. Working from home suddenly goes very smoothly, and seeing friends less too.

Pretty strange, because before corona we were always busy and active. And we are currently three months further since the beginning of the quarantine. Yes, bizarre: three months. And what exactly does all that sitting at home do to your brain? According to experts, it's not too good. Because your memory would suffer from all the time spent at home. An experiment shows how important the social contact you have daily with colleagues and others you encounter actually is. Your memory worsens in that social isolation, and you also become more anxious, research shows.

But the remarkable thing is mainly: after months of social isolation, you actually have little desire for social interaction. You get used to the new normal of seeing few friends and having few social outings. You no longer miss those evenings in a restaurant, because, well, sitting on that couch is also quite fine. You get used to having fewer social contacts and appointments. For children, this is also a problem: they learn fewer social skills and collaborate less well. For the elderly, this kind of loneliness and having nothing to do leads to depression and a lower quality of life. It applies to everyone, to all of us. And if you isolate yourself, you would also produce more of the hormone cortisol, according to neurologists who research what effects that quarantine has on our mood. And cortisol causes a feeling of stress, a panic mode. So you are tense and you actually don't know why, because you are not rushed or busy or overwhelmed. It's the new normal, and we actually need to get rid of it as soon as possible.

And what I also notice: working from home leads to more work pressure. Because private and business life overlap, and that's quite nice and pleasant for a while, but after all those months, it's also confusing. When can I grab my laptop at home and when do I have to play mom with my children? When can dad work and when can mom? That idea. You are actually just doing whatever, but the work piles up. Both work and study stress as well as work pressure have increased since the crisis, researchers say. At least 40 percent of people indicate that working from home is not going well at all. not going well. Suddenly you find yourself typing with your toddler on your lap. I’ve been there.

What to do about all that misery? What is the wise lesson of today? Be social. So plan that walk with a nice friend, go have that coffee at 1.5 meters distance. And hop, to the terrace. You need it after all those months, experts say. And if you don't do it now, you will only isolate yourself more and more. According to neurobiologists, you should especially go drink that glass of wine in good company. And if they say it...

Source: EOS Science