9. The Psychology of Lockdown - a quick check-in and tips and tricks ✨
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I just got back from the most glorious trip to Bali with my mom. It's so funny that the older we get, the less quality time we actually get to spend with our parents, which is why I felt so lucky to be able to spend hours by the pool with her in our Airbnb, tucked away below the rice fields doing yoga every day, eating the best Indonesian food I've ever had.

cooked by our Airbnb host. It was the most glorious trip and we made memories that are going to last the rest of my life. And it was even better having our own private space just for us rather than a hotel. Tucked away, we really got to enjoy all the serenity that Bali had to offer. Thanks in part to our beautiful Airbnb.

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Hello and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the very unprofessional podcast whereby I talk through some of the big changes and transition of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. Hi, how are we all? Are we managing, struggling, coping? Let's start with a little check-in moment.

because times are kind of depressing right now and very isolating being in lockdown as I'm fairly sure most of us are at the moment. So how are you feeling? Really though, how are you feeling? What's your body telling you you need right now? Maybe it's a nap, some social connection, a case of beers, maybe something creative, some water. Actually that's something I've realised being in lockdown. I do not drink like any water, none.

Because now I'm not at the office and using the kitchen as like an excuse to get up every 10 minutes. But yeah, in all seriousness. Pause this episode for a bit. I promise it's not that good. Just do a little check-in with your body. Go get some water. Go drink some water. Give your body what she wants. Are we all back now? Hydrated? Happier? Good. Let's get into it.

Um, I really didn't know what to record this week. I had a bunch of episodes planned around internalized misogyny, friendship breakups, which I put on my Instagram story, dating apps, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, it all just seemed a little bit trivial. And they're also episodes I want to give a bit more thought and research into. And I kind of hit the lockdown depression wall pretty hard these past three days. So let's be honest, I'm not really up for

I'm researching like a 30 minute episode on like friendship breakups right now. I feel like that would just be a little bit too much. So sorry to disappoint. But I'm sure a few of you are in the same boat. For Canberra, it's been about three weeks since I last got to hug my beautiful friends and exist beyond this pattern of work and uni, walks around the neighborhood, half a bottle of wine at the end of the night. Yeah.

And I just miss humans being messy and attractive and weird and funny. And Zoom just does not do people justice, especially the beautiful people in my life. You know, their souls are just, they're too big for Zoom. They're too big. So I thought for this week, we could actually address, you know, a very current moment in time topic.

Let's talk about lockdown and the psychology behind why lockdowns have such a profound influence on our mental health. As much as it sucks, I do feel very lucky compared to those who live alone. At least I have people around me, which is really lovely. But my housemates do not give me nearly enough hugs because their love language is not physical affection, but mine is. So Oscar, Ariana, if you're listening...

Please don't let me wilt up and die alone in my room.

watching Mind Haunters. Please give me a hug. I need it at this point. But this is a shorter episode because I really just wanted to talk about some mental health tips for lockdown, going a little bit deeper than self-care and just have a little chat while we examine how to reconnect with yourself in a time that feels really disconnected. I'm also just really fucking tired. So maybe the length of this episode can serve as a lesson.

that it's important to give ourselves, you know, a little bit of space and be extra patient around what we're capable of doing during these times. So I read this excellent article recently on the impact of lockdown on our mental health, and I think it really sums up the thought and emotional patterns I'm sure heaps of us are going through. So

Essentially, COVID lockdowns are the world's biggest and most profound psychological experiment like ever. So since COVID emerged, 5.5 billion people have entered some form of lockdown. And we already have all these studies and papers being released about the impacts on people mentally and emotionally.

And in short, and perhaps unsurprisingly, people who are quarantined, you're very likely to develop a wide range of symptoms of just psychological stress, low mood, insomnia, stress, irritability, emotional exhaustion, depression as well. And even post-traumatic stress symptoms, um,

Yeah, but low mood and irritability specifically, they stand out as being super common was one study that I was reading said. And I think reasons for stress are just so abound in lockdown. There's risk of infection, there's a fear of becoming sick or losing loved ones.

financial hardship, being isolated from people and all of these many more as well. They're present in this current pandemic. And I think what will be really interesting to see is the long term effects of this psychologically, especially perhaps even some form of generational trauma could kind of come out of this because it is something that very few generations have experienced to this magnitude. And I'm not at all saying that this is any sort of argument against lockdowns because I'm not an idiot.

But I do think that context is important to be able to understand what we can do individually at the moment to keep ourselves sane. So trauma psychologists have broken down a typical pattern of response or individual phases in response to a disaster or something unexpected like a lockdown. And these stages, most people move through them when confronted with something that kind of alters the norm. So here's the thing, even if it's your second, third, seventh,

seventh lockdown these phases are still pretty much the same even with fatigue and formative learning due to the experience of previous lockdowns so this model that research has proposed so when we first lock down when it when it first begins we have this initial adaptational response we might feel hyper focused and prepared but

However, as time kind of progresses, the impact is finally really delivered, which is often accompanied by that peak in stress, angst, panic. I'm sure we've all been there. And this is when we are really confronted with essentially the reality of the situation. But luckily, as the days go by, we soon enter this like honeymoon phase is what the researchers call it, where we feel almost more comfortable in this situation.

We feel we can anticipate what's coming next. We feel more settled. Perhaps we even feel happier with thinking about all the things that we wanted to do that we can now do in lockdown. Maybe you're doing heaps of baking, heaps of drinking, whatever it is. You feel almost like it's a bit of a blessing. But we do drop off back from there. And at one point, we'll just hit like an equilibrium where it feels that nothing's changed. We kind of do get that sense of comfort. But as our anxiety declines...

and that adaptational response drops off, we do experience a growing disillusionment or numbness. So this increases with time and although we may see engaged community and individual adaptation to the circumstances,

As time does pass, as we go through more weeks of being by ourselves or being in quarantine, things shift and people undergo a psychological transformation away from shock and action to a stillness, but also an emptiness as well. This is for what?

you know, for many, I'm sure, what lockdown kind of feels like. This roller coaster of stress to elation, to stillness, numbness, stagnation, especially as the novelty wears off and reality kind of sinks in. So there's this idea that a lockdown or quarantine consists of six stages for someone internally. So stage one, we've got that initial action and planning.

where it's just been announced and you're thinking about all the groceries you need to buy, you're thinking about all the things that you need to organize. And it's kind of like this survival mode where we're like, we have to get everything ready for this big change. And then we hit stage two and it's kind of keep calm, carry on,

Let's just get through this. A lot of unknowns. And then stage three. So stage three is kind of like that honeymoon phase that these trauma psychologists thought of. So it's a sense of elation, often associated with like a productivity frenzy. You know, you're just throwing yourself into new projects, throwing yourself into uni and work, exercising heaps. And then we hit stage four, which is that paralysis and anxiety I was talking about. And then stage five. So slowing down.

Kind of getting into the groove of it. You know, you've had time to adjust to this. You feel that you kind of are capable of understanding what's going. And then we have stage six, which I'm sure a lot of us are in now, which is just numbness and the new kind of normal. Like some people call it like a lump mode, just like boredom, stagnation.

kind of not having anything going on. And burnout is also a really big part of this as well. So yeah, I can definitely relate to this right now. I think I kind of switched between stage six and stage four, especially stage six at the moment. I have felt so burnt out recently. I'm not sure how many other people have felt this way, but I just like cannot motivate myself at all. I just feel really tired and just move periodically from my desk to

to my bed, to my phone, to my kitchen, you know, for another cup of green tea that I'm kind of hoping will simultaneously calm me down and motivate me. So I'm just a bit confused by the point of existing at the moment, but it was really useful to kind of read that this is a normal pattern of

That we tend to go through when we're confronted with something like a lockdown or like a disaster. And a burnout is a big thing to watch out for in this time. Especially after that period of heightened anxiety and adapting to a new normal. Moving away from...

getting stimulation from going out to bars and seeing people and having activities to do. It's a hard adjustment and it does place a lot of pressure on our coping mechanisms and our nervous system as well. So burnout, it's like I said, really something to look out for in this time and make sure you're checking in with yourself. It often looks like mental exhaustion, anxiety,

really irritable, reduce concentration, detachment and decrease satisfaction with your accomplishments. It can also make it harder to get things done, which I've been seeing a lot within myself at the moment. And a big contributing factor to burnout, I've been feeling at least, is this lack of distinction between my personal and

and my home life, my leisure, relaxing space, and then work and uni as well. There is just no separation between work and the times when I'm just relaxing or doing my hobbies or other things. You only have the space your home allows you to kind of create. And that necessary separation of your work life, especially working from home,

and your socialising life or your relaxation time, it's really hard in your 20s, especially when we live in small share houses or apartments with roommates. It's just really fucking hard. So I'll find myself using my room for everything, which makes it really hard to switch off firstly, but also really hard to switch on when I have to do tasks or accomplish things that are work-related. Like I said, productivity has definitely taken...

huge nose dive but a really interesting research paper I read on this however offered some really good suggestions for creating distinction between different activities in your mind whilst you are unable to create physically distinct places or go anywhere so like the office or the library as

Essentially what the researchers in this paper I read suggested you do is create different stations around your house or your living space that are uniquely associated with one task or activity that you do on a daily basis. So for example, your desk is for uni work and uni work only. The dining table is for paid work, I guess.

Your bed is for rest and the couch is for TV and you cannot do any other task in the station that you've associated with one other or the universe just explodes. That's the lesson. You have to keep them distinct. And this is a really good method, separating your space. It's really good for increasing productivity and giving some form of routine and nuance to the hours in your day.

And I did try this. It did really help for a while, but then it got really rainy and cold outside. And you know, sometimes you just want to watch your lectures in bed. But if you have the space and the discipline, I would definitely recommend there is evidence behind this really helping creating those little stations. And I'm sure we've all heard this before, but creating structure around your days, daily rituals, a specific wake-up time, that one's really crucial.

a time when you exercise, when you eat your meals and go to bed. It's really helpful for establishing normalcy and getting your mind off of what else is going on. And I know it's a lot harder than we make it out to be because there is nothing else kind of enforcing a structure upon you. But I think eventually a lockdown ends and you've got to be able to move back into everyday life. So trying to keep up as many of those habits as you can is really helpful in the long term.

The other thing I really stand by is planning pleasurable activities. So this is a behavioural strategy that's often used for managing depression. So it's called pleasant activity scheduling and it really helps boost your mood, especially at times when it's really difficult to find things to plan for or to, you know, there's not much to look forward to because things are just so uncertain.

Essentially, as I'm sure you can guess, it involves periodically planning things that you enjoy at different intervals. So, you know, on Monday, I assume my friends. On Tuesday, I order Uber Eats. On Wednesday, I paint something or something along those lines. And it's a form of behavioral activation that allows you to feel more in control of your mood by giving you a pick-me-up at scheduled times to keep your happiness high.

which we do love. We love to see that. I think another really hard part of lockdowns and quarantine in general is that there is very little that can replace human connection. I will be honest, I have spent a large amount of time looking at the RSPCA website thinking this would be a great time to adopt a cat. That is a delusional thought. I do not need to adopt a cat, but it does show that we do need some form of

simulation or connection to other living creatures. When we're deprived of human interactions, our brain literally loses white matter. In lab animals, for example, I remember this is a really common study that you learn about in many psychology courses.

basically experiment as they isolate lab rats or lab animals and that isolation is shown to cause brain shrinkage and it can lead to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in these animals so it's imperative that we keep up those social ties keep reaching out keep trying to do things and if you are feeling deprived of touch or connection

This is kind of sad, but a really good strategy I've found is to clasp your hands together and close your eyes. It is a proven psychological method for imitating human touch. And, you know, sometimes a girl has to do it. You know, I want to hold someone's hand. It may as well be my own.

And we do hear those basic strategies of, you know, calling a friend, reaching out, but sometimes it is human touch that we really do need. And a warm shower is also really useful. Dancing as well, it allows us to feel more connected with our bodies in a way that we so often look to human touch or sex for. So dancing, feeling like the movement in your body, feeling connected to your limbs, it's a really great way to feel attached to the physical present and your physical form.

Finally, if you're feeling super stressed or panicky as is so understandable at this time, there are some really helpful things that you can do when you're alone and you can't really reach out to others. Firstly, I heard this tip ages ago, but eat a meal or eat something. So eating helps calm the nervous system because it activates our digestive system, which is one of the first systems our brain shuts down in moments of panic.

So essentially by eating and putting something in your stomach, you're communicating with your nervous system this message that, you know, if we were stressed...

we wouldn't be eating. And if we're in danger, you know, we wouldn't be snacking on almonds because we'd be fleeing. So it tricks the brain into calming down by kind of using this form of biofeedback, whereby you're able to control these biological flight or fight mechanisms by telling your body there's really nothing to worry about.

And just some more basic examples. I'm sure you can look these up on the internet, but if you're listening, maybe this is helpful. So breathing exercises, vigorous exercise, or finally putting something really cold on your wrists or going outside in the cold. This helps cool you down, but it also diverts blood back into your brain and back into your heart and centralizes you a bit more.

Okay, like I said, this episode is all over the place. This was just kind of a rollercoaster of strategies. But I think we way too often find ourselves talking about self-care, which is great. You know, sure. Self-care is kind of lauded as this huge mental health antidote. But it's really not a full solution. You know, doing a face mask is great. It's nice. But it's not really going to quell the psychological trauma of going through a pandemic. Okay.

I don't know any company that makes a good enough face mask for that. But bigger habits and strategies, they do need to be established. So hopefully this is somewhat useful. This is just kind of what I've been learning, what I've been seeing in myself. I also just feel like this was kind of like a rundown that I needed to be like, yes, a reminder. We can get through this. Our brain is something that we're not at the whims of. We can control how our body reacts to stressful situations. And this is a really...

shitty time. Been watching a lot of Mindhunters, which hasn't really helped but is a really good show if you want to add something onto the watch list on Netflix. What else have I been doing? Spending a lot of money at the IGA. Just buying like, done stuff, like chocolate mousse and sushi. Not really sure how essential those are, but there's really only so many times you can eat the same HelloFresh meals, I think.

Before you get kind of tired of like chicken and potatoes and dill mayo. And if you have HelloFresh, you know what I'm talking about. The fucking dill mayo. You know. You know what I'm talking about. But we will get through this. I say very unconvincingly. We can get through this. And in all honesty, I'm wishing you all godspeed. This podcast has been such a lifeline for me. So thanks for all the support and love. And I'm giving it right back. And look, you can hear it raining. Because I am recording this in my car.

how nice look at that the rain's coming out might go have a nap it's very calming and uh yeah stay covid safe take care of yourselves i promise next week i will have a more interesting episode rather than just me rambling about self-care and coping strategies that i'm sure we all know but if you found it useful yeah that's the only thing and i found it useful for myself so take care of yourself stay covid safe

Connect with friends. There's so much love out there. And I'll be back next week with an episode that is, I promise you, a bit more exciting. Did you know that dairy works wonders for gut health and that when your gut is healthy, your body and your mind feel it too? Fermented dairy foods like yogurt and kefir can deliver probiotics that benefit the gut microbiome. Plus, eating them can help you feel satisfied and balanced.

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One of my most treasured pieces of jewellery is a Pandora ring from my mum. To this day it is a staple, it is a part of every single outfit I wear and I never take it off.

Pandora has such a beautiful variety of rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and charms, meaning that there are endless ways to show your individual style and personality. They're also expertly crafted and their classic designs means that each piece lasts the test of time and you will never want to take it off. Treat yourself or someone you love to a Pandora gift that shines from within. Shop Pandora jewelry today. Find a store near you or shop online at Pandora.net.