Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:
“I have been kindly invited to do an interview with Julie Belokurova of New Style Magazine, to get a sense of my top tips as we come out of lockdown, to support our mental and physical well-being for her audience of mostly Russian speakers
Whilst there is no doubt the past year of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns has been immensely difficult for many people and businesses (catastrophic for many) there are definitely people out there who have embraced the situation, to turn around their life and their health and well-being and are generally happier and healthier as a consequence.
The article below from Alice Thompson of The Times is an interesting perspective based on some recent surveys and research.
A useful concept that I discuss with my patients regularly, is understanding whether we have an internal locus of control or an external locus of control. This makes an enormous impact on how our bodies physiologically response to stress. Coupled with this, is understanding our own paradigms of the reality of the situation versus the way we would like things to be.
Let me give you an example, many patients present with physical symptoms hoping that there is either a simple physical cause or worrying about underlying disease process and often embark on a merry-go-round of seeing numerous clinicians both in the NHS and the private sector, if they are able to fund private treatment, undergoing numerous investigations to be told that there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong. Very often these problems can be caused by functional disturbance of which the brain, psychology and the nervous system can often be drivers of the ongoing symptoms. It is very common that patients find this difficult to accept, the way things are versus the way they would like things to be.
The COVID-19 situation is a good example, where if we let it (constant bombardment on the news, hospital numbers, cases of infection and sadly deaths, controversy over vaccines, feeds into a never-ending vicious circle of fear), leading to a dominance of an external locus of control, this is really detrimental to how the body and the mind work.
Those patients who are able to adopt a more internal locus of control (the things that are under their control, what they eat, how they breathe, how they relax, how they sleep, how they exercise, the thoughts they have, the positive ones and not allowing the negative ones to dominate), tend to end up being happier and healthier.
The aim of much of my intervention with my patients, as well as obviously providing expert diagnosis (yes there are diseases and medical problems that occur) and relevant treatment or management/referral for their particular problems, is often to see if I can help change their mindset to relieve the “stress” on their physiology.
However, for the general public, I think there will be useful strategies that they can adopt, to perhaps lose some of the bad habits that may have occurred during lockdown and to prepare their minds and bodies, for the hopefully increased freedom that we’re all looking forward to within the next few months.”
Alice Thomson
The Times
The truth is many of us loved lockdown
In marking a year of suffering its’ easy to overlook those who’ve grown happier and healthier in their restricted lives
I’ve spent the past year reporting on those who have been worst affected by the pandemic: the elderly in care homes, the bereaved, university students, GCSE and A-level pupils, NHS workers, those with cancer or long Covid, prisoners, the disabled, the obese, gambling addicts, restaurateurs, Olympians — even celebrities.
But there is a group of people who have actually become happier in the past 12 months and they aren’t the super-rich sunbathing in the Maldives. According to research published today by the Policy Institute at King’s College London (KCL) and Ipsos Mori, one in five believe their lives have improved since last March and they feel more content, while 54 per cent say they will miss some aspects of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter believe their finances are in better shape than they would have been if the pandemic hadn’t happened. One in eight people say their mental health has improved and 15 per cent claim their physical health has been enhanced as a result of the lockdowns. Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the study, admits: “What’s striking from the findings are the significant minorities for whom the last year turned out even better than a normal year.”
Meike Bartels, professor of genetics and wellbeing at the Free University Amsterdam, found similar results across Europe. She suggests the pandemic may have simplified many “stressed, busy, complicated” routines and that some adults realised “they didn’t live the life they liked”. The new optimists have embraced lockdown for many reasons. They are spread out across social class and geographical groups. Some feel guilty they have had such a good year; most say they don’t want to return to their old lives.
Brendan Burchell, a professor of social sciences at Cambridge University, who has also conducted research into happiness, says that some of the biggest winners appear to be among the third of British employees who have been furloughed but who now work one day a week or are volunteering. Some of the least happy are those still working full-time. His research is being used by the Treasury to work out how to ease people back into employment. But it may have more to do with workers being released from jobs they found unfulfilling, repetitive and dull. The anthropologist David Graeber argued in Bullshit Jobs: A Theory that half of modern employment is pointless and psychologically destructive because it contributes nothing beneficial to society.
Those who have been hailed for their role in keeping the country going are more content. Farmers feel a sense of renewed purpose feeding the nation, as do postmen and women by keeping us connected. Supermarket workers are recognised as key workers, care home staff and hospital porters are praised. Feeling valued is now acknowledged as crucial for contentment.
Introverts also appear happier now that everyone is living a similar lifestyle and there is no fear of missing out, while those who have seen an improvement in their physical health tend to be extroverts forced to curtail their partying. Nearly 75 per cent of us are spending more time with family or friends, and many feel closer to their neighbours and less competitive. They may have saved money on season tickets, restaurants and holidays and spent it instead on a dog, a bike, a bigger sofa or even a down payment for a home.
Commuting is known to lower people’s life satisfaction and increase anxiety levels, according to government statistics. A friend who regularly travelled abroad for work for a global charity says she never again wants to hear the sound of her wheelie case dragging across another hotel foyer. Most office employees have adjusted well to working from home and many have saved money: sales of egg cups have soared, while those of handbags have plummeted. Images of “Cottagecore” — pictures of picnics, stone cottages and daisy chains — score more highly on social media than Prada or Gucci. Millennials in their late twenties and thirties are leading the exodus to the countryside, with a third of first-timers buying outside cities.
Psychologists say the newly happy are more significant than those who have struggled with lockdowns because they show us how we can improve our lives. These people have enjoyed slowing down, seeing their families, learning hobbies, consuming less and becoming more flexible.
If the country is serious about wellbeing, we need to analyse the last year and see whether we can retain some of these positive aspects. Commuting is the most obvious habit that needs a rethink, when only 14 per cent want to return to offices full-time. Politicians in New Zealand are considering a four-day working week; in Japan they are looking at a three-day weekend. Even the investment bank Goldman Sachs is making a nod to the work-life balance, telling young analysts who complained of having to work 95 hours a week to take Saturdays off.
The government should reconsider huge transport infrastructure projects, such as the £2 billion Stonehenge tunnel, in favour of landscaping built-up areas. Rewilding has reached the cities. Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts charity, has suggested there could be extensive networks of wildbelt land to give urban dwellers a sense of tranquillity. People now want magnolias as much as McDonald’s, and lobby for garden centres to open before Greggs.
In the week we remember those who died from Covid it may seem strange to talk about happiness, but it’s vital to believe that humanity can ultimately benefit from this tragedy.