The latest research shows that rates of stress have skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic, and it is starting to affect our health. A big part of this is isolation, working from home, and disrupting our usual social activities, leaving us feeling disconnected and tired.
An online article published in Healthline on February 5, 2021, interviewed the service chief of a psychiatric hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Michael Young. In the interview, he stated, “Social connection is a fundamental source of well-being and renewal for most people, and the ongoing social restrictions from the pandemic continue to disrupt many of the well-established social routines.”
We, as humans, are social beings. We require interaction with others. The inability to do so increases the body’s natural stress response, amping up our nervous systems, leaving us feeling more vulnerable, increasing our pain.