The Social Side of a Pandemic
When running my medispa from 39 Harley Street, I am often interacting with clients on a day-to-day basis. As the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak took hold, I began to see higher and higher levels of anxiety rise within them. While myself and my staff of course exercise the appropriate health, safety and feasible social distancing protocols, we can still communicate with clients and see how they are doing. The younger ‘millennial’ generation client displayed these signs of anxiety and trepidation as the news and mainstream media edged public consciousness to think more and more about life going into ‘lockdown’ and the social side of a pandemic.
These feelings are understandably because most of this generation are social creatures and have never had to contend with this idea of ‘social distancing’ and essential isolation. As such, many younger people will not just suffer the physical side of this, but also the mental side which can bring with it a level of anxiety and paranoia to a degree. Feeding into this is the fact that many are conscious about losing their jobs (temporarily or otherwise) during these uncertain times.
One client for example was told by their job to simply go home until further notice. But as they live alone away from family, they are worried about their own mental health in this scenario and feel a loss of community as they are away from their working environment. It can be things like this that people take for granted – simple communication between colleagues and service providers for example which makes for a form of social communication that cannot be replicated when living alone.
We carried out a survey on our social media (where most of our followers are between the ages of nineteen to twenty-nine) and we asked them how COVID-19 was affecting them. 80% of respondents mentioned and alluded to feelings of anxiety, not wanting to be home alone and / or not knowing how to fill their time. Some even mentioned that they are comfort and even binge-eating to some extent as a way to pass the time and feel better from a familiar source.
Knowing all of the above, it makes sense to turn to the modern means that we have available today to maintain our health (both physical and mental) as best as possible. Some of these include staying connected with friends and family through social media, completing how workouts (of which many are available online) to keep active and even some aesthetic and pampering treatments that you can complete on yourself at home to treat yourself and feel good. In this vein of feeling good, social media is also showing us the beautiful side of humanity during these dark times. Have you seen the video of citizens on lockdown around the world all singing together on their balconies for example?
The resident doctor of Hannah London, Dr. Kaywaan, has also detailed tips on how to keep your immune system boosted during these times (and in general) with the social side of a pandemic. You can read his article titled ‘How to Give Your Immune System a Boost’ by clikcing / tapping here.
