The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t just changed many lifestyles across the world, it’s also done some damage to our sense of time.
For those in quarantine or practicing serious social distancing, they are finding that days just seem to blur together and day and time don’t really matter. Our internal clocks are all over the board from thinking there’s no weekdays, or weekends, they’re all just yesterday and tomorrow. If you feel this way, turns out you’re not alone.
Experts say that the pandemic is affecting our cognitive health, meaning our ability to clearly think, learn, and remember. Much like our bodies depend on environmental cues, they rely on physical and social cues. Those cues are things like commutes, set mealtimes, weekly religious services, to help us keep track of what day it is. For everyone who is confined, those routines have largely disappeared. Since days have lost their usual structure, our lines have now blurred.
Most people are now finding themselves working from home, this means they are working longer hours or into the weekends so there is no longer a “work day.” And since we can’t attend happy hours, concerts, or sporting events, our weekends definitely don’t feel any different than our weekdays.
This loss of routine and stability in social cues to help our internal clocks decipher the day and time means that more mental energy is spent on determining what each day will consist of. Not only that, we seem to find ourselves multitasking more like homeschooling children, caring for extra family members all while working from home. Because of the overstimulation of constant activities, our mental resources are being used up a lot quicker.
In order to not let your internal clock go to the wayside, psychiatrists and psychologists recommend trying to maintain a sense of structure, taking frequent breaks, exercising, eating healthy, and limiting news consumption.
