How To Face Confinement In Solitude

Due to the (necessary) confinement that we are suffering from the coronavirus crisis, many people who live alone have been in their homes for weeks without being able to have direct contact with family, friends or co-workers. These extraordinary circumstances of social isolation can end up bringing some psychological problems added to the emotional trauma that we are all sharing.

The resilience of people and their more or less extroverted or introverted character, will mark the way of facing this confinement alone.

As human beings that we are, life in society is marked in our genetics as one of our basic traits that has prompted us to overcome the danger that other animals and hostile nature once posed for the survival of our species. Although we live alone, almost all of us seek to maintain direct contact with other human beings on a daily basis, so being suddenly deprived of this treatment can be very difficult to assimilate.

A psychological aggravating factor that increases stress and anxiety levels for all of us is that this confinement has not been sought. While it is true that we can understand and accept it without reluctance, for the common good, it is also true that we have not had the possibility to choose it for ourselves.

This decrease in our movements and our decision-making capacity has meant a very abrupt interruption of our usual life.

For many people who choose to live in solitude, but who are socially very active, confinement has meant an abrupt and involuntary cessation of all their social activities and all direct contact with another human being. Psychological problems may not take long to appear.

I would like to point out that this confinement in solitude has not only affected older people or adults who have decided to live in this way, but also, students or workers who live outside their homes of origin, single mothers (who have been deprived help from other adults), caregivers of dependents, etc. All these cases are at high psychological risk, due to loneliness.

Effects of isolation in solitude

These are the main emotional risks that this involuntary social isolation can carry.

• Sadness: The lack of social contact can lead to a dynamic of sadness and depressive symptoms that can be aggravated if this situation lasts a long time.
• Stress and anxiety: Loneliness, by itself, causes physical stress. We are not designed to live alone and, although we may not perceive it in the short term, our body begins to suffer symptoms of stress when we spend a lot of time isolated from other people.
• Sleep problems: changes in sleep patterns and a reduction in the number of hours of rest can occur.
• Monotony: Entering a repeated cycle of activities and routines, without having anyone to counterpoint us or help us get out of monotony, can also aggravate depressive symptoms.
• Physical problems: Loneliness maintained for a long time can increase the probability of cardiovascular problems or depress the immune system.

Ways to keep your mind active if you live alone

If you are confined to solitude, here are a few recommendations to try to stay active these days and in this way, be able to take care of your physical and emotional health.

• Breaking the monotony

One of the greatest dangers of confinement is that of abandoning ourselves to monotony and inactivity. We must set small daily goals such as studying a certain topic, reading a few pages of the book that interests us or dedicating time to creative activities such as practicing an instrument, painting, writing, etc. Meeting these small goals will give us encouragement to continue with the tasks the next day.

We must avoid at all costs falling into procrastination and laziness.

• Contact on-line

We can suffer physical loneliness, but it doesn’t have to be social loneliness. It is very healthy to keep in touch, as much as possible, with family and friends through an online connection. This may even be a good time to reconnect with those people you appreciate, but have not spoken to in a long time.

• Physical exercise

Sport is essential. Depending on the space you have at home, different activities can be scheduled. We have to set a goal of doing a small exercise routine a day.

• News diet

It is not convenient to be continuously aware of the latest news that emerge about the coronavirus. Yes, it is good to be informed daily, but it is not necessary to review the latest figures on deaths in each country every five minutes. It is not mentally healthy to remain anchored all day on the negative side of the situation.

• Humor

To counteract all the pain and sadness that surrounds us, we can cultivate a good mood, either with movies or videos that we like or by sharing anecdotes and jokes with friends (online). If we only see the negative side of quarantine, it will weigh on us more every day.

And, finally, this last tip is for those who know situations of people who live alone. Let us try, as far as possible, to keep in touch with them. It can be through the Internet, telephone or by looking out the window to talk to the neighbor.