They recommend taking a vacation or enjoying free time to fight stress – Telam

The need to reduce the daily stress of a pandemic and at the same time deal with work, household chores, caring for family members and other responsibilities, has led thousands of people to plan their holidays or to use their free time, situations which “always carry positive emotions”, since they are generally “sources of new experiences”, explain mental health specialists.

About two million people took advantage of the change of year on vacation challenge the potential dangers posed by a pandemic. Although for many “they are not a viable alternative”, especially at this time, they stressed their role and importance “in achieving physical and mental well-being”.

“It is clear that vacations allow most of us to reduce the daily stress associated with our work and family obligations. Vacations are supposed to induce or at least seek out positive emotions,” he said. María Roca, Deputy Operational Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neurology (Ineco).

For the specialist, go on vacation now “It brings us into new environments, which is important for brain health.”

One of the most popular vacation destinations was the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires, whose beaches were packed with tourists on the New Year’s long weekend because, according to sources from the Municipal Tourism Authority (Emtur), about 600111 visitors arrived, who were the ones who processed the summer certificate until January 2.

Ineco stressed that “there is strong scientific evidence that demonstrates the role of vacations”, and stressed that “if one cannot travel long distances, at least one can take those days off to have more time. time available and enjoy the sun, outdoor activities, physical exercise and the possibility of relating to other people“.

A recent study published by the University of Pennsylvania, USA, indicates that planning a trip “encourages optimism”.

Matthew Killingsworth, Wharton School Investigator at that university, he noted that “as human beings we spend a large part of our mental life living in the future. Our future mindset can make us happy when we know good things are to come, and traveling is a very good thing to look forward to. “

One of the reasons Killingsworth thinks planning a trip can be such a positive experience is because the trips are temporary.

“How do we know this a journey has a definite start and end, our minds tend to take advantage of it before it even starts, ”the scientist commented, adding that“ sometimes people prefer to delay positive experiences, like travel, in order to extend the anticipation period ”.

Another factor to consider when vacationing amid the pandemic is children’s mental health, which “can activate important areas of the cerebral limbic system, little stimulated in the routines of the house, which are activated by play, playful creativity and the search system”, according to a study by Ineco.

“Family vacation experiences activate these systems in a child’s brain, releasing and activating feel-good chemicals such as opioids, dopamine, and oxytocin. These chemicals reduce stress levels and activate warm, loving feelings, ”the report explains.

Andrea Abadi, Director of the Childhood and Youth Department of Cites Ineco, assured that after several months of classroom connectivity and activities inside the house, children must go out, play outside and connect, with the necessary care, with other children.

Neurologist Facundo Manes, stressed, for his part, that “there was a sudden increase in symptoms of anxiety at the start of the pandemic. Over time, symptoms of anxiety and depression prevailed.”

“We’re all exhausted because we’ve been doing things for months that we haven’t done before, like not being able to greet, tell. Stop cuddling and have other habits that we weren’t used to wearing out. “

“For this reason, angst and anxiety do not correlate with where there is a greater amount of the virus, but because other factors such as employment, family and economic issues influence “said Manes.

“Stopping cuddling and having other habits that we were not used to also wear us out“

Facundo Manes

For the specialist, “at the start of the pandemic, when we locked ourselves in, expectations were high, now these expectations are focused on the vaccine, but I believe we can definitely leave the pandemic behind in 2022, when we achieve collective immunity, we will therefore have to learn to live with the virus all this year. “

“This means that we will have to live with less fear, because fear paralyzes,” Manes concluded.