Lockdown Anxiety and Technology

• Telemedicine can refer to the setup that allows workers in a large hospital to assist in emergency procedures from a distant support structure.
• Telehealth uses virtual interactions between individual doctors and patients. You may have a bad sore throat and download the telehealth app, where you will be connected to a physician who can examine you and prescribe medicine.

Fifty to seventy percent of visits to the doctor's office could be replaced by remote monitoring and checkups.

Telemedicine has been a hard sell in some areas.

• Many rural clinics and community hospitals fear that their already inadequate medical staffing and the revenues generated from on-site procedures will be further diminished by remote medicine.
• Old and poor patients who may need care the most can't afford smartphones or broadband connectivity.
• Until recently, many people were unaware that the service existed, while others didn't trust an anonymous doctor.
• Many people want to be in the physical presence of their physicians, believing the quality of virtual care is inferior.

Many consultants have headaches and nausea when they deal with stress and emotion. There are also times when there is nothing they can do, for example, provide beds, masks, and other needed supplies.

A psychological consultant advises that you should be aware of yourself, and distinguish which emotions are yours, which are the patients, and which are your empathy.

Consider unexpected risks associated with the response to the outbreak, for example, poor mental health that is related to social isolation. Steps to take into account:

• Staying connected with your social and family networks via technology
• Keeping your daily routines as much as possible
• Exercising regularly and practicing habits that you enjoy and find relaxing
• Seeking practical, credible information at specific times of the day.

If you can go outside, even for a walk around your home, make use of that. It is extremely important to get some sunlight absorption in your body, as it prevents depression and sluggishness while ensuring a healthy level of melatonin and serotonin in your brain.

Having a new routine can be refreshing for a few days but it gets hard to maintain it.

It is imperative that we stick to a routine, shower, and dress every day, preferably waking up early, and at the same time.

Among the most known telehealth services:

• patient portal: you have the possibility to keep track of your health record while being able to communicate securely with your
  doctor
• virtual doctor appointments: extremely useful for persons who do not need an in-person physical examination
• store and forward: this kind of service enables the electronic transmission of medical documents
• remote patient monitoring: it allows your doctor to monitor your health from the comfort of your home by using wearable devices
• mobile health: through mobile health applications, you can keep better track of your health.

Among the benefits of the telehealth:

• better access to medical care: especially for individuals with mobility issues or living far from a doctor
• improves care quality
• reduces care cost: you do not need to travel anymore
• increases patient's satisfaction: especially by saving time.

A handful of studies have been published on the efficacy of mindfulness apps, thanks in part to Headspace, one of the most popular apps in the field. In hopes of getting its app scientifically validated, the organization has partnered on more than 60 studies with 35 academic institutions. In the meantime, in lieu of research proving that apps work, marketers tend to draw misleading, but attractive claims.

Mindfulness disrupts unhelpful habits. If you get distracted easily or have addictions, mindfulness helps curb these habits. But, in contrast, apps become popular and profitable by getting users lightly addicted to repetitive use. So, can an app really treat addiction, or is it inherently part of the problem? As of now, we don’t know the answer to that question.

Technology, just like the mind, is a very good slave, but a bad master. The technologies by itself are life-giving and useful, but if we are spending the whole day on Twitter, fighting with whoever we don’t agree with, we are ruining our psychological health.

We tend to spiral into the news black hole for hours, but just looking at the front page of the New York Times or Washington Post once or twice a day should be enough.

Technology is neutral by itself, and how we use that tool matters. 

• An email is a great tool, which completely transformed how an office works, though it wasn’t designed for offices.
• Similarly, the Facebook Like button was designed as a shortcut to writing a good comment, but it unexpectedly turned out to be a tool to measure the popularity of a post.

Before the pandemic, only 4 percent of the US workforce worked from home at least half the time. However, the trend of working from home had been gaining momentum for years.

It is estimated that within a couple of years, 30% of people will work from home multiple days per week.

• Before the pandemic, a lot of company management and leaders were skeptical regarding remote work. But the skepticism will go away because companies recognize that remote work does work.
• The economic impact of the pandemic will likely force employers to cut costs. They may reduce their rent by letting workers work from home instead of layoffs.
• Employers had to spend money on new technology and equipment to work from home - a departure from the norm.
• Employees themselves are also spending more money to create better home offices.
  

Anxiety affects 18.1 percent of Americans each year and almost one-third of Americans over their lifetimes.

There might be many probable causes, for instance, social media or toxins. Or, we might be overdiagnosing anxiety. Either way, those who suffer from anxiety want a solution, and they are turning to digital therapists,  apps, and videos for relief. This makes the person who suffers from anxiety the most ideal consumer for this era's most marketable products.

The Fidget Cube became the 10th most funded project of all time. That was because of a few factors:

• The fidget spinner is a product that we can relate to because most of us feel the need to fidget.
• A well-produced satirical video went viral
• It was a novelty of an entirely new kind of product.

A perceived threat may activate the body's physiological "fight or flight" response, similar to what your body would do if you're near a tiger. Your heart starts racing and pumping blood, so your muscles have the fuel to run or fight. 

Panic attacks are relatively common. One in four Americans will have at least one panic attack in their lives. But the pandemic seems to be causing many people to suffer panic attacks within a short time.

The tightening of the chest and breathing difficulties are often confused for symptoms of the new virus.

Panic attacks come on suddenly and typically last only 15 to 20 minutes, while symptoms of the virus emerge over a few days. With the virus, you will also have other symptoms, like a fever and a cough.