Episode 16: Covid-19 - Wellness

As the COVID-19 pandemic rolls on, many around the world are still stuck indoors practicing social distancing. And while this may keep us safe from the virus, it can have a tremendous strain on our mental health and wellbeing. Today on the Agenda Podcast, we examine how the coronavirus has affected our hopes, fears and lockdown dreams.  

One of the UK&aposs most renowned anthropologists, University of Oxford professor Robin Dunbar, explains how understanding behavioral science can help slow the spread of the virus and why we need to maintain social bonds in lockdown to prevent our social connections “decaying[03:00].” 

We’re also joined by Dylan Selterman who explains why so many people have recently reported strange dreams – and what this says about their mental health. He explains how our dreams can illuminate issues in our everyday lives and what they tell us about who we are [09:23]. Selterman also explains how our dreams are trying to help us navigate the post-COVID-19 world [10:26]. 

On the positive side, we could be entering one of the most creative periods in human history.  According to Sandi Mann, author of The Upside of Downtime, the pandemic lockdown might lead to a creative renaissance – explaining how experiments she’s conducted in conditions resembling the current lockdown led to an increase in subjects’ problem-solving abilities [14:44].