Tips to best cope with a return to the office

Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

I am one of the many people who dread this time of the year as the clocks go back, the doom-ridden gong signalling an onslaught of long, dark nights and short, short spells of daylight. I really don’t know how they cope in Scandinavia with that round-the-clock darkness.

While so far there is only anecdotal evidence here among therapists and support groups about the impact of pandemic on our mental health, a survey in the UK by the Office for National Statistics has found adults have yet to fully recover from the effects of it.

The periodic Opinions and Lifestyle online survey asks participants to rate overall life satisfaction, happiness, life being worthwhile and anxiety.

The number of adults surveyed reporting depressive symptoms doubled for the year after lockdown kicked in, from around 10% to 20%. More than 18 months into the pandemic, estimated life satisfaction among British adults has yet to recover to its average score in February 2020.

Now, we are being asked to transition again and head back into the office. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays seem to be the most popular days for the hybriders judging by the shocking traffic.

The comedy trio Foil Arms and Hog had an excellent sketch about returning to the office last September capturing how Zoom calls, muted connections and those times where you forgot to turn off the camera had become a feature of work.

While nobody will miss those blasted virtual meetings, it’s clear it may not be easy adjusting our routines after so long at home.

It’s natural to feel anxiety around returning to a world post-Covid. For many of us, we’ve adjusted to a new, hectic routine. Now, we’re challenged to change again, returning to an environment that many of us feel apprehensive about.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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