While the Coronavirus outbreak forced many countries to impose lockdown measures confining many people indoors, NASA astronautScott Kelly, who had spent 340 days in space, recently revealed details about the strategies to follow while in isolation.
It should be noted that the 56-year-old Scott Kelly, who was also paired with his brother Mark Kelly in NASA's Twin study recently, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times offering insight from his time on the International Space Station. He described how he'd dealt with loneliness during his time in the space station while working in a lab orbiting 250 miles above Earth.
As billions of people are currently living in isolation due to the Coronavirus outbreak, he talks about three major strategies which would be helpful for many.
Schedule for the day
Keeping yourself away from the usual life is difficult. In such cases, people can fix a schedule which will include a consistent sleep schedule as well as beginning and ending time of work. Kelly said, "When you are living and working in the same place for days on end, work can have a way of taking over everything if you let it." The astronaut advised that people can do their work but there should be a particular time when they should stop working.
Adoption of a new hobby
During the lockdown when all the social events are cancelled and there is no place to go, people need to cover the extra time while engaging themselves in some creative work, which is good for the brain, health and the productivity.
The NASA astronaut Kelly had taken books with him to ISS. He said, "The quiet and absorption you can find in a physical book — one that doesn't ping you with notifications or tempt you to open a new tab — is priceless." He encourages people to support independent bookstores, many of which have online stores as well as local delivery systems. People can also learn to play an instrument, enroll in an online class or learn the basics of a new language.
Video chatting with friends and family
Since the World Health Organization has asked people to follow physical distancing measures during the COVID-19 outbreak, it will be the best idea to have a video conversation with family and loved ones. In this case, Kelly said, "Even with all the responsibilities of serving as commander of a space station, I never missed the chance to have a video conference with family and friends."
Even earlier, during the Mothers' Day in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked people to stay at home and not to visit their mothers. He also advised that everyone can call their mothers via Skype and wish them and later, he made a Skype call to his mother on the day.
