The bell rang on the seventh round of The Senses Vs COVID and the crowd went wild with frustration. COVID, coming from behind, upset Smell in the third round, all but wiping him out. Taste rebounded in the fourth as restaurants closed and home chefs produced masterpieces. Waistlines grew broader in the fifth, causing Sight to lose her footing when her eyes closed to what was happening. Sound made up for sight’s loss, soothing spectators with the chirping of birds and awakening them to the banging of pots to thank healthcare workers. A mounting rumble of sadness is causing COVID to turn Touch into the biggest loser of the day by making the fight a no-contact sport. Tension is mounting, friends, as the referee tries to balance sanity with madness from sense starvation before the end of the match.
The Senses Vs Covid
SMELL: COVID-19 plays havoc with our senses. Eighty percent of people who test positive complain of smell or taste lost. The first symptom they notice is loss of smell, but because taste is connected, it soon follows. Recent studies show that those who experience smell dysfunction usually have a milder case than those with severe respiratory infections that include congestion, drainage and other nasal symptoms. Doctors believe the primary reason for loss of smell is an inflammatory reaction inside the nose leading to loss of olfactory neurons. For quite a few victims, the loss is permanent.
TASTE: The pandemic instigated a lot more home cooking. Not only do people feel unsafe going to restaurants, they work from home longer and don’t stop for meals on their commute. For many, financial concerns are an added reason to dine at home. According to the New York Times, home chefs, feeling more confident of their abilities in the kitchen, are now making more complex dishes. They are cooking gourmet sources and clearing our spice racks in super markets to do so. Spicy sauces and dishes of all kinds have increased substantially. Taste buds have become more discerning with retailers taking advantage of the change offering round the world adventurous flavors.
SIGHT: The visual arts play a role in keeping people sane during COVID. A recent survey by the CDC revealed that anxiety and depressive disorders in the US increased considerably since last spring. During periods when we can’t see friends and family, art can reduce stress and help people process the heaviness they feel. According to art therapist, Tammy Shella, the verbal and visual sides of the brain take two different paths. People with PTSD (a side affect of COVID for some) are triggered by sights, smells, colors and sounds reminding them of the trauma. Talking therapy doesn’t always lead to healing, while an artistic outlet may. My experience is similar to others who engage in artistic endeavors.
Creating art puts me in state of flow where I am completely focused on the task at hand. Worries fade away and a sense of peacefulness takes over. Arts (and crafts) provide a way to connect with others. I can express inner feelings to friends through my paintings. Some artists sculpt, make videos, design cards, or make quilts for newborn babies. They are selfless acts that make the practitioner feel good. Engaging in artistic ventures does not have to be expensive.
SOUND: During the pandemic, many sounds that defined our cities have vanished. Though some residents find the silence is deafening, others celebrate it. In New York, the screech of subways, the chatter of multilingual voices, the blare of traffic have been replaced the sounds of chirping birds and air conditioner motors coming from tall apartment complexes. Stuart Fowkes, a U.K. sound artist, has been mapping sounds of cities around the world since 2014, continuing so during the pandemic. As we adapt to living with less noise pollution, will we rebel when the cacophony of jarring city sounds reappear? Will we finally change laws to outlaw gas leaf blowers that disturb the quiet of my neighborhood?
TOUCH : The trees below were painted with actual bark applied to their trunks. Not only are they visual images, they can be touched. I was inspired by walks in the woods and touching the bark as I passed different species of trees. Are you aware that some are soft and spongy while others are iron hard? On some trees, the bark peels and curls others grow in plates that fall off and are replaced. Try touching them. It is comforting and challenging to see how they differ.
The complaint I hear more frequently from single friends is their inability to touch and be touched, adding to feelings of loneliness. Unable to hug parents, children, grandchildren and friends or to trust kissing a new paramour, they are touch-starved. Those with partners and children are fortunate.
Singles are experimenting with solutions to combat social distancing. In one shared apartment, residents instituted a six o’clock hug at the end of every day activity that lasts 25 seconds, that psychologists say is long enough the get the physiological and psychological benefits that touch can bring. Touch can convey emotion faster than words and it is known to reduce stress in adults as well as babies—though it is important to remember that not everyone likes to be touched. When someone is touch-starved, stress, depression and anxiety are triggered with cascading negative psychological effects that effect blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, the digestive and the immune systems.
I am a hugger and miss putting arms around friends and family and shaking hands with acquaintances. Dr. Fauci doesn’t think we should reintroduce the handshake after the pandemic is over, saying it will go a long way to preventing influenza as well as coronavirus disease. However, I feel certain we will find a way back to tactile bonding in order to release oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, in the brain. Those feel-good sensations of trust and connection that decrease our fears and anxiety, is such a need, that we will be compelled to find safe ways to touch one another.
The ongoing match between The Senses and COVID will make many people feel like they are going mad. However, this isn’t the first time or the last the world was faced with a pandemic, and we know they end, though it may take years for trauma from the experience to settle. We may be more cautious and risk adverse than before it started. We may continue cooking at home for pleasure and not shake hands for health reasons, but eventually, fears will lesson. But hopefully, what we learn about ourselves and society will be used to improve lives going forward.
References:
Staff (2020) Five things to know about smell and taste loss in COVID-19. Vanderbilt University Medical Center. retrieved from https://www.vumc.org/coronavirus/latest-news/five-things-know-about-smell-and-taste-loss-covid-19
Contrearas,T. (2020) How the pandemic is shaping home cooking trends. SmartBrief. https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/09/how-pandemic-shaping-home-cooking-trends
Repko,M. (2020) THe pandemic’s new chefs and foodies: How the health crisis shaped what we cook and crave.CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/29/even-after-pandemic-companies-may-have-to-cater-to-a-nation-of-aspiring-chefs-foodies.html
Staff ( 2020) How Art Can Help You Cope With The Pandemic. Cleveland Clinic, Health Essentials. retrieved from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-art-can-help-you-cope-with-the-pandemic/
Scherer, J. MD (2020) Hearing Humanity Through the Noise of a Pandemic. National Institute of Health. retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7301060/
Poor,L. (2020) Soundscape. Bloomberg City lab. retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-22/the-changing-sounds-of-cities-during-covid-mapped
2020 Why I’m not alone in missing hugs during the pandemic. BBC News, retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-54373924
Pierce,S. (2020) Touch starvation is a consequence of COVID-19’s physical distance.retrieved from https://www.tmc.edu/news/2020/05/touch-starvation/
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