After a year in isolation many people are dealing with what has been labeled “lockdown trauma.” Stress, anxiety, depression, and addictive behaviors are all signs that you’re out of balance and need a reboot for your nervous system. Luckily, there are several ways to combat lockdown trauma and start your post-lockdown life with more confidence and joy.

Dealing with trauma looks different depending on the individual and the event that triggered the trauma. However, regardless of how you got there, calming your vagus nerve is a crucial first step in unraveling any trauma response.

Many people are currently dealing with the fallout of COVID-19 and the social isolation that we've endured for over a year. The trauma of having your life turned on its head overnight can be subtle but incredibly pervasive.

I recently spent a week in nature with a group of friends doing a digital detox. No phone, no computer, just living in the moment for the moment.

What did we fill our time with? Connecting, breathing the fresh air, meditating, cooking, napping, star gazing, vagal chanting, body surfing, hiking, snorkeling, and contemplating our place in the multiverse. This time was pure bliss, reconnecting with myself and others, and when I returned to work, I didn't sit down at my desk with a sense of dread but rather a renewed joy and motivation. This time away was exactly what I needed to calm my vagus nerve and get my nervous system back online.

In this article, I'll share with you the steps that you can take to reclaim your life after lockdown that will help to calm your nervous system so that you can re-enter this new chapter from a place of joyful calm.

What Is Lockdown Trauma?

Before we jump into the "how-to" portion, let's take a look at the very reason you may not be feeling like yourself right now.

Trauma is an interesting topic. When most people consider the word trauma, they think of the "Big T" traumas like physical or emotional abuse, loss of a loved one at an early age, or some other like-altering experience that leaves you feeling unsafe and ungrounded.

While all of the above are certainly examples of trauma, there are other types of trauma that present in our lives in a less abrupt way. During the COVID pandemic, we've seen a new type of trauma present itself in several of our clients -- lockdown trauma.

The CDC states that public health actions, such as social distancing, although necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, have resulted in feelings of isolation and loneliness and increased stress and anxiety in many people[*].

At the beginning of the pandemic, it may not have seemed as obvious as we all stayed inside and worked from home. For some, this new way of life brought on a sense of relief from social obligations.

However, as human beings, we are innately a social species. What might start as a reprieve from the day-to-day runaround that you call life can quickly turn into isolation and loneliness.

Research shows that social isolation for more than six months can significantly impact mental health, inciting mental disturbances like anxiety, depression, and addiction[*].

Investigators have been examining the impact that lockdown has had on people in the past year or so, and found that social isolation has led to[*]:

Poor life satisfaction
Increased work-related stress
Lower trust of institutions
Increased issues in psychological wellbeing (anxiety, depression)
And finally, there is a correlation between perceived social isolation and higher levels of substance abuse.

Rats In A Cage — Lockdown and Digital Addiction

What we see as a result of the COVID lockdown regarding addiction is no surprise. In fact, scientists have understood the deep need for social connection among humans for a long time.

Addiction and substance abuse can come in all shapes and sizes. For adults, the go-to substance of choice is often alcohol or drugs. For children, however, lockdown has seen a surge in the use of social media and other online outlets like gaming.

One of the earliest examples of this is exemplified in Dr. Kardaras's book Glow Kids. To bring light to the impact that isolation can have on our intrinsic needs for connection and the impact of our environment on our behaviors, Dr. Kardaras quotes research from the famous Skinner Box experiments and subsequent experiments on rats conducted by Dr. Bruce Alexander in the 1970s.

In the Skinner box experiment, Dr. Skinner put rats in small boxes by themselves, gave them very little food, and hooked them up to morphine. When the rats hit the lever, they would get a hit of morphine. Not surprisingly, the rats became addicted to morphine and spent their days hitting that lever like their life depended on it. The experiment concluded that drugs lead to addiction.

Ten years later, Dr. Bruce Alexander, also studying the concept of addiction, decided to conduct his own studies. While it certainly made sense that rats in isolation would become addicted to a substance, what would happen if the rats had other means of self-soothing? In the Skinner boxes, morphine was the only option for the rats, Dr. Alexander wanted to see if it was the morphine causing the addictive behaviors or the environment of the box itself.

In their natural states, rats are highly social creatures (just like humans), so Dr. Alexander created little "Rat Parks" filled with things rats loved, and of course, the rats were no longer in isolation but allowed to interact with their friends. At the end of his study, Alexander found that while the rats in the Skinner boxes became addicted, the "Rat Park" group barely touched the drugs that were made available to them. The conclusion? Addiction is less about the pull of the drug and more about the conditions in one's life. When social interaction is available, along with things that light the rats up like platforms for climbing and wheels for running, the lure of the drugs lost its power.

Alexander went on to find that the same behavior applied to humans when he studied the subjugation of Native people on their reservations. In their own way, Native people had been put in their own Skinner boxes, which robbed them of their traditional cultural ties and socialization. The result? Rampant alcoholism.

We can take from these studies that addiction, whether it be to alcohol, drugs, social media, gaming, and so on, is not necessarily a result of an addictive substance but a consequence of life conditions.

How to Heal From Lockdown Trauma

So, what do we do about it? We've been put in our own Skinner boxes for the last year or so, and as a result, many of us may feel like a shell of who we once were. First, understand that the bad habits you might have picked up over the last year are not to be shamed and are, in fact, the result of isolation as opposed to lack of willpower.

Second, there are some self-nourishing steps you can take starting today that will bring you back into alignment with yourself. As powerful as isolation can be on our mind-body system, social engagement and self-care can be just as uplifting.

Below are a handful of steps to take that will help you reclaim your life and enter this new chapter with a sense of joy and optimism.

Do a Digital Detox

A digital detox is one of the most powerful ways to help you come back to yourself. It can also be one of the most challenging practices to engage in.

A digital detox involves taking a break from tech devices -- no smartphone, no computer, no TV, no online gaming, no social media. Taking a break from these distractions can be difficult as they have become a go-to for mind-numbing relief for many people.

The problem is, when we become reliant on these devices, as many people have, it pulls us away from the present moment. Now that we're able to interact socially again, doing a digital detox and replacing your time with real-life interactions and other fulfilling activities will do wonders for your sense of self and connection to the world around you.

If you have the capacity to take a week off of all devices, that's ideal. However, for most people, this isn't practical. Instead, you can set limits for yourself. Here are some ideas:

Take a week off of social media (no Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.)
Take the weekend off digital devices (no computer, social media, TV)
Set a time limit; for instance, you can only engage with devices from 9 am to 6 pm each day, reserving the evening for digital-free time.
Take five days off TV, social media, and gaming at night.

You can find the Digital Detox that works best for you. Of course, try to push yourself out of your comfort zone while still making your goals practical.

Regulate Your Vagus Nerve

After a year of isolation, uncertainty, and change, many people are feeling more base-level stress and anxiety. Even though we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with COVID, the echoes of shock still live within us.

Your vagus nerve is responsible for bringing you out of "fight or flight" (sympathetic) mode and back into "rest and digest" (parasympathetic) mode. Finding ways to regulate your vagus nerve can gently ease your nervous system back into balance and help to calm feelings of stress and anxiety.

Doing a digital detox is a fantastic first step in getting there, but there are other tools that can directly impact vagal regulation as well. These include[*][*][*]:

Engaging in the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) which is a listening protocol that tones the vagus nerve by sending vibrations through your eardrums into your brain, stimulating the nerve (click here to learn more).
Conscious connected breathing like “Guided Wim Hoff Method Breathing” free download.
Humming or singing
Meditation
Physical exercise

For a complete list of ways to enhance vagal tone, check out our article 15 Ways To Create Vagal Regulation At Home.

Connect with Community

As previously mentioned, humans are highly social creatures. Our environment has a significant impact on our sense of wellbeing. In fact, connecting with the community has been seen as a pillar of health in ancient forms of medicine like Ayurveda for thousands of years. The concept of a Satsang, or sacred gathering, is meant to provide humans with the social interactions that we need on a basic level to feel safe and a part of the larger whole.

What's more, when we hug, laugh, and chant or sing together, it enhances vagal tone and creates feelings of wellbeing [*][*][*][*].

Connect with Nature

Connecting with nature in the world helps us connect with our own internal nature. Moving away from staring at screens and instead allowing your eyes to rest on the colors of nature provides a sense of wellbeing and calm.

In fact, there is a term for getting out into nature and its therapeutic effect called "nature therapy." As humans, we've spent 99.99% of our time on earth living in a natural environment. It's only in the last hundred years or so since the industrial revolution that we've moved away from communing with nature as a way of life.

Research shows that spending time in nature enhances the health of your nervous system, endocrine system, immunity, and cognitive health[*].

In addition to time alone in nature, if you can find an activity to engage in outside that you enjoy with friends or family, the benefits will be magnified substantially.

Lockdown trauma is a very real condition that many people are dealing with today. Even if you don't feel the overt signs of trauma, the underlying stress of COVID may be running programs in your mind subconsciously.

The good news is that you have access to the tools you need to bring yourself back into balance.

For more information on vagal regulation, the Safe and Sound Protocol, or how to find relief from the stress and anxiety of lockdown trauma, schedule a free consultation today.

Lockdown Trauma: How To Start This New Chapter Fresh