How “Flow” Can Help in Quarantine
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about how experiencing “flow” could help your mental health during quarantine; why airplane windows are round; and whether flies experience time more slowly than we do.
Experiencing flow could buffer the mental-health effects of quarantine by Kelsey Donk
- The mental state of flow might protect against harmful effects of quarantine. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/p-tms111020.php
- Sweeny, Kate, et al. "Flow in the Time of COVID-19: Findings from China." (2020). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242043
- What is Flow in Psychology? Definition and 10+ Activities to Induce Flow. (2019, January 8). PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-flow/
This Is the Important Reason All Airplane Windows Are Round by Joanie Faletto
- Lamb, R. (2011, May 26). How Airplanes Work. HowStuffWorks. https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/airplanes.htm
- Rizzo, C. (2016, January 20). Why do airplanes have round windows? Mashable. https://mashable.com/2016/01/20/round-airplane-windows/#pgu6eCzQcqq3
Do flies experience time more slowly than we do? by Cameron Duke
- Balestra, C., Machado, M.-L., Theunissen, S., Balestra, A., Cialoni, D., Clot, C., Besnard, S., Kammacher, L., Delzenne, J., Germonpré, P., & Lafère, P. (2018). Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency: A Marker of Cerebral Arousal During Modified Gravitational Conditions Related to Parabolic Flights. Frontiers in Physiology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01403
- Boström, J. E., Dimitrova, M., Canton, C., Håstad, O., Qvarnström, A., & Ödeen, A. (2016). Ultra-Rapid Vision in Birds. PLOS ONE, 11(3), e0151099. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151099
- R Christopher Miall. (2008, March 13). The flicker fusion frequencies of six laboratory insects, and the response of the compound eye to mains... ResearchGate; Wiley. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229600414_The_flicker_fusion_frequencies_of_six_laboratory_insects_and_the_response_of_the_compound_eye_to_mains_fluorescent_%27ripple%27
- Flicker fusion frequency in birds of prey (Episode from January 22, 2020): https://www.curiositydaily.com/live-longer-by-appreciating-art-betelgeuse-might-go-supernova-and-birds-freaky-fast-vision/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.3 | I'm Cody Goff. And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.4 | Today you learn about how experiencing flow could help your mental health during quarantine, why airplane windows are round, |
| 0:15.7 | and whether flies experience time more slowly than we do. |
| 0:19.6 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. Quarantine is hard, but findings from a new study might make it easier for a lot of people. |
| 0:28.9 | A survey of more than 5,000 people suggests that experiencing flow could protect against the rough mental health effects of a long quarantine. |
| 0:38.0 | What is flow? Well, flow is the way psychologists describe the experience you get when you're really absorbed in an engaging and pleasurable task. |
| 0:47.5 | You know, when you lose track of time or stop hearing people talk around you. |
| 0:51.5 | That can come from any activity you enjoy, from playing music |
| 0:55.2 | to cooking to doing extreme sports. Flow is similar to mindfulness, which refers to a focus on the |
| 1:02.2 | present moment and a non-judgmental awareness of your current experience. |
| 1:06.8 | Both involve focus on the present moment, but while mindfulness is about being aware of what's going on in and around you, flow shuts all of that out. |
| 1:16.0 | When you're in a flow state, you only see what's right in front of you. |
| 1:22.0 | Past research has shown that both flow and mindfulness could help people |
| 1:26.4 | maintain their well-being in stressful situations. So when COVID hit last year, |
| 1:31.7 | psychology researcher Kate Sweeney and her team wondered if |
| 1:35.3 | flow could help people stay sane during quarantine. |
| 1:39.0 | In February of 2020, the researchers surveyed more than 5,000 people around Wuhan and other Chinese cities where the coronavirus was emerging. |
| 1:48.0 | And they discovered three important things. |
| 1:51.0 | First, they confirmed that the longest quarantines were roughest on people's well-being. |
| 1:56.5 | People who had to quarantine longest felt more worry, more depressive symptoms, and more anxiety. |
| 2:02.2 | The second brighter finding was that both flow and |
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