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This year, school has become a unique hybrid of in-person and remote learning. How can we ensure teachers and parents have the tools to create a positive learning experience for students? TED-Ed has a host of free online resources available to help navigate this learning period.

Check them out here:

1. TED-Ed Lessons

At its heart, ed.ted.com is a library of 1,000+ educational videos called TED-Ed Lessons. It’s also a unique platform to create your own multiple choice and discussion questions for any YouTube video or existing TED-Ed lesson.

Each existing TED-Lesson comes with a quiz, a dig deeper section to further learning and curiosity, and open-ended discussion questions.

You can customize a TED-Ed Animation, TED Talk lesson, Best of the Web, or use the Lesson Creator tool to craft your own lesson using any video on YouTube.

Learn how to use the Lesson Creator here!

2. Student Talks program

The Student Talks program supports students as they discover, explore, and present their big ideas in the form of short, TED-style talks. Students work together to discuss and celebrate creative ideas, and since the pandemic began, many TED-Ed Clubs have been meeting virtually, and some have even hosted virtual events to present their finished talks.

Use TED-Ed’s flexible curriculum as a guide and help inspire tomorrow’s speakers and leaders. Learn how to get started here!

Watch some of the incredible and inspiring Talks on our Student Talks YouTube channel.

3. Newsletters!

Sign up for one or sign up for both!

The weekly newsletter delivers TED-Ed content to your inbox every weekend. It’s your one-stop shop for everything from the previous week including TED-Ed Animations, TED Talks Lessons, TED-Ed Best of Web and blog posts. Don’t have time to check ed.ted.com every day? This newsletter is a perfect solution.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter here

The daily newsletter sends our new lessons straight to your inbox 3 days a week as soon as they publish, and we’ll sprinkle in some hits from the archive in between!

Sign up for the daily newsletter here

4. Subject specific playlists

Looking to bolster your curriculum? TED-Ed Animations help bring history, science, nature, math (and more!) to life, and every short video is complete with its own customizable lesson to fit your students’ needs.

Check out a selection of these playlists below:

Earth School

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented coalition of over fifty environmental and education experts collaborated to launch a 30 day interactive adventure for students around the world to celebrate, explore, and connect with nature. Get started here!

And if you’re looking for a way to engage students in community cleanup efforts and reducing plastic waste, check out All_Together Cleanup, an initiative that helps us understand how plastic waste affects our natural world, and how you can take action to eliminate it. Join the challenge here!

Think Like A Coder

This is a 10-episode series that challenges viewers with programming puzzles as the main characters— a girl and her robot companion— attempt to save a world that has been plunged into turmoil. New and experienced coders welcome!

Can you solve this riddle?

This series is a head-scratching mix of classic riddles, logic puzzles, and mathematics-based challenges. Each riddle contains the rules, hints, and a place to pause to figure it out for yourself before the solution is revealed. Get your class going with these brain teasers!

Why should you read

Kurt Vonnegut. Sylvia Plath. Octavia Butler. Dickens. Haruki Murakami. And so on and so forth. This series exposes viewers to literature old and new; diving into both authors and their works.

There’s a Poem for That

Bereavement. Homesickness. A first kiss. Experiences like these transcend our rational understanding of the world. In such moments, we need poetry. This award-winning series features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life’s biggest feelings.

History Vs.

What if we could put history’s most controversial figures on trial? On what side of history do people like Cleopatra, Napoleon, and Che Guevara fall? It’s up to you to decide.

A day in the life…

What was life like for a teenager in ancient Rome? Or a young samurai in training? How did a doctor in ancient Egypt heal her patients? Explore the ancient world through the eyes of its inhabitants and witness a day in their life.

Myths from around the world

Discover mythology from cultures around the world. From the more familiar stories of Hercules and Thor, to the tragedy of Orpheus and transformation of the White Snake— there’s a story for everyone.

Try out TED Masterclass!

TED-Ed also has an app to help you create your own TED-style Talk! This highly rated app is TED’s official guide to public speaking. You can download and preview the app for free, and if you choose to purchase the course, you’ll be helping support TED-Ed’s nonprofit mission to bring free high quality educational materials to the world.

Thoka Maer

We don’t know about you, but we’re ready to travel. And that typically means flying.

We have been thinking through this issue as mothers and as an infectious disease epidemiologist and an exposure scientist. While we’ve personally decided that we’re not going to fly right now, we’ll walk you through our thought process on what to consider and how to minimize your risks.

Why the fear of flying?

The primary concern with flying — or traveling by bus or train — is sitting within six feet of an infected person. Remember: Even asymptomatic people can transmit. Your risk of infection directly corresponds to your dose of exposure, which is determined by your duration of time exposed and the amount of virus-contaminated droplets in the air.

A secondary concern is contact with contaminated surfaces. When an infected person contaminates a shared armrest, airport restroom handle, seat tray or other item, the virus can survive for hours although it does degrade over time. If you touch that surface and then touch your mouth or nose, you put yourself at risk of infection.

Before you book, think

While there is no way to make air travel 100% safe, there are ways to make it safer. It’s important to think through the particulars for each trip.

One approach to your decision making is to use what occupational health experts call the hierarchy of controls. This approach does two things. It focuses on strategies to control exposures close to the source, and it minimizes how much you have to rely on individual human behavior to control exposure.

The best way to control exposure is to eliminate the hazard. Since we cannot eliminate the new coronavirus, ask yourself if you can eliminate the trip. Think extra hard about traveling if you are older or have preexisting conditions, or if you are going to visit someone in those categories.

If you are healthy and those you visit are healthy, think about ways to substitute the hazard. Is it possible to drive? This would allow you to have more control over minimizing your exposures, particularly if the distance requires less than a day of travel.

You’re going, now what?

If you do choose to fly, check out airlines’ policies on seating and boarding. Some are minimizing capacity and spacing passengers by not using middle seats and having empty rows. Others are boarding from the back of the plane. Some carriers that were criticized for filling their planes to capacity have announced plans to allow customers to cancel their flights if the flight goes over 70 percent passenger seating capacity.

Federal and state guidance is changing constantly, so make sure you look up the most recent guidance from government agencies and the airlines and airport you are using for additional advice and for current policies or restrictions.

While this may sound counterintuitive, consider booking multiple, shorter flights. This will decrease the likelihood of your having to use the lavatory and your duration of exposure to an infectious person or persons on the plane.

After you book, select a window seat if possible. If you consider the six-foot radius circle around you, having a wall on one side would directly reduce in half the number of people you are exposed to during the flight, not to mention all the people going up and down the aisle.

Also, check out your airline to see their engineering controls that are designed or put into practice to isolate hazards. These include ventilation systems, on-board barriers and electrostatic disinfectant sprays on flights.

When the ventilation system on planes is operating, planes have a very high ratio of outside fresh air to recirculated air — about 10 times higher than most commercial buildings. Plus, most planes’ ventilation systems have HEPA filters. These are at least 99.9 percent effective at removing particles that are 0.3 microns in diameter and more efficient at removing both smaller and larger particles.

How to stay safe from shuttle to seat

From checking in to going through security to boarding, you will be touching many surfaces. Here are some tips to minimize your risks of infection:

1. Bring hand wipes to disinfect surfaces such as your seat and seat belt and your personal belongings (like your passport). If you cannot find hand wipes, bring a small washcloth soaked in a bleach solution in a ziplock bag. This will probably freak out airport security less than carrying a personal spray bottle, and viruses are not likely to grow on a cloth with a bleach solution. But remember: More bleach is not better and it can be unsafe. You need only one tablespoon in four cups of water to make an effective solution.

2. Bring plastic ziplock bags for personal items that others may handle, such as your ID. Bring extra bags so you can put these objects in a new bag after you have the chance to disinfect them.

3. Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer as often as you can. While soap and water is most effective, using hand sanitizer is helpful after washing to get any parts you may have missed.

4. Once you get to your window seat, stay put.

5. Wear a mask. If you already have an N95 respirator, consider using it but other masks or coverings can also provide protection. We do not recommend purchasing N95 until health-care workers have an adequate supply. Technically, it should also be tested to make sure you have a good fit. We do not recommend that you use gloves, as those can lead to a false sense of security and have been associated with reduced hand hygiene practices.

If you are thinking about flying with children, there are special considerations to keep in mind. Getting a young child to adhere to wearing a mask and maintaining good hygiene behavior at home is hard enough; it may be impossible to do so when flying. Children under 2 should not wear a mask.

Each day, we are all constantly faced with decisions about our own personal comfort and risk. Arming yourself with specific knowledge about your airport and airline and maximizing your use of protective measures that you have control over can reduce your risk. A good analogy might be that every time you get in the car to drive somewhere there is risk of an accident, but there is a big difference between driving the speed limit with your seat belt on and driving blindfolded at 60 miles an hour through the middle of town.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Watch Kacey Ernst‘s TEDxTucson Talk about mosquitoes here:

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kacey Ernst PhD MPH is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona. Her primary projects examine the environmental determinants of vector-borne disease transmission and control; primarily dengue and malaria. Current research projects include an examination of insecticide treated bednet use in western Kenya.

Paloma Beamer PhD is an associate professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She holds joint appointments as an associate professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering and as a research scientist in the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. Her research focuses on understanding how individuals are exposed to environmental contaminants and the health risks of these exposures with a special focus on vulnerable populations.

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When educator Kim Preshoff asked the students in her environmental science classes to create blackout poetry for Earth Day, she was expecting some nature-inspired poems and thoughts on the state of our planet. What she got back were profound and beautiful works about what they’re experiencing and living through right now: the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some of the poems from the Williamsville North High School students:

“About COVID” by Liz

“imagination” by Adrianna

“Kinda Depressing” by Catherine

“Pandemic” by Emma

“Quarantine” by Olivia

“About the Virus” by Taylor

“When Quarantine is Over” by Annica

“Overcoming” by Julia

“Stuck in the House” by Brooke

“Quarantine” by Jack

“COVID” by Anna

“Hope” by Alexis

“How People Feel” by Anonymous

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Staying home is the best way to fight COVID-19, but there are plenty of projects you can get involved in from your living room if you want to do more!

For many of us, it’s difficult to feel like we’re watching from the sidelines while healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, and food producers work hard to keep us safe and healthy during COVID-19.

While staying at home is the greatest contribution any of us can make, there are a lot of projects you can actively get involved in without ever leaving your home.

These vary from citizen science projects where you analyze data collected by scientists, to participating in studies that will help public health practitioners understand the spread and impact of COVID-19. Large scale studies like these are vitally important during a global pandemic, and their results could save lives in the future.

Here are 8 projects you can get involved in:

COVID-19 Citizen Science

(University of California San Francisco)

Researchers at UCSF have created an app-based study that invites participants to document their physical health and symptoms.

You can take part anywhere in the world, whether or not you have COVID-19. It requires you to download the Eureka app on your smartphone and fill in an initial 10-15 minute survey, with follow ups that take 5-15 minutes per week.

The team hopes to enroll 1 million people worldwide in the study, with the aim of identifying factors that increase or decrease the risk of infection, and to better understand why the spread has varied between individuals and regions.

Coping with the COVID-19 Outbreak

(University of British Columbia)

The current pandemic is about more than just physical illness. Psychologists at UBC in Canada want to know how it is affecting people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Even if neither you or anyone close to you contracts COVID-19, the impacts of physical distancing, working from home, online learning, and the closure of schools and businesses are affecting your daily life.

This study, open to anyone in the world, involves filling in an initial 15 – 20 minute questionnaire, with the option for participants based in North America to sign up for a week of short, daily follow ups.

Local COVID-19 Projects

Around the world there are also initiatives at local and national levels dedicated to better understanding the spread and impact of COVID-19 and the EU-Citizen.Science project have compiled a list, which is regularly updated.

City Nature Challenge

Even though it’s not possible to go far afield at the moment, the City Nature Challenge is a great way to get involved in biodiversity work in your own neighborhood or garden!

Modified this year with COVID-19 considerations, the challenge invites you to photograph and document wildlife in your city. This can be anything from plants to animals or insects.

Visit the City Nature Challenge website to find out how you can participate, view the 2020 results from all over the world, and learn more about the impact the project has had in a talk by author Mary Ellen Hannibal.

Planet Hunters

Join the search for planets in other solar systems!

Using data from NASA’s TESS mission, you can analyze the brightness of faraway stars to see whether there are planets orbiting them. Citizen scientists have already helped to find dozens of new planets for classification.

The project also found a star with a very mysterious light pattern. Tabby’s star was named after project founder Tabetha Boyajian, who explains in her TED Talk just why it was so unusual.

SETI @ Home

If you’re busy but still want to take part in something interesting, UC Berkeley’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project runs on your computer when you’re not using it – a bit like a screensaver – and processes radio telescope data to search for unusual signals.

Astronomer Seth Shostak explains more about the project in his TED Talk: ET is (probably) out there – get ready.

Zooniverse

One of the largest citizen science platforms, Zooniverse has dozens of projects you can get involved in. Here are a few that are looking for extra support:

• Bash the Bug: help fight antibiotic resistance and tuberculosis

• Anti-Slavery Manuscripts: transcribe handwritten correspondence between 19th century anti-slavery activists into text that can more easily be read and studied

• Rainfall Rescue: help scientists understand historical rainfall variations

US Census

If you are based in the United States, you can fill in your census online.

Census data is used to allocate federal funding for your local community, including infrastructure like highways and essential services like hospitals, fire departments, and disaster response.

It also impacts provision for schools, wildlife restoration, and other social programs. Filling it in is a great way to contribute to your community!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Halton is Assistant Ideas Editor at TED, and a science journalist based in the Pacific Northwest.

Stocksy

Within hours, I was getting texts. And FB messages. And then a call from a quasi-terrified sounding former student: “Any articles or books you can suggest about how my spouse and I spend the next many weeks together in our tiny apartment without offing each other?”

Then, as if on cue, my husband of 28 years walks into our kitchen with the mail. Without so much as a wash of the hands or a spray of disinfectant, he casually places the pile — as our pre-pandemic ritual would dictate — on our stainless steel kitchen island.

“WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!” I yelled at him.

A new chapter in my marriage — and in so many other people’s relationships — is suddenly, and without warning, upon us.

Hello, quarantine; goodbye, routine.

Hello, life now filled with work-from-home mandates, surreal new stressors, makeshift computer stations, evaporating personal space, and new negotiations about, well, almost everything.

It’s clear that there is indeed a new reality for all of us. And it’s not an easy one — marriages and partnerships in practically every country around the world are now under stress.

But there is hope. Stress doesn’t have to result in a complete systems failure. As a marriage researcher and social scientist who studies and teaches about the micro-dynamics of thriving marriages, I’m happy to share some evidence-based insights that can help you and your partner navigate the weeks and months ahead as your relationship calibrates to this new normal.

No matter your age, stage of life or length of marriage, we must acknowledge this fact: we’re all experiencing losses at the moment. You are. Your partner is. For some of us, the losses are immediate and frightening, even grave. People are losing their jobs. Their businesses. And some have lost loved ones, friends, neighbors or colleagues.

For many, the losses in our lives may not be as tangible, but they still hurt. All pain is real pain. In fact, take a moment in the next day, if you can, and ask your partner: “What do you miss most from life ‘before’ quarantine?” No matter their response, you have just one job: Listen with an open heart, do not offer a fix-it response, and then reach out and hold them tight in a big, 60-second-plus embrace.

The strongest theme emerging among the many couples I’ve talked to the past few weeks is the widespread, unsettling undercurrent of all of these ambiguous losses in our lives. Even the happiest of couples are feeling the weight of financial shifts, dwindling space, and a yearning for the return to old rituals and routines. For many couples, the mundane moments of life “before” have become attractive, almost nostalgic: regular bedtimes, morning commutes, coffee in to-go mugs, end-of-day greetings, day-in-review dinnertime conversations, built-in daily autonomy, and even the predictable irritations of living as a couple. We didn’t know how much we loved how boring it was — and now that we can’t have it, we want it.

The good news: once we acknowledge our losses, there is a lot that a couple can do, proactively, to not only survive quarantine but actually thrive through it.

It starts by shifting your perspective. What if we tried to embrace this new, weird time together as an opportunity or a reset? What if we saw this as a chance to intentionally develop new and improved ways of being with each other?

I’ve studied this kind of co-creating in my own research with couples. One of the findings is that when you and your partner recognize that you are creators of your own relationship mini-culture — your rituals of connection form the pillars of this culture — then you are more likely to choose, build and sustain them.

What is a ritual of connection?

According to researchers like William Doherty, therapist, professor and author of The Intentional Family, a ritual of connection is any way that you and your partner regularly turn toward each other. It could be emotional, physical, spiritual, you name it. They might be so mundane that many couples wouldn’t even call them rituals. It could be the way you greet each other at the end of the day when you reunite after work; the midday text to coordinate kid-pick up; the little prayer you say together before you drift off to sleep; and even the little phrases you use that have private meaning just between you and your spouse. Even a nickname is a tiny verbal ritual; it says to your partner “I know you in a way that no one else does.”

Research reveals that strong and meaningful rituals build strong marriages. They stitch couples together, giving them a sense of “we have each other’s back” and we’re in this together. And because rituals are rooted in a sense of predictability they are quietly comforting, they can reduce fear and counter stress both on the average day and in times of great uncertainty. Which is precisely what we have at the moment.

As a relationship ritual researcher myself, it’s been thrilling to hear the way many couples have been using this time as an opportunity to creatively grow new rituals.

A couple I’ll call Chad and Shawn have established a new rule or “ritual” to help them navigate living and now working in their small apartment. And it’s brilliant. Each spouse has chosen a special sweatshirt — and wearing it comes with a rule. When the other spouse sees you in it, they have to pretend you are invisible. No talking to them, no looking at them, no asking a question. It’s the marriage version of an invisibility cloak, a creative way to build in distance without having to verbally request it.

Another couple, like some others, are mourning the loss of their old morning routine, now that days/nights/work/leisure blur together without clear boundaries. So after a week or so of angst, they began a new practice. They get dressed in their work clothes, pack their lunches, and kiss each other goodbye. Then each of them walks out the front door, around the block (separately), and then back in the door (separately), ready to begin their work days. They do the same later in the day to mark the end of work and the beginning of family time.

Many couples are navigating quarantine with school-age or adult children who’ve come home to shelter. Two families separately shared they have instituted “themed dinners” once a week in their homes, with everyone “required” to dress the part. Hawaiian pizza and mai tai, anyone?

Then there’s this idea, one that I’m strongly suggesting to my own husband we promptly steal. This couple has made two laminated copies of a “one free pass today” card, and it expires at 11:59PM every night. Once a day, you hand it over to your spouse when you’ve done something stupid, said something mean, or forgotten to do something you promised.

“What if we tried to embrace this new, weird time together as an opportunity or a reset?”

One couple shared a beautiful new ritual that’s emerged since entering quarantine; they call it their “reconciliation walk.” After their workday is over and before they sit down for dinner, they take a stroll around the neighborhood, apologize for “any missteps we had with each other, and then hit reset for the evening.” It works. In fact, in the words of one spouse in this marriage: “by the end of the walk, we are no longer maintaining appropriate social distancing.”

Another couple has turned to the past for their ritual. They’ve decided to go back and re-read 15-years’ worth of their annual Christmas letters. They said: “We have gone back to when we first got married, and are reading them out loud to our kids who weren’t even around during that time. We laugh, and they ask questions about what things were like.” This same duo has dug out a box of the husband’s grandfather’s letters: “Bob’s grandfather wrote Bob a letter every week for 10 years. We read those as well. His grandfather was a preacher and an incredible man. His letters are uplifting and so wise.”

Similarly, another couple has pulled out the stash of children’s books — the favorites from when their now-grown children were toddlers. They pick one a night and read it out loud to each other but with a twist. They discuss how the characters in the book are similar to characters in their current, actual lives. What a great, creative conversation-starter — and a great way to learn more about some of the dramas in your spouse’s work life.

If you don’t have a box of letters or a shelf of kids’ books, no worries. You can invent your own ritual that incorporates a sense of humor and playfulness. Take the couple who has picked a random household object (I wish they had told me what it is; I’m picturing a tiny plastic squishy pig?) and invented a new game. They hide it somewhere in the house each day. If your spouse doesn’t find it, they’re on call to make the cocktails that evening.

The last example is one that I’ve told my own spouse we are absolutely adopting. Like so many others, this couple found that conflict in their marriage has increased during quarantine, and their own emotional reserves have decreased. So they’ve created a list — a place to “hold” all of their complaints. Their plan is to review the list each weekend. So far, most things on it are being waitlisted for post-quarantine times, but they predict many of these items will be irrelevant and long-forgotten by then. The list is a powerful bit of problem-solving that also gives them somewhere they can safely place their frustrations.

Couples: what will you do with this weird new time in your life? The research suggests that the tiny things we do can often have a big, positive impact. While you can’t control the world, you can stay home, stay safe and focus on what you can: each other.

Watch her TEDxMinneapolisSalon Talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Bruess (rhymes with “peace”) is professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota; resident scholar at St. Norbert College, Wisconsin; and forever passionate about studying and improving relationships. She is fluent in emoji, loves parentheticals (it’s what all the cool kids are doing), and is happy-dancing her way through empty-nesting (although don’t tell her kids; they think she’s all weepy). Check out her five books and sewing/design shenanigans over at www.carolbruess.com

This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

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These days, the school bell isn’t ringing for most of our kids, and it’s up to parents to ensure that children and teens get the sleep that they need during these stressful and uncertain times.

In the time before the coronavirus pandemic, I gave a TEDx Talk, spoke around the country, and wrote about the importance of good parenting and good policies— specifically, healthy school start times— to make sure adolescents got enough sleep.

As parents, it’s important to recognize the specific sleep needs of your child based on their stage of development. According to scientific consensus, toddlers need about 11 to 14 hours of sleep, preschoolers, about 10 to 13 hours, school-aged children (ages 6-12), about 9 to 12 hours, and teenagers, 8 to 10 hours. Adults need around 7-9 hours.

But it’s not just about the amount of sleep. The timing of their sleep also changes as they grow. For example, the total recommended sleep durations for infants and toddlers includes daytime napping, which is expected during those developmental periods. Teenagers also experience a developmentally-specific change in the timing of their sleep, known as a phase delay. In short, teenagers are natural night owls, going to sleep later than 6-to-12-year-olds. Although school start times before 8:30AM are a known contributor to adolescent sleep deprivation, parents play a much bigger role when school’s out in making sure that teens’ biological clocks don’t continue to drift later and later.

People of all ages sleep better when they follow consistent daily and nightly routines. This is particularly important during stressful times when many of us no longer have the usual scheduling constraints of going to school or to work. Predictable routines send a message to people’s brains that the world is safe and secure— a critical step to reduce anxiety, which can keep children up at night.

Now’s also a good time to set limits on technology use, particularly at bedtime. With our children home throughout the day and with many of us trying to work from home as well, many parents may be loosening up the usual rules on technology throughout the day. That’s understandable. However, both the stimulating content and light exposure from using devices at night can disrupt children’s and teens’ sleep-wake schedules. Make it a family habit to collectively put your phones and devices to bed at least one hour before bedtime in some neutral place— that is, not a bedroom— such as the kitchen. Recharge your phones while your family is recharging itself with healthy sleep.

It’s important to look for the silver lining during challenging times such as these, and one such benefit may be that we have an opportunity to connect with our families in a way that we normally don’t have the space or time for. Feeling socially connected is absolutely critical for healthy sleep, no matter your age. There may be times when it feels like too much family time when you’re all cooped up inside.

In the evenings, try to reserve time to share a meal together and bond in a meaningful way without technology. Play a board game, do a puzzle, go for a walk, or watch a movie together. As the parent of a high school senior, I know these moments are fleeting. Being present in the moment and being grateful for the time you’re able to spend together is a great strategy to support healthy sleep and the well-being of the entire family.

Watch her TEDx Talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy Troxel is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist, as well as an adjunct faculty member in psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Guy Winch

Welcome to “Dear Guy,” TED’s advice column from NYC psychologist Guy Winch.

Twice a month, he’ll answer your questions about life — about your relationships, your job, your family, your passions, fears, and more. Please send your questions to dearguy@ted.com; to read his previous columns, go here.

Dear Guy:

I’m incredibly anxious about coronavirus and what’s going to happen to me, my loved ones, my coworkers, my neighbors, community, and everyone else. What can I do? How do I deal with this?

Signed,

The World

Editor’s note: While this letter isn’t real, the feelings in it are. TED published this special edition of “Dear Guy” to address a topic on many people’s minds right now.

Dear World:

Two weeks ago, the majority of my patients spent at least part of their sessions discussing anxieties about the coronavirus. Last week, every single one of them did. And they expressed many of the same worries: “Will I get it? Should I avoid seeing my elderly relatives? Where can I find some toilet paper?”

Indeed, the pandemic is fueling fear and anxiety around the world. But even though they elicit a similar psychological response, fear and anxiety are two different things. Fear is a response to a specific and imminent danger; anxiety is a response to a vague and future threat.

Most of our emotional responses to coronavirus are in the anxiety category. For the vast majority of us, the threat is still uncertain, like a storm cloud of “what if”s hanging over our heads. We don’t know if we’ll be exposed to the virus or not; if we are exposed, we don’t know if we’ll get symptoms or not; and if we do get symptoms, we don’t know if we’ll able to recover from them.

And unfortunately, anxiety feeds on “what if”s and uncertainty. It fills any unknowns with terrifying worst-case scenarios that keep us in a state of constant stress. Anxiety is, by definition, a psychological over-reaction that can make the most uncertain, unlikely and potentially manageable threats seem both incredibly certain and absolutely unmanageable.

Another problem with anxiety is that it makes us feel helpless, powerless, overwhelmed and paralyzed — all of which increase our feelings of vulnerability and make us less likely to take action.

But that’s where the key to managing our anxiety lies: in taking action.

By acting to restore the very feelings that anxiety seeks to diminish — feelings like control, empowerment, reason, and agency — we can shut off our fight-or-flight response, regain a more realistic assessment of the actual threat, and use our emotional and intellectual capacities to deal with it more effectively.

That said, we are living through unprecedented and extremely challenging circumstances. All of us will experience moments of anxiety, panic, anger and other forms of distress. If you’re overwhelmed by such feelings, do not blame yourself for having them — they’re entirely appropriate. However, do consider adopting emotional self-care strategies (such as the ones below) to help reduce their frequency and intensity.

I’m sure that most of you know the basics about what you should be doing now to maintain your physical health: Get accurate updates and information from reputable sources such as the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control, frequently use hand sanitizer or wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, seek medical attention if you develop any symptoms, etc.

But you also need to take care of your emotional health. One important way to do that is to manage your anxiety and to reduce your stress.

Here’s how I’m managing my own coronanxiety and how you can manage yours:

1. Focus on what you do know as opposed to what you don’t know

Whenever you notice that your anxiety is leading you to contemplate “what-if” scenarios straight out of World War Z, resist taking the bait. Instead, focus on the facts. For example, while you don’t know if you’ll get the virus, you do know that the majority of people who get COVID-19 have symptoms that are minor and manageable. Or, you don’t know when the crisis will be over, but you do know there is unprecedented global cooperation going on among scientists who are racing to find vaccines and treatments. Or, you don’t know when you’ll see beloved family members who are living in other countries, but you do know you can video-chat with them and stay connected.

2. Focus on what’s in your control as opposed what isn’t

When you feel overwhelmed by what’s going on, take a pause from whatever you’re doing, and shift your mind to thinking about what’s within your control. For example, if you’re in the supermarket, you can’t control whether the other shoppers have washed their hands, but you can put on gloves or use your elbow to open doors and clean your hands thoroughly as soon as you get home. If you’ve been asked to work from home, you can’t control when you’ll be allowed to return to the office but you can make a list of tasks that you can accomplish from home, like emptying out the junk drawer, cancelling the gym membership you don’t use, researching a cheaper cell phone plan to switch to, or tackling that mountain of magazines that your partner has been asking you about.

3. Focus on what you can do as opposed to what you can’t

Whenever you feel powerless, focus on the actions you can take instead of those you cannot. If you plan in a community basketball team and practices and games have been cancelled, you can still work on your skills by using visualization which studies have found, may be almost as beneficial as actual practice. If you’re a parent and you’re worried about your children feeling stressed and anxious, it’s especially important to help them focus on what they can do as opposed to what they cannot. You know one thing all kids can and should do? Chores. Chores are good in times of stress because they allow you and your kids to take action and by doing so, counter your feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Do your chores together whenever possible — for example, prepare a meal, wash the dog, start a vegetable or flower gardens — since this can enhance bonding at a time when feeling close and connected is so important.

4. Help yourself by helping others

Whenever you feel paralyzed by difficult feelings, one way to get unstuck is to help other people who are in need. In fact, kindness, altruisma and doing for others significantly improves our own well-being than doing for ourselves. Check on a neighbor who lives alone, text a friend who works in a business that’s been hit hard by the pandemic, or call an elderly family member to say hello. If any of your friends or family are struggling with feelings of anxiety, communicate what you’ve learned about managing your own worries. Practicing kindness and helping others are great ways to reinforce your own feelings of agency and control, and they have the bonus of making you feel empowered and connected — important feelings that we could all use more of during these times of stress and potential social isolation.

5. Limit your news consumption

The situation is changing and developing by the hour which is keeping many of us glued to the news or to social media. However, when the news is especially stressful, it’s extremely important to find a balance between keeping informed and not becoming overwhelmed. Decide on specific times of day in which you will check the news, and check it only then. In between, try to focus on doing normal life activities as much as possible, especially if you are sequestered at home or if you have children. We need to give our minds and bodies as many opportunities as possible to de-stress and recover, which means taking breaks from all stress-inducing activities such as news consumption or conversations about the news.

6. Keep your perspective

Right now it can be hard for any of us — psychologists included! — to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But this emergency situation will resolve eventually. We don’t know if it will be in weeks or in months, but humans are highly adaptable creatures and life will seem normal again soon (although it might be a “new” normal).

World, we’re definitely being challenged right now. But we’re far from helpless. We can take control; we can take steps to actively manage our emotional health when we’re stressed or distressed; and we can communicate with our loved ones and stay connected to them. And once we do, we’ll emerge from this crisis having gained something of a great value, something that only true challenges can bestow — increased resilience, understanding and empathy.

Guy

Send your pressing questions about life — about your relationships, your job (or jobs), your family (or families), your passions, fears and more — to dearguy@ted.com

Watch his TED Talk on emotional first aid now:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Guy Winch is a licensed psychologist who is a leading advocate for integrating the science of emotional health into our daily lives. His three TED Talks have been viewed over 20 million times, and his science-based self-help books have been translated into 26 languages. He also writes the Squeaky Wheel blog for PsychologyToday.com and has a private practice in New York City.

This piece was adapted for TED-Ed from this Ideas article.

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Disasters and crises bring out the best in us. This simple fact is confirmed by more solid evidence than almost any other scientific insight, but we often forget. Now more than ever, in the middle of a pandemic, it’s crucial to remember this.

Sure, our news feeds are flooded with cynical stories and comments. A report on armed men stealing rolls of toilet paper in Hong Kong, or one about the Australian women who got into a fistfight in a Sydney supermarket.

In moments like these, it’s tempting to conclude that most people are selfish and egotistical.

But nothing could be further from the truth. For every antisocial jerk out there, there are thousands of doctors, cleaners and nurses working around the clock on our behalf. For every panicky hoarder shoving entire supermarket shelves into their cart, there are 10,000 people doing their best to prevent the virus from spreading further. In actual fact, we’re now seeing reports from China and Italy about how the crisis is bringing people closer together.

“We’ve learned how to accept help from others,” writes a woman living in Wuhan. “Because of this quarantine, we have bonded with and supported each other in ways that I’ve never experienced in nine years of living here.”

Millions of Chinese people are encouraging each other to stand strong, using the expression “jiayou” (“don’t give up”). YouTube videos show people in Wuhan singing from the windows of their homes, joined by numerous neighbours nearby, their voices rising in chorus and echoing amongst the soaring towers of Chinese cities.

In Siena and Naples, both on complete lockdown, people are singing together from the balconies of their homes. Children in Italy are writing “andrà tutto bene” (“everything will be all right”) on streets and walls, while countless neighbors are helping each other. (Editor’s note: The above photo shows people in Milan cheering on a flash mob from their balcony while home in quarantine.)

Last week, an Italian journalist told the Guardian about what he had witnessed with his own eyes: “After a moment of panic in the population, there is now a new solidarity. In my community the drugstores bring groceries to people’s homes, and there is a group of volunteers that visit houses of people over 65.”

A tour guide from Venice notes: “It’s human to be scared, but I don’t see panicking, nor acts of selfishness.”

The words “andrà tutto bene” – everything will be all right – were first used by a few mothers from the province of Puglia, who posted the slogan on Facebook. From there, it spread across the country, going viral almost as fast as the pandemic. The coronavirus isn’t the only contagion – kindness, hope and charity are spreading too.

Disaster causes a surge in solidarity

The surge in solidarity that we’re seeing will come as no surprise to most sociologists. The current situation has obvious similarities to the human response to natural disasters, which has been researched extensively for decades. News reports following a natural disaster are almost always dominated by stories of looting and violence, but in many cases such stories turn out to be unfounded speculations based on rumour. Since 1963, the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center has conducted nearly 700 field studies on floods and earthquakes, and on-site research reveals the same results every time: the vast majority of people stay calm and help each other. “Whatever the extent of the looting,” one sociologist notes, “it always pales in significance to the widespread altruism that leads to free and massive giving and sharing of goods and services.”’

Yes, panic can happen, and some people may start hoarding. But a British social psychologist notes that “we’re much more likely to see prosocial behaviors across multiple types of disasters and extreme events”.

That truth echoes back across the ages. According to an eyewitness account, when the Titanic went down, there was “no indication of panic or hysteria; no cries of fear, and no running to and fro.”

When the Twin Towers burned on September 11, 2001, thousands of people patiently trudged down all those flights of stairs. “And people would actually [say]: ‘No, no, you first’,” one of the survivors reminisced later. “I couldn’t believe it, that at this point people would actually say, ‘No, no, please take my place.’ It was uncanny.’”

Overhauling our assumptions of human nature

Believing these eyewitness accounts can be difficult. But that’s due mostly because of the cynical portrayal of human nature that’s taken centre stage in recent decades. For years and years, the worst aspects of humanity have dominated the discourse.

“The point is, ladies and gentleman,” said Gordon Gekko, the main character in the 1987 film Wall Street, “that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. […] Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.”

Year after year, politicians have drafted huge piles of legislation on the assumption that most people are not good. And we know the consequences of that policy: inequality, loneliness and mistrust.

Despite all that, something extraordinary has happened in the last 20 years. Scientists all over the world, working in many different fields, have adopted a more hopeful view of human nature. “Too many economists and politicians model society on the constant struggle that they believe reigns supreme in nature, but that belief is based solely on projection,” writes prominent Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal. “Our assumptions about human nature are in dire need of a complete overhaul.”

Distancing ourselves to embrace each other more warmly

Nothing is certain, but this crisis may well help us in that process. We may see a dawning awareness of dependence, community and solidarity. “I don’t know what you’re seeing,” a Dutch psychiatrist and mother tweeted, “but I’m seeing people wanting to help all over the place. By following official recommendations, or something practical like doing someone’s grocery shopping … ”

My German book editor told me about a note that had been posted in an apartment building:
“Dear neighbours. If you’re over 65 and your immune system is weak, I’d like to help you. Since I’m not in the risk group, I can help you in the coming weeks by doing chores or running errands. If you need help, leave a message by the door with your phone number. Together, we can make it through anything. You’re not alone!”

As a species of animal that evolved to make connections and work together, it feels strange to suppress our desire for contact. People enjoy touching each other, and find joy in seeing each other in person – but now we have to keep our physical distance.

Still, I believe we can grow closer in the end, finding each other in this crisis. As Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, recently said: “Let’s distance ourselves from each other today so that we can embrace each other more warmly […] tomorrow.”

Translated from Dutch by Joy Phillips.

This article originally appeared on TheCorrespondent.com.

Watch Rutger Bregman’s TED Talk:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and staff writer of The Correspondent, a journalism platform for unbreaking news. Bregman’s new book “Humankind” will be published in June 2020.

This post was originally published on TED Ideas. It’s part of the “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

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What happens if you get infected with the coronavirus? Who’s most at risk? How can you protect yourself?

Public health expert Dr. David Heymann, who led the global response to the SARS outbreak in 2003, shares the latest findings about COVID-19 and what the future may hold. Here, he answers the 6 most common questions about the coronavirus:

Question 1: What happens if you get infected with the coronavirus?

DH: This looks like a very mild disease, like a common cold, in the majority of people. There are certain people who get infected and have very serious illness; among them are health workers. It’s a very serious infection in them, as they get a higher dose than normal people, and at the same time, they have no immunity. So in the general population, it’s likely that the dose of virus that you receive when you are infected is much less than the dose that a health worker would receive, health workers having more serious infections. So your infection would be less serious, hopefully. So that leaves the elderly and those with co-morbidities to really be the ones that we have to make sure are taken care of in hospitals.

Question 2: Who are the people who should be most concerned about this?

DH: Well, the most concerned are people who are, first of all, in developing countries and who don’t have access to good medical care and may not have access at all to a hospital, should an epidemic occur in their country. Those people would be at great risk, especially the elderly. Elderly in all populations are at risk, but especially those who can’t get to oxygen. In industrialized countries, it’s the very elderly who have co-morbidities, who have diabetes, who have other diseases, who are at risk. The general population doesn’t appear to be at great risk.

Question 3: What pre-existing medical conditions put people at higher risk?

DH: First of all, pulmonary disease existing as a co-morbidity is also important. In general, the elderly are at greater risk, especially those over 70, because their immune systems are not as effective as they might have once been, and they are more susceptible to infections. In addition, in some instances in China, there’s been a co-infection with influenza and at the same time, there have been some bacterial super-infections on the pneumonias that are occurring.

Question 4: Where can we find up-to-date information?

DH: The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta keeps track and has updates on a regular basis on its website. Also, the World Health Organization in Geneva, which is coordinating many of the activities going on internationally, also has a website with daily updates. It’s our responsibility to get that information as individuals, so we understand and can make sure that we can contribute in our own way to prevention of major spread.

Question 5: What questions about the outbreak remain unanswered?

DH: It’s clear we know how it transmits, we don’t know how easily it transmits in humans, in communities or in unenclosed areas. We know, for example, that in the enclosed area of a cruise ship, it spread very easily. We need to better understand how it will spread once it gets into more open areas where people are exposed to people who might be sick.

Question 6: Is the worst behind us?

DH: I can’t predict with accuracy. So all I can say is that we must all be prepared for the worst-case scenario. And at the same time, learn how we can protect ourselves and protect others should we become a part of that epidemic.

Watch the full Talk: