The terrible ‘20s have seen the most radical changes to our society in a generation. As MSP moves into a post-Jeff world, we examine some at home hacks designed to keep us healthy until the world reopens.  

Hosted by Matt Armitage & Richard Bradbury

Produced by Richard Bradbury for BFM89.9

EPISODE SOURCES

https://www.wired.com/story/stop-doomscrolling/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/technology/personaltech/youre-doomscrolling-again-heres-how-to-snap-out-of-it.html 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732922-400-what-is-the-best-way-to-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off-for-good/ 

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24732913-000-how-changing-the-way-you-sit-could-add-years-to-your-life/

EPISODE EXCERPT

Ballooning weight gain. Crisps. And doom scrolling. 2020 has not been kind to MSP’s Matt Armitage. Following the do as I say principle, MSP has been experimenting with some ways to stay physically fit and mentally healthy in these strange times. 

You want to start today by telling us about your morning routine?

• I’ve had a very similar routine for much of the last four years. 
• I open my eyes and I reach for my phone and thumb to my news site of choice to find out what Donald Trump has or hasn’t done during the eight odd-hours I’ve rolled fitfully on a mattress. 
• So, far, to his credit, he hasn’t done anything that might directly kill me. 
• So, even before coronavirus came around, I was waking up every morning expecting the worst.

That can’t be very healthy?

• It’s not. But it’s symptomatic of something wider. 
• To give you some context: I’m generally quite anxiety prone.
• And quite a lot of smaller surveys and anecdotal reports from health professionals and the anxious themselves, seem to concur that those with anxiety have coped with the coronavirus quite well. 
• Possibly because a lot of our anxiety comes from uncertainty in our interactions with the wider world.
• So, on the contrary, lockdowns and procedures have provided a certain amount of certainty for the anxious in dealing with the threat. 
• Plus, many of us already have coping mechanisms to deal with - basically - life.

So it’s been a busman’s holiday?

• For those of you unfamiliar with 1970s British sitcoms, a busman’s holiday is the idea of doing the same thing for a holiday as you do for work. 
• But yeah, I coped with the restrictions of the first phase of Malaysia’s MCO pretty well.
• Someone tells me I’m not allowed to go anywhere or interact with people - suits me, I generally don’t want to go anywhere or interact with people. 

How does that relate to your morning routine?

• Well, like many of the anxious, I’m coping with reopening less well than the closing down.
• Being around groups of people freaks me out. 
• Eating in restaurants feels uncomfortable and weird. 
• My wife goes out far more than me and I scream super-spreader at her every time she comes home.