Can the pandemic nudge us to change our habits and make our lives better?

Let’s rewind to pre-coronavirus times. Your life was a daily rut of commuting, long office hours, throwing in a few late-nighters, eating out often and a wobbly exercise regime. You were desperate for a retreat, an inspiration to help reset your biological clock and junk bad habits.

Has the pandemic then come as a blessing in disguise?

Preposterous though it may sound, months of staying at home 24x7 has offered an opportunity to change lifestyles for the better. The opportunity is limited to few, as the lockdown has spelled doom and gloom for the majority. And even among those who feel financially and physically secure, the constant sense of uncertainty hasn’t made it any easier to adopt good habits or make positive changes to their lives.

In the last couple of months, lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho has observed many people improving nutrition levels and sleep cycles or starting to work out. They tended to ignore these earlier citing reasons such as hectic work life, socialising needs and travel time to office. Now, they are no longer finding excuses. But many are not able to make a switch. “Stress levels are still very high and motivation levels are low,” he says.

With restaurants struggling to reopen or even stay afloat and food delivery aggregators reporting a three-fourths dip in revenues in the months following the lockdown, home-cooked food has become the norm.

A positive outcome of this, according to Coutinho, has been weight loss for many people. “It teaches us that there has to be a balance. If you mostly eat out, consuming food that is rich in sugar, salt and oil, weight becomes a problem,” he says.

Another indicator of better health has been reduced blood sugar and pressure levels for people who have been able to afford less work-related stress and, more importantly, zero travel. It shows that too much travelling and at odd hours can mess with our health, says Coutinho.

The Mumbai-based nutritionist, who specialises in integrative medicine (that takes into account physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health), has been posting regularly on social media, encouraging people to utilise their time to cook, exercise and follow a circadian rhythm. Attuned to one’s biological clock, the circadian living he promotes requires waking up before or with sunrise, an early dinner coinciding with or immediately after sunset, and keeping phones and screens off for an hour or two before bedtime.

Coutinho says that many of his patients with sleep disorders have dealt with them better now as it has become easier to go to bed at the same time every day.

But then, given the varying effects of the lockdown, there have also been complaints of insomnia and disturbed sleep, especially with consumption of content on online streaming platforms going up.

For all the positives, Coutinho feels it is too early to say whether people will continue to resist old ways once things return to normal.

There’s a belief that habits can be formed if you stay at a task for three weeks at a stretch. While there is no scientific proof for this oft-cited claim, experts say that at the end of the day the onus is on the individual and how motivated the person is.

In the initial stages of a crisis such as this, job security and maintaining hygiene are of concern for a larger population, says Naveen Kumar, a psychologist at the Manas Foundation in New Delhi. Mental health, on the other hand, is a growth factor (motivator) for a small segment that is aware of and is able to address it.

Health concerns have obviously increased manifold in the wake of the pandemic. But has that translated into people seeking mental health support in India? Kumar says no.

While there is no dearth of self-help advice, not many are likely to come out positive from the pandemic experience, as it threatens our lives and wreaks havoc on our economic conditions. In such a situation, even the need to learn something positive can be stress-inducing.

According to Kumar, the last three months have witnessed a spike in anxiety spectrum disorders. Among these are generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder. “You don’t have a clear-sighted idea, because nobody has answers today. That uncertainty leads to what we call anxiety spectrum disorders,” he says.

As the new normal prolongs, Kumar says it would also get easier to deepen negatives such as drinking, smoking, abusiveness, irritability and impulsive behaviour. Unlike bad ones, good habits demand sustained effort.

A recessionary aftermath that may last several years is anticipated as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Will it mean a flattening of the consumerism curve, too, and a nudge to lead less indulgent and more environment-friendly lives?

As economic activity crawls back, one might reach out for retail therapy sooner than we imagine.

Herd tendency is more certain than herd immunity, says N Chandramouli, who heads TRA Research, a Mumbai-based brand consultancy. He points to China, where people have gone on a shopping binge post-lockdown. Chandramouli calls it “freedom buying” rather than revenge buying, used to mean aggressive splurging on products in reaction to a period of denial. “Freedom buying is bound to happen. It is not dependent on costs of products but their value to the consumer,” he says. “People will also flock to theatres the moment they open.”

He anticipates a spurt in online shopping, and wagers better Diwali sales than in the last couple of years, with brands set to woo buyers with smart marketing.

“Other than health care, automobile brands are among the main advertisers at the moment. Cars will be sought after, including electronic vehicles as the pandemic will also encourage environment-friendly shopping.”

Marketers view changes in consumer behaviour as long-term with underpinnings of desire over need.

“The pandemic and lockdown are an experience like incarceration. We are adapting to a circumstance, but the underlying emotion is already that ‘I want to go and party and show that I am free,’” says Chandramouli.

In our new repressed order, returning to hedonistic habits may seem a far cry.

As Kumar puts it, “Habits have a habit of rebounding.” And unless somebody is following monitored or coached intervention, with some amount of self-motivation, an individual may not form a positive habit.