After months of quarantine, Americans have been jolted into undeniable new challenges — faced with accepting strange new realities, or in some cases, forced into creating new ones.
Whether it’s taking drastic measures to ensure our livelihood or transforming our bizarre nightmares into anxiety-fighting tools, quarantine can ultimately prepare us for life’s biggest threats to come and make us better at managing our own greatest fears — one vivid new reality at a time.
In this episode of The Abstract, we discuss how lockdown became the perfect time to quit smoking and turn dreams into new realities.
Our first story is about how the coronavirus pandemic provided life-long smokers with new motivation to quit the habit. As a trusted coping mechanism turns into an imminent threat, the drive to finally stop smoking during a pandemic is often met with one very difficult question: How exactly do you quit while the world is retreating into quarantine?
Our second story is about the vivid coronavirus-related dreams you’re having. Ranging from hopeful to terrifying, it turns out our weird new pandemic dreams aren't just strange – they have an upside. With research suggesting they can help prepare the brain for real-life situations, understanding what our feelings and anxieties are in quarantine can offer us a healthy new way to express these emotions.
Read the original Inverse stories here:
- How you can turn your strange coronavirus dreams into anxiety-fighting tools
- Smokers who want to survive coronavirus should “100 percent” quit, experts say
Where to find us:
- Subscribe to The Abstract wherever you listen to podcasts: iTunes | Spotify | TuneIn | RadioPublic | Stitcher
- Follow Emma Betuel on Twitter
- Follow Inverse on Twitter
- We're hosted and produced by Tanya Bustos
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Right now, facts and science matter more than ever. That's part of the reason for The Abstract, this all-new podcast from the Inverse staff that focuses exclusively on science and innovation. Three new episodes are released a week, and each covers one theme via two related stories. Each features audio of original Inverse reporting, where the facts and context take center stage. It's hosted by the Tanya Bustos of WSJ Podcasts. Because we're Inverse, it's all true but slightly off-kilter. It's made for people who want to know the whole story. —Nick Lucchesi, executive editor, Inverse
