How escapism is detrimental to your health

Proper ways to cope with troubling times

- HEALTHY EVER AFTER CHESHIRE QUE, RND, RN, RD

We live in a broken world. Unpleasant experiences may happen anytime, whether it is a consequence of our own doing or an effect of other people’s choices, actions, or words.

As much as we want to avoid stress, conflict, and disappointments in life, our world is imperfect. Each individual has his or her own way of coping. This is pivotal because our response or our coping mechanism can either positively or negatively impact our overall health and wellbeing.

It is but normal to seek entertainment and forms of distraction to destress and recalibrate our minds. However, we cannot allow ourselves to dive deeper into what we call escapism.

According to researchers Hannu Jouhki and colleagues in their longitudinal study on Escapism and Excessive Online Behaviors conducted in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic,

"Escapism is the tendency to distract oneself from real-life problems. It can also be conceived as shutting meanings out of one's mind and freeing oneself from self-awareness for a while. Escapism has been identified as one of the key drivers behind online behaviors in both adaptive and maladaptive ways."

Escapism is not limited to online behaviors. It creates a fantasy and gives one the feeling of being high from the influx of happy hormones or dopamine that strongly compels you to give in to whatever activity or substance that you need to feel that void and escape reality.

Individuals who crave the feeling of being high on dopamine to make them happier can get it from loading up on sugary stuff. That sugar rush will eventually result to crashing, and they feel more awful afterwards. It is a cycle that will inevitably damage their minds and bodies