SMART THINKING

The loss of weddings, formals and graduations is upping our anxiety and stress levels.

The loss of common rituals is upping our anxiety and stress levels.

COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works for many common rituals, from graduation ceremonies to funerals and weddings. As a result, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dimitris Xygalatas from the University of Connecticut has studied how rituals impact our health. His work has been published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and it highlights the important roles rituals play in reducing our anxiety levels. “In the current context of the pandemic, if you were ... an extraterrestrial who’s never met any actual humans -- you would expect that given the current situation, people wouldn’t bother doing things that do not seem crucial to their survival. Maybe they wouldn’t care so much about art, sports or rituals,” says Xygalatas. “If you were to think that, it would show you didn’t know much about human nature, because humans care deeply about those things.”

Rituals play an important role in people’s lives, says Xygalatas. They function as mechanisms of resilience and help reduce anxiety by providing the brain with a sense of structure, regularity and predictability. Xygalatas explains that well-practised rituals are repetitive and predictable, giving our brains the sense of structure and control that we crave, reducing stress levels and anxiety. As some rituals have been affected, alternate ‘rituals’ such as people gathering to applaud healthcare workers and virtual choirs singing across the internet are filling the void, providing relief and a sense of community.