Getting Toasty This Winter

The midwinter conditions at the South Pole station are so dark and isolated that NASA is studying their effects to help astronauts on a future Mars mission. No sunlight for long periods. No personal space. No escape from workplace conflicts. For many, especially in the northern climes, that description could easily define the gloom of a pandemic winter where we are confined mostly to our homes.

“You want to avoid what they call down there ‘getting toasty,’” says a Harvard astronomer and physicist, in a recent Boston Globe article, who has made 28 trips to the South Pole. Toasty derives its name from a piece of toast that’s burnt (out), and it sets in during the last half or third of the winter when personnel at the South Pole station become fixated on “When is it going to be over?"

How to fight the creeping grouchiness? The experts say find a mission and create events to look forward to. The more isolated we become the more likely we are to lose those crucial positive thoughts. And perhaps the best advice for dealing with things you have no control over—go with the flow and do not get aggravated.
This advice works for aging as well.

Learn More:
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/19/nation/they-survived-life-submarine-south-pole-heres-their-advice-staying-sane-this-winter/?et_rid=603667311&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter