Editor’s Note

STRONG FITNESS MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4

I listened to an ABC podcast the other day about three girls who couldn’t stop laughing. It was 1962 and they went to an all-girls missionary boarding school in Tanzania, and one day a girl began to laugh – for no apparent reason – causing the other two girls to giggle. Like a virus, the laughter spread, impacting their entire classroom before spreading to the children next door and down the hall. Surrounding schools caught the chuckling, and even a village where several of the girls lived was set off – an epidemic of laughter. According to one study published in 2001, 14 schools were shut down and over 1,000 people were impacted. So, what happened?

I won’t even try to explain the complex psychological theories behind this still mostly uncharted area of research. But, essentially, the laughing episode experienced in Tanzania is defined as a ‘mass psychogenic illness’ or a social/behavioural contagion, where people exhibit similar symptoms en masse often without an actual or obvious cause. Like when you yawn, and the person next to you can’t help but mimic it; behaviours, attitudes and beliefs can be contagious. From what I can understand, this phenomenon is made up of three things: a stressor, a connection to other human beings, and a collective response. It’s about the power of language, sound and sight, and of information and rumour and the mind.

You can probably see why I – like many journos – have pulled on this story to try and explain the unexplainable nature of our world today. COVID-19 has turned our lives upside down – one of the biggest societal stressors since the World Wars – and it has understandably had a flow-on effect to people’s mental health and behaviour. Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve seen fights over toilet paper in supermarkets, grocery carts stacked to the brim with canned tomatoes and anyone with hay fever scared for their lives (because what will happen if I sneeze in public?). I’ve watched as the moral outrage, political hate and pure fear spread like wildfire.

Don’t get me wrong, this situation is serious and we all need to be part of the solution. This is on us. But I’d also ask that you remember that social and behavioural contagions can play a big part in everything you feel and everything you do – particularly the negative.

My advice? Take stock of what you read and what you listen to (hint: the World Health Organization is probably a more reliable source of information than your mate’s unvetted social media post). Don’t get panicked, get educated. Stay inside and wash your hands. Keep on top of your physical fitness (Rachel Dillon’s lower-body workout can be done at home, so turn to p. 28), nutrition (learn how to calculate your altered energy intake on p. 52), mental health (it may even start by looking after your gut, says new research on p. 68) and self-care routine (our suggestions are on p. 72). Do your hair and makeup even though you won’t see anyone (autumn inspo is on p. 20).

And remember that another social contagion is kindness. Let’s spread it, together.

Stay strong,

Katelyn

Katelyn Swallow EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @katelynswallow

PHOTO CREDIT: JESSICA APAP