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Coronavirus Freebies: Stay Entertained, Stay Sane, Stay Safe & Stay Home: Long-term social isolation results in fear, aggression, sleep cycle changes & hallucinations

Culture is an important part of our being, it is probably that hidden basic need for people to survive and stay sane. With the lockdown and now curfew in Indore, people are stuck at home with limited social interaction.
Social isolation can affect the brain in more ways than most people expect. A recent study conducted by a team of Caltech researchers showed that a particular neural chemical is overproduced during long-term social isolation, causing increased aggression and fear.
Another experiment taken up by a professional US poker player Rich Alati in November 2019 showed that social isolation causes range of side effects, including changes to sleep cycle, and hallucinations.
 Luckily, cultural and entertainment institutions are taking a generous step and providing a multitude of offers and initiatives for people to find some engagement. These initiatives are being launched to encourage residents to stay home and aid the efforts to counter the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
We have gathered offers that can help you survive sanely during your ‘Stay Safe, Stay Home’ period:

Amazon gives free videos, audiobooks & e-books
Amazon Prime Video streaming service has just made some television shows and movies for kids free to help parents cope up with the pressure of working from home.
Amazon’s Audible also launched a free collection of audiobooks for children that can be streamed on users’ desktops, laptops, phones, and tablets. Further, Amazon’s Kindle is offering two free months to its unlimited e-book service to new users.

Catch live fitness workouts
Many fitness enthusiasts are now offering free live fitness workout sessions every morning. These sessions go live like normal classes, where everyone can attend, interact and be fit.
Aarti Maheshwari is regularly live on Facebook guiding people to be fit in her live Zumba workouts. Mukta Singh is uploading tips and exercises for fitness at home. Other than these local enthusiasts, several international fitness experts are going live and helping people stay fit at home.

Free online Darshan
An important aspect for maintaining sanity and hope is inner peace. People, who regularly visit temples, church, mosque, gurudwara, etc. are struggling to find peace. Giving people free Darshan from home, Shirdi Sai Baba temple has already started a 24 hour free live streaming. Other temples are soon to follow.
Christian community members can attend online Daily Holy Mass, Way of the Cross, and different prayer services which are available on Atmadarshan TV Indore, Shalom and EWTN, as shared by Bishop Chacko SVD.
The channel is regularly telecasting daily Holy Mass in Hindi at 6.30 am, 7.30 am and also in the evening at 6pm and 7pm. Sunday Holy Mass in Hindi will be at 7:00 am and 8:00 am and in English at 9:00am. In the evening also there will be three Holy Masses in both the languages.

Access to Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe (ADBE) is offering access to its Creative Cloud applications to students, who are now studying from home. The offer applies to anyone at schools that normally have lab access tied to their campus’ online network. Some majors, like film and art, rely on Adobe’s Photoshop, InDesign, and premier applications for essential projects.

Yoga & Prayers go online
Many yoga organisations including Yoga Prana Vidya is organising regular special free meditation sessions online for people. The sessions are aimed to help people deal with social isolation. Vishakha Karnani, senior YPV healer, coordinates the special sessions.

Free e-learning resources
Free e-learning resources are being offered for kids of all the ages by Scholastic India and other organisations. These resources are aimed to engage and educate children of different grades. These resources can be accessed by them remotely on any device including mobile phones.
The offerings go from pre-K to 9th grade, covering topics like English, language arts, STEM, science, social studies, and social-emotional learning.

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