© РИА Томск. Павел Стефанский TOMSK, Sep 10 –
RIA Tomsk. An interdisciplinary team of
researchers from Tomsk State University (TSU) intends to find out the specifics
of psychological stress formation in people forced to live and work both in the
real and virtual worlds and develop technologies to preserve psychological
well-being in these conditions, the university's press service reported on
Friday.
It is noted that
with global digitalization and the transition of a large part of human life
into the online space, many people have a gradual increase in psychological
stress. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition of business and educational
processes to virtual reality has become particularly rapid.
"The task
of the research, which is planned to involve TSU scientists of various profiles
- physiologists, psychologists, IT specialists and others - is to study
mechanisms of mutual influence of the digital and real world on the mental
sphere and physical state of a person, on his cognitive functions and
communication abilities," reports the university's press service.
Scientists
compare the complexity of multiple transitions from one reality to another to
changes in climate or altitude. For example, when a person who lives on the
plains goes up to the mountains, he needs time to adapt. At the same time, all
of his or her systems - cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous and others -
suffer. The situation is similar in the transition from the virtual world to
the real world, but the stress is on mental health.
"Whether we
like it or not, each of us lives in multiple work or study chats, sometimes
confusingly so. We have a growing syndrome of information overload. Finding and
ensuring a balance between the real world and online is becoming more and more
difficult," Head of the Department of Sports and Health Tourism, Sports
Physiology and Medicine of the TSU Faculty of Physical Education Leonid
Kapilevich is quoted.
The obtained
data may form the basis for the development of approaches and principles of
psychological and physical adaptation of a person to existence in two realities
and transitions between them. Scientists have already created a preliminary
groundwork - in previous years they studied the specifics of the impact of
physical exercises on the cognitive functions of athletes and the specifics of
people's behavior in the Internet space.