VIRTUAL TRAVEL: A VIRTUAL REALITY ASSISTED TOOL FOR STRESS RECOVERY

As efforts to contain the effects of COVID 19 crisis ramp up, millions of people across the globe are stuck at their homes. The chaos put forward by COVID 19 has struck the whole idea of ‘travelling’. Countries across the globe have closed their borders to further contain the spread of coronavirus. This unpredicted situation demanded the introduction and adaption of newer technologies to tackle and resume pre-COVID times. 

Researches have proved that travelling results in the so-called ‘Stress Recovery’. Stress recovery refers to the process during which an individual’s functioning returns to its pre-stressor level. Leisure trips of pleasure of travelling can help an individual recover from work stress and hence increase their psychological well-being. None of these principles really could be applied under the current circumstances of COVID 19. But technology has actually paved its way to the solution in VR or virtual reality, by which you can travel across the globe from the comfort of your home or workspace.

 The VR the environment is a fully immersive experience, where the user actually enters a virtual reality room and gets a fully 3-dimensional feeling, where they are free to explore which gives them a strong sense of presence and realism. Studies have proven that the virtual travel experience created through virtual reality can reduce stress and individual well-being, hence better productivity. The pandemic of COVID 19 has drastically digitalised the whole world within the last few months. This rapid digitalisation brought up VR technology as a new tool to resume the concept of travelling, which ultimately is an option for ‘Stress Recovery’.  

The world itself is being pushed to a virtual world, like the virtual classrooms, virtual workspaces, virtual meetings and virtual discussions. A new global concept is on a rise: ‘Virtual is a new reality’. This technology of Virtual reality will help us to presume our travel explorations, which ultimately was one of the best options for Stress recovery. 

Mr Jude James, Pharm.D Intern