COVID-19 is changing our brains and making some of us rethink our lives, experts say

There's a collective comedown we experience at this time of year, when the festivities and holidays of Christmas, the new year and Australia Day are over.

But it's not just the post-holiday blues we're contending with, amid COVID-19. We're also trying to resume normal routines in a world that hasn't been normal for some time.

That feeling of malaise you might be noticing is a sign of something very particular happening in your brain.

"Essentially our brains have lived through two years of extreme threat and anxiety", says Susan Rossell, a professor of cognitive neuropsychology at Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology.

"When we experience a threat, stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol are increased substantially to enable us to be vigilant. Those stress hormones have stayed high for two years, causing anxiety."