Is Island Fever in Hawaii a real thing?

On the live show, we had someone ask about a urban-legend-like concept that we hear about a lot here in Hawaii: Island Fever.  We go into detail:

• What is it?
• Can you catch it?
• What causes it?
• How can you avoid it?

Do you have a question for me that you would like answered on YouTube? Let me know in this form below.

Transcript:

big mahalo to sang yay who sent in this
question that almost everyone asks about
in hawaii is island fever a real thing
in hawaii
i love that question thank you so let’s
talk about island fever what causes it
can you catch it how do you avoid it
[Music]
aloha i’m peter k and i connect with
people that want to live in hawaii so if
that’s you
you want to get subscribed to the
channel and click on the notification i
make a new video every other week so
first off
what is island fever
island fever is i think feeling stir
crazy like you have to get off the
island now i heard of this when i first
moved here and you know
i’ve been living in hawaii since the 80s
have i ever caught island fever
never
never i’ve never in fact i have reverse
island fever i have reverse unfavorite i
don’t want to leave the island but
that’s just me for some people it’s very
real the question is is it something
that can happen to you what do you think
leave me a comment now island fever can
be caused by a lot of different factors
and dylan points a few of these out i
think it kind of depends on that’s more
probably driven by like if you miss your
family or you miss something specific
from somewhere and i think he probably
hit on the real reason or the
combination of reasons
it’s something that you miss on the
mainland and it’s something that you
aren’t getting in hawaii that desire to
have that back
i think is uh what really causes island
fever for example
family a lot of people miss their family
food i mean i never get island fever but
you know i was born in chicago and i do
miss
there’s a lot of chicago food road trips
you can’t take road trips in hawaii not
really not like you can in the mainland
so you know you can miss a bunch of
things and wanting to get those things
back you know that kind of creates
island fever so it’s not so much a fever
thing as much as it is uh i really miss
that thing and i want to get it back and
i’m not getting it here kind of a thing
or like scott says they come here and
they’re not outdoors type of people if
you’re gonna stay inside all day you can
feel very confined and restricted maybe
what’s causing island fever is you don’t
have that mainland network that you’re
used to but i think if you come to
hawaii
and
you’re just on vacation and then have
nothing else to do and no connection
to anyone i mean i can see how
you might not want to stay there is a
new social fabric you need to build
we’re human beings we don’t do well
without social fabrics without social
networks and i’m not talking about
facebook so i mean i think it’s about
having social connections
working or volunteering or having
personal interest or something
because i mean after you go to a few
luaus and
go snorkeling at all the best spots i
mean are you just gonna keep living your
life like you’re on vacation or
or what are you gonna do so how can you
tell
if you’ve been vaccinated
against island fever well
like dylan you won’t even think about it
um i can tell you in my
adult life i went this past 12 months
march to march march 2020 to march 2021
i did not leave the island first time in
my adult life normally i go to mainland
three to six times a year you know
between vacation conferences military
duties whatever it is so i i travel
pretty regularly so
in normal times you know it wasn’t
really a thing because i would travel on
pretty regularly but i went 12 months
and didn’t even notice it i mean it was
totally cool like so i i i think that
was like the first test really if i look
back and i and i do like going to vegas
you know and i do like you know going on
traveling and getting some different
types of food and stuff but i was
totally fine i mean and that’s how
you’ll know now if you really got it
down you won’t even want to leave the
house you know my my family definitely
not my wife she doesn’t even care she
needs a house
there’s another way you’ll know
if you won’t catch island fever
and that’s that feeling you get
when you go on a trip to the mainland
and you come back
and land at the airport man when i every
time i come back on the plane and i step
off and that fresh island air hits you
in that warmth
you just feel home there’s something
about hawaii that really you’ve
connected to over the years and you
you’re never going to get out of your
system there is nothing
that feels as good
as coming back to hawaii i could feel it
in my bones when i walk off the plane i
was walking through the airport and i
could literally i could actually feel
my muscles relaxing i actually felt
consensual my body’s muscles were
relaxing it’s like wow so
based on what we’ve all shared if you
catch
island fever in hawaii it’s because
there’s something missing family and
friends might not really be an outdoor
person and you’re kind of like holed up
inside you’re getting bored with being
on a continual vacation you haven’t
created a good replacement social
network of friends or
there’s activities on the mainland that
you really miss or foods
and you just gotta have it so what about
you
based on what we talked about do you
think you might catch island fever let
me know in the comments
got a question for me
click on the description i got a form
fill out the form leave me your name and
where you’re from so i can give you
credit
i’m peter k
and i’ve never caught island fever and i
never will i got reverse island fever i
don’t want to leave
aloha