A lot of people are complaining on social media that they are feeling more tired than usual in this lockdown period. Normally able to stay up into the small hours, they are now hitting the pillow at 10 o’clock. People are wondering how this can be when we are all doing less.
The feelings of fatigue that you are experiencing now is more likely to be due to the mental workload associated with COVID-19. Fatigue can have both physical and non-physical causes. Generally, after a workout, we deserve a rest, or after an illness, we can feel run down and tired for a few weeks.
But researchers have shown that tiredness can be caused by psychological states, such as stress and anxiety as well. In the current situation, it could even be the boredom can cause us to feel tired.
Therefore, dealing with the psychological strain associated with coronavirus could be wearing us out. So how do we go about getting our energy back?
Structure Your Day
The next lesson on how to keep your energy up comes from observing people in survival situations. To avoid feeling low and unmotivated, it is important to have a clear structure for your day.
The structure allows us to gain some control over our lives. It helps prevent a buildup of the so-called empty time that could make you very aware of confinement, and cause a growing sense of “drift”. This can make people feel withdrawn and apathetic, sleep badly and neglect their personal hygiene.
Let us see one extreme case from survival world which shows the benefits of structure. In 1915, when Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance became trapped in the Antarctic ice, he imposed strict routines on his crew.
He was well aware of a previous expedition ship, the RV Belgica, which had become trapped overwinter in the Antarctic ice in 1898. The captain did not establish any routine and as a result, the crew suffered from low morale.
Shackleton had strict meal times for the crew and ordered them to gather in the officers’ mess after dinner to have socialization. These scheduled activities prevented boredom that can occur when a small group of people are confined together for significant periods.
So although it might feel good to have the odd morning lie-in, it is better for your energy levels to set up your day with a clear structure and make time for social activities, even if they need to be undertaken online.
Another non-physical cause of fatigue is anxiety. The pandemic has made people confuse and given some a sense of fear. All these feelings can lead to poor sleep quality, which in turn can make people more tired and anxious.
We need to break this cycle and exercise is a useful tool for this. Going for a walk or doing an online exercise class can make you feel physically tired but it will reduce feelings of fatigue as your sleep quality improves.
Planning ahead and setting goals is now very much necessary. Be optimistic about the future and have things to look in the future can also help reduce these anxiety and reduce fatigue.
