-After nearly a year of mask wearing and spending long days
couped up at home, pandemic fatigue is taking a toll.
-I know things are strange right now,
but there's gotta be a way for us to,
I don't know, make things seem normal?
-The idea of pandemic fatigue is,
it's really sort of a short hand
for talking about a lot of the experiences
that people are facing right now.
We are oppressed, anxious, stressed, burnt out,
and really, pretty much exhausted
by all the efforts we've taken to mitigate the pandemic.
-It's that notion that we took a lot of precautions
at the beginning and,
but then over time, we've become sort of lax in doing.
This is a problem because people stop doing the things
that they need to do to keep themselves safe.
When we constantly have to analyze the level
of threat an plan for it, it's going to lead to burn out.
I mean we can psychologically, physically only take so much
in terms of a stressful circumstance.
-But experts have signaled the end is in sight.
-The sweetness is the light at the end of the tunnel.
Which I can tell you, as we get into January, February, March,
and April that light is going to get brighter.
-As the US moves through the initial vaccination period,
here are some tips on how to combat pandemic fatigue
even if those around you are bending health guidelines.
-What seems to be the problem here?
-This man is harassing me,
telling me that I have to wear that mask.
-One of the things we know about the human and mammalian
stress response
is that we cannot live in a constant state of alert
and fight or flight all the time.
There's just a point at which people can't do it anymore.
And so one of the ways that we've been talking
to people about is trying to find solutions
that still work within social distancing,
stay at home, public health guidelines.
-The fact is that all of us have been deprived
and been kind of prevented from doing the things
that we love to do, we enjoy to do.
And I really encourage people to do that.
To put back in things that are fun.
So, for example,
if you enjoy going out to dinner with friends,
have a virtual dinner with friends.
Use those conferencing platforms and go out with friends,
you know, by having your, your computer or tablet or phone
in front of you and interact more with them.
-So, uh, what's for dinner tonight?
-I think we have to be creative about our self care
so social interactions we need to modify so that they're safe.
Of course exercise them.
A huge proponent of mindfulness of practicing gratitude
to kind of override
that our tendency to focus on the negative.
-We've talked a lot about to people about interrupting
their doom scrolling,
not going to bed with their devices.
Not engaging particular high activation kinds of things
right before you're going to sleep.
Make sure you have a good glide path into bed at night.
You want to get the 7-9 hours that you need.
If you had asked us back in March
"How would you fare if you have to do this a year from now,
I don't even think we conceptually had a language
or could put ourselves forward to what it would mean,
what it would really truly mean for our psychology
to stay inside for a year.
We are finishing up a marathon here
and we need to take care of ourselves,
take care of other people
and people around us to get to the end.
But we need to try to manage all the difficulty
that we've experienced in the past year
to get to the finish line,
to get vaccinated to keep the social distancing
until we flatten the curve fully and get back on track.