Not washing your hands often? Given up on masks? Here’s how to stop quarantine fatigue
Some people were weary of staying at home to quell the coronavirus after week four of social distancing.
Now three months in, so-called quarantine fatigue has only gotten worse.
But Jacqueline Gollan, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, calls it by another name: caution fatigue.
In a university article on the detrimental impact caution fatigue has on efforts to stay safe during the pandemic, Gollan likened it to a AA battery.
“Initially you may have been energized and positively focused on following pandemic-safety behavior,” she said. “But as the virus has continued on, you may start to focus on the negative and feel physically or mentally depleted.”
What is caution fatigue
In essence, it’s “low motivation or energy to comply with safety guidelines,” Gollan said.
Caution fatigue isn’t unique to COVID-19. It’s the same principle someone might apply to a fire alarm that’s been tested multiple times. If you’ve heard it before, there’s a chance you won’t take the alarm as seriously when it’s the real deal, CNN reported.
“This mental state happens for a few reasons, including chronic stress, decreased sensitivity to warnings and the inability to process new information with others,” the media outlet reported.
Caution fatigue during the age of the coronavirus has been a concern in the U.S. since at least April, when TIME magazine reported “the prolonged cocktail of stress, anxiety, isolation and disrupted routines has left many people feeling drained.”
According to location-based data collected by cell phones and analyzed at the University of Maryland’s Transportation Institute, caution fatigue has been reflected in people’s movements.
The institute reported a “nationwide decline in their social distancing index” starting April 17 and continuing until at least early May, the health news service Medical Xpress reported.
But people aren’t just numb to the danger of the highly contagious virus, Eric Zillmer, a professor of neuropsychology at Drexel University, told Medical XPress — they see the coronavirus as “abstract.”
“It is an invisible enemy and it targets specific vulnerable populations more than others,” Zillmer said. “So some, younger populations for example, may not feel particularly threatened. Wearing masks or the energy it takes to comply with safety guidelines gets old very quickly.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a medical center in Ohio, some of the tell-tale signs of “quarantine fatigue” are irritability, feelings of stress or anxiousness, eating more, sleeping less or being unable to sleep, lack of motivation or productivity, racing thoughts or being on edge.
Information overload can also be a contributing factor, CNN reported.
How to combat caution fatigue
In an article for The Atlantic, Harvard Medical School professor Julia Marcus said the U.S. needs to follow a “harm-reduction” model instead of taking an all-or-nothing approach to risk prevention as states ease restrictions during the pandemic.
The model recognizes the risk people will inevitably take and “offers them strategies to reduce any potential harms,” she wrote.
“This approach meets people where they are and acknowledges that individual-level decisions happen in a broader context, which may include factors that are out of people’s control,” the article states.
That means identifying and differentiating between higher-risk and lower-risk activities and acknowledging that social distancing for some is a privilege, Marcus wrote.
On an individual level, Gollan recommends people make decisions by weighing the risk of exposure against their own health.
“Consider the value of being a good member of collective society, preserving health for yourself and family,” she said in the Northwestern University press release. “It’s value-driven behavior and has an ultimate reward in caring for others and yourself.”
For people who find that difficult — be it from anxiety, stress, exhaustion or depression — Gollan said they should remember to do things that give them “physical, emotional and spiritual energy.”
That means “get enough sleep, follow a balanced diet, exercise regularly, don’t drink too much, stay socially connected and find ways to relieve stress,” TIME reported.
Rebuilding a routine and establishing a “new normal” is also helpful, according to the magazine.
When fear is no longer the motivating factor, CNN reported individuals’ health or the health of others — an altruistic goal — can take its place.
“There’s something powerful about hope, compassion, caring for others, altruism,” Gollan told TIME. “Those values can help people battle caution fatigue.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Not washing your hands often? Given up on masks? Here’s how to stop quarantine fatigue."
