Webex classes, Facetime lessons, and Discord meetings…if you’re not Zoomed out by that sentence, I applaud you. Nearly every aspect of our college lives has resorted to remote communication for the past year. My brain capacity for online courses and virtual meetings is starting to run incredibly thin as spring semester 2021 draws to a close. Staring at a screen all day is certainly exhausting and challenging. “Zoom fatigue,” a term coined last March, has popped up on social media and news platforms alike. Everyone’s struggling to focus and find motivation to log on for all their commitments. If you’re mentally drained by the end of each day, know that you’re absolutely not alone. You should keep attending your courses and meetings, but it’s vital that you recharge your soul in between. Here are some easy remedies to cure your fatigue during the day:
- Stretch.
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Sometimes we only have 10-15 minutes between classes. Instead of grabbing your phone to watch YouTube or scroll through emails, close your laptop and do some simple stretches. This can help alleviate stiffness from sitting all day, which is often an additional culprit in making us more exhausted. If we don’t physically take care of our bodies, everything else will start to spiral. Taking some time to move and get proper exercise can increase stamina and boost endorphins, best known as “feel-good” hormones.
- Go lay down.
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Sitting up all day, slouching into our uncomfortable desk chairs or seats at the dinner table, isn’t the best. The lack of physical activity plus strenuous mental efforts to pay attention during calls prompts fatigue. Consider taking a 20-minute power nap in the afternoon between 1-3pm, which is prime nap time for our bodies. If you’re afraid you won’t wake up to your alarm, don’t drift off to sleep; simply close your eyes and meditate.
- Take a day off.
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This is definitely a challenge considering that all of our courses and homework are trapped in our computers, but there’s a lot of merit and benefits to spending 24 hours free from a screen. Find one day a month where you can completely un-plug. No phone, no tablet, no laptop, no TV; engage in activities that don’t require technology. If going cold-turkey is too much, try to limit your usage as much as possible. Instead of spending all day on these devices, try different activities: drawing, painting, reading, writing, hiking, exercising, cooking, baking, singing, board-game playing, writing letters, etc.
- Meal prep healthy snacks.
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Through off and on stay-at-home orders, a lot of us have traded our healthy New Year’s resolutions for comfort food to help us cope. Some of us have become worse caffeine addicts than we were during in-person classes. There’s no shame in loving Mac and Cheese, but consider supplementing carb heavy meals with a nutritional side-kick like carrots and hummus, avocado toast, or a fruit salad. Now that we spend so much time at home, we have the opportunity to prepare meals and snacks. Utilize these extra minutes to cut up fruits and vegetables and use your stove instead of the microwave.
- Read a book.
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Reading paper copies of books diminishes online screen time. Thanks to the pandemic, most of our textbooks are now online via McGraw-Hill Connect or similar platforms. Though it’s not always cost-effective, consider renting physical copies of your textbooks so you can un-plug when studying for your online courses. If you’re done with your homework and/or want a break from school content, pick up a book that interests you. I’m sure you have a pile near your nightstand that you haven’t touched for months. Make a cup of ginger orange tea, cuddle up with your favorite blanket, and dive into literature.