Manager Minute – Ways to Recover from Zoom Fatigue

The secret lies in a single principle: recovery. We need to build in rituals and processes that allow our body and mind to recover from the stress—regularly, many times a day.

It is the same principle that works in physical training. A muscle is stretched through exercise and then allowed to recover before putting more pressure on it.

A link to the full article by Alliance Work Partners, our Employee Assistance Program provider, is found at the end of this Daily News post.

10 Ways to Recover from Zoom Fatigue

1. Intersperse video calls with physical movement. Walk around the room, do sit-ups, or stretch. Move at least once every hour and use this opportunity to stay hydrated.

2. Allow some buffer time between calls that you can use for your recovery rituals. It could be as simple and short as drinking a glass of water, breathing exercises and stretches to release the muscles, or solving a quick puzzle to energize your brain. Given much of our work is over a screen, adopt rituals that do not involve any screen time.

3. Periodically look away from the screen and at something far away like the sky, birds, etc. This will relax your eyes and de-stress you.

4. Use lower-tech interfaces where possible (like phones or emails) to get work done. You can move about while speaking on the phone, which gives you a physical break from screen time, and managing email at pre-determined time slots during the day will help prioritize work and relegate less urgent activities and decisions away from Zoom or Slack meetings.

5. Try to demarcate a space at home where you will work. And leave the other spaces free for other things. This will create certain boundaries for you with others at home as well, and reduce the strain of distraction while working.

6. Build some rituals around work hours. Have a start and end work time so you can stay in control of your time. It will retain some structure which will also be useful once lockdown lifts and work goes back to a (new?) normal.

7. Start online meetings with a check-in and ask people how they are rather than directly jumping into the task at hand. Review some guidelines for how you are going to work together if that is helpful. Similarly, ask questions as the group closes the conversation (called check-out)—was the call useful, how do they feel, etc.

8. Try to sleep and wake at the same time every day and try to take regular breaks that mark the passing of the day. Finding a rhythm to your day helps your body and mind relax and deal with external stressors much better.

9. Find one thing to do every day that affirms your identity. For example, if you and your partner need to dance every day (especially through this stressful time), do so, because it keeps you connected to who you are — and will be — outside the lockdown.

10. Start a new project that is not work-related that gives you space to express yourself and will be relevant even post-lockdown.

All of these things will help you stay grounded through this chaotic time and recover quickly from Zoom fatigue. Stay safe.

Excerpts taken from: https://www.awpnow.com/main/2020/06/03/ways-to-recover-from-zoom-fatigue/

For more information about supervisory resources, please contact your Campus HR Team at HSC.HR@untsystem.edu. For additional virtual professional development opportunities, please visit the Organizational Development & Engagement page at: https://hr.untsystem.edu/organizational-development-engagement-ode.