Not MS Fatigue, but Lockdown Fatigue: Dr Sally Shaw

By Dr Sally Shaw.

Lockdown is a strange beast isn’t it?  Whether you are flat out on Zoom, or staring at the ceiling between Netflix episodes, most people are reporting high levels of ‘over it’ and low levels of joy at the current burst of lockdowns rolling across Australia.  And apart from the better traffic times, our essential workers are over it too and still fronting up, doing the same jobs they were doing before this all happened.  

Our feelings around lockdown are complex.  A lot of us question “what’s changed? I still get to go to the shops, go for a walk, do my work…. Sure, I can’t go out for dinner, but hey, it’s not that bad, and worth it for the greater good”… and yet, we still report feeling uneasy about the whole situation.  We are really tired of it now.  Seriously.  Even the most positive people in your life are feeling the effects (and might even be showing a little of their negative side for a change).

Our current societal approach to dealing with the pandemic is creating a new type of fatigue.  Not the type you get from having a million things on the go at one time.  Not even the type of fatigue one associates with a neurological condition like MS. Rather a different and unexpected type of fatigue – Lockdown fatigue.  Yep.  It is a thing.  A state of exhaustion caused by the long term effects of living in a world trying to sort itself out of Covid-19, and in doing so, uprooting even the most boring of life rituals that we used to take for granted.  Who would have thought that I would miss all the to’ing and fro’ing of getting the kids to and from after-school activities?  Or even just ‘school’?  Ah, home learning…  we are all over it.

We miss the mundane, the normal, the usual, the routine.  We don’t like the unexpected, or the lack of certainty.  We have known that for a while now.  But it is the layer of lack of freedom and hope that seems to be clouding our view at the moment.  When will this end?  Will it end?  It feels hopeless.  We are fatigued by it all.

What causes Lockdown Fatigue?

It is the hopelessness. We are working with such unexpected and difficult restrictions, even if we tell ourselves that we can still do the stuff we need to do.  Who thought we would ever have social and physical distancing, border closures, the testing and self isolation, the curfews, the constant changing of plans, the restrictions on seeing family members, 5km limits, and the mask wearing at the doctors, in the supermarket, and even walking the dog by yourself on a windy day…? It would have been ludicrous to suggest such things 2 years ago, and yet here we are. We are fatigued by it all, and the absence of an answer to “When will it end?”.

What does Lockdown Fatigue feel like?

Maybe you have felt sad, depressed or anxious, maybe you are more physically exhausted than usual even though you have lacked motivation to actually do anything.  You could be so much more snappy or irritable than usual, or maybe you have just noticed a lack of concentration, decision making or general care about big or little things.  It feels a bit hopeless.  It feels a bit like ‘whatever’. And it feels really exhausting.  

How to deal with Lockdown Fatigue.

So what should you be doing about this Lockdown Fatigue?  For goodness sake, take a moment and feel whatever you want to feel about it.  Have a sob, have a rant, sleep in, stay in your pjs for your first zoom meeting (pop a jumper on, nobody will notice), eat chocolate after breakfast and get take-away again.  Don’t be all judgey about feeling however you are feeling, just acknowledge that this situation is hard and that you are allowed to feel a million different ways about it.  It might actually be normal to feel happy and sad, relieved and hopeless all at once.

Then try a few of the strategies that saw you through the last lockdown-s.

Talk to people who are meaningful to you.  I know you might not be able to see them face to face, and that’s awful, but make the effort anyway and call them – it will be better than not speaking to them at all.  And your call might make their day so much better.  

Get some routine happening.  Make it about good food and exercise.  Eat three meals.  Have some fruit and vegies. Drink lots of water. Leave the house and walk in the sun (or under an umbrella) each day.  Say hello to people that you walk past and smile at them (even if they can’t see it behind your mask). Try to go to bed at the same time each day.  You’re exhausted, so don’t burn the candle at both ends. That just makes things harder.   

When you are feeling down or nervous or over it, acknowledge those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings and then concentrate on the doing.  Do something that helps you shift into a different head space.  Step outside, turn the tv off, pick up a book, play a game, turn Netflix on, call someone, clean the linen cupboard, ask Brett from MStranslate a question, or concentrate on what you will make for dinner… assist your mind and emotions to move to a more helpful space by doing something that will distract it from the uncomfortable or the hopeless.  This will pass. We will get through it.

Further contributions to MStranslate by Dr Sally Shaw:

Resilience, the Pandemic & MS – click here.

Managing Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic – click here.