April 2021

If your apartment has become your office, you’ve probably been on countless Zoom calls over the past year. And while the platform has helped many companies stay survive, it’s caused a new type of stress that employees need to grapple with. Burnout is essentially chronic stress that has not been successfully managed. Consider these four approaches to more effectively managing that stress.

Try the Phone

Is it essentially that you and your colleges see each other or a shared screen. If not, consider making your meeting a conference call. Remember those? They can actually be less stressful than a Zoom meeting because you deal with fewer sensory inputs and you don’t have to continuously manage your appearance or expression.

Blue-Light Glasses

In addition to lots of Zoom calls, the pandemic led to most people having more screen time in general. And all of those screens emit blue light, which research shows can cause fatigue and disrupt sleep. The options for glasses that filter blue light has increased dramatically in the last year or so (just google them). If you wear prescription lenses, you can often add blue light blocking technology to your lenses.

Outside Time

Think less stream time and more green time. Being out side, even for a quick 10-15 minutes, can improve your mental health and cognitive functioning. When you’re managing you’re weekly calendar, schedule in some “awe walks” to give yourself a chance to get outside and appreciate nature.

20-20-20 Rule

For every 20 minutes spent looking at a screen, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This relaxes your eye muscles and gives your brain a brief respite. And if you can combine that 20-second break with a quick standing stretch, it’s all the better.