By now, we bet that you’re also sick of the different quarantine name changes and demanding proper mass testing and contact tracing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
While many of us are still well aware of the many safety protocols, we may not be disinfecting our hands, groceries and deliveries as much as we used to. Some have even gone out for non-essential activities like dining in restaurants or inviting people over for a house party (which we highly discourage).
Studies have shown that these tendencies could stem from the caution fatigue phenomenon coined by Jacqueline Gollan, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Gollan explained that the motivation to practice safety measures has declined as our brains no longer treat the virus as an urgent or immediate threat.
“It’s reflected when we become impatient with warnings, or we don’t believe the warnings to be real or relevant, or we de-emphasize the actual risk,” she said. “And in doing that, we then bend rules or stop safety behaviors like washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing.”
The coronavirus is still a very real thing and, sadly, our government hasn’t been handling the health crisis the way we want them to. The number of active cases still continues to rise and our healthcare workers are strengthening their call to increase public health support. Even if the president didn’t tighten quarantine rules, it would still be best to practice the safety measures we know such as wearing masks, washing our hands and disinfecting the things we bring in our homes. If you’ve been struggling to stick to that routine, here are some tips to combat caution fatigue.
Filter the information you consume
Studies say that caution fatigue comes from the brain’s reaction to repeated warnings. Our brains may have treated the news of the pandemic as an immediate threat when lockdowns began, but over time, our sensitivity to the threat may have also decreased. Similar to getting used to background noise, “we get desensitized to the warnings [about coronavirus],” Gollan told TIME. “That’s the brain adjusting normally to stimulation.”
Gollan advised keeping tabs on the news, being aware of the country and your local area’s situation with the pandemic. Knowing the number of confirmed cases within the day could remind you how urgent the virus still is. However, information overload is another risk and could make it more difficult for our brains to contextualize the situation. We may not be used to the influx of so much information that we may find it exhausting to keep up. Balance this by reading up news and information from reliable sources and force yourself to take some time off social media to process and give your mind a break.
Rethink your risks and benefits
Gollan acknowledged that it can be difficult to keep up with goals like flattening the curve because they can be pretty abstract. Moreover, some people tend to undermine the danger of the coronavirus because they don’t personally know someone who caught the virus already.
Rethinking your risks and benefits at an individual level can remind you to stick to social distancing protocols because you’re not only thinking of how your behavior would affect you, but also the people around you.
Every time you think of stepping out, ask yourself first, “Do I really need more groceries or do I just want to go out because I’m bored?” Keep in mind that each time you step outside your home is another chance of passing on the virus to at least one more person. We need to remember that our healthcare workers are facing the brunt of this pandemic, being overworked due to the overwhelmed healthcare facilities.
Keep your mental health in check
This has been said many times, but we can not stress this enough. The pandemic has brought about other problems as well such as family issues and the stress from working at home. Increased anxiety and depression influences how our brains function and could be another cause of caution fatigue since we tend to shift our focus on these.
One way to combat caution fatigue is to practice self-care. Doing things that set your mind at ease can help reset your brain and give you the break you need from the stress and anxiety that leads to caution fatigue. Moreover, conversing about the pandemic with your loved ones is another way to stay informed and to collectively process all the information you receive.
You can’t replicate the same fight or flight instincts that your brain initially produced when you first heard of the pandemic. So changing your mindset when it comes to the risk and reward of practicing safety measures can make social distancing protocols seem less exhausting to follow. The fear of personally contracting the virus may no longer be your motivation, but passing it on as a carrier to someone else and adding to an overwhelmed frontliner’s workload is another thing to think about.
Art by Tricia Guevara
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