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Coronavirus Disease 2019
COVID-19 Is a War, Not a Vacation
Now is not the time to be more productive.
Posted April 27, 2020 Reviewed by Ekua Hagan
There is a lot of messaging that now is the perfect time to try a new hobby or catch up on those home-improvement tasks you have on your to-do list and that somehow it is possible to “make good use” of our time during COVID lockdowns. That is not at all the case.
We are not on vacation. From a psychological perspective, it’s more like the London Blitz. We are all under a tremendous amount of threat from a source we can’t control and can’t predict. That threat might be concern about our own health, the health of friends or loved ones, the financial implications of lockdowns, or just the stress of living in lockdown with partners and kids constantly underfoot.
Every time we leave our homes, we are exposed to that potential threat. We don’t know when it will end, and we don’t have any control over ending it. COVID has forced us to make unprecedented changes in our daily activities. It is impossible to avoid the constant reminders that we are under threat. Psychologically, that’s just like the experience of civilians in a war zone.
It’s well documented that stress interferes with memory, attention, concentration, decision-making, problem-solving (and a bunch of other things I probably can’t remember right now). You might be able to do things that were part of your routine before COVID, but you are unlikely to be able to motivate and organize yourself to do new things. We would expect our productivity to drop dramatically because of this stress.
This threat is perceived by our “caveman” or survival brain. There is no way to shut it off or to “not feel stressed.” Our survival brains are responding the way millions of years of evolution have shaped them to respond. In contrast, our frontal lobe is what controls our behavior, and it has to be consciously and deliberately activated. Our frontal lobe is also like a battery; we use it up to get through our day. COVID life takes up an enormous about of frontal lobe battery.
Just think about how much more effort it takes to go grocery shopping compared to pre-COVID life. We have to think ahead and have a list of items because we’re only supposed to go once a week, we have to check to see when we’re supposed to go as the hours of operation have often changed, often there are special times for certain vulnerable groups, we often have to wait in line to get in the store, we have to constantly monitor how close we are to other people, and so on and so on. All of this takes an enormous amount of frontal lobe battery. And this is just to get groceries! We are dramatically underestimating how much frontal lobe battery COVID life takes up.
Rather than trying to be less stressed or trying to be more productive, spend whatever frontal lobe you have on sticking to a routine that recharges your frontal lobe. Common things that recharge frontal lobes include sleep, eating good foods, drinking water, and social connection. There are also individual differences in what charges your frontal lobe: For some, doing a puzzle makes them feel better; for others, it feels like a drain. Look for activities that make you feel more energetic when you finish than when you start. And these might look different in COVID life than in pre-COVID life.
For example, I didn’t realize that showering makes me feel more capable of handling my day. But I can now see that it is a recharging activity for me. In addition, unlike in my pre-COVID life, I now have to make a deliberate effort to make sure I shower each day. This used to happen automatically in my life; now I have to spend frontal lobe battery to make sure it happens. Again, it never used to be an accomplishment for me to have a shower. In COVID life, it is. This is why our frontal lobes are very, very tired.
Try to create and stick to the same routine each day. Get up at the same time, eat the same breakfast, have a shower at the same time. Sticking to a routine will reduce how much battery you need to use to make healthy choices. It takes energy to stick to a routine, but it will take less energy than making choices all day long. Consider how much frontal lobe it takes to decide what to eat for breakfast: What do I want to have, do I have the ingredients, now I have to make the food, clean up, etc. That all takes frontal lobe energy.
It’s also unlikely you can stick to a routine all day. Mine falls apart after about 11 a.m. After that, I can do routine things, but not things that take frontal lobe energy. I just let that be, and I don’t try to stick to a routine for the rest of the day. I often say to people, “I’m sorry I can’t answer that/do that/help you with that because I have no frontal lobe left; you’ll have to ask me again tomorrow morning.”
Around 9 p.m., I try to get into a bedtime routine to try to protect sleep. It takes frontal lobe energy to turn off your phone and shut off the lights. Put that on a routine, so it reduces how much energy it takes to stick to a good sleep routine: It’s 10:30, time for lights out. Sleep will also be disturbed. (Again, would you expect your sleep to be disturbed during the London Blitz? Of course, you would!) But sticking to a routine that includes getting up at the same time, a wind-down routine before bed, and shutting off the lights at the same time increases the likelihood of good sleep.
Eventually, over time, our frontal lobe batteries will get more charged, and it will take less energy to stick to COVID protocols. But in the meantime, ask yourself, “Would I expect myself to be able to do this during the London Blitz?” If the answer is no, then drop that expectation. Let’s be kind to ourselves and to others. This is really hard.
