The great Covid social burnout: Why are we so exhausted?

  

While post-socializing fatigue isn't a novel experience, it has been exacerbated during the pandemic and has affected both introverts and extroverts alike. New Statesman examines the cause of our collective social exhaustion.

The big picture: In 2018, a group of researchers in the Antarctic found that their emotional capacity had been significantly reduced in the duration of their stay there.

This was termed a “psychological hibernation” that caused them to feel dull and less lively. The pandemic has caused a similar situation.

Soon after COVID-led restrictions eased across the world, people attempted to jump right back into their pre-pandemic social routines.

Trying to make up for lost time resulted in a blur of events - at the end of which were sulkier moods, low motivation, poor emotional resilience, bad sleep and weight gain.

How it works: Experts explain that since our brain wasn’t stimulated by people or different experiences during the pandemic, it got used to being quieter and tuned itself to be more emotionally withdrawn.

Getting back to a robust social life was a shock to the system. The brain wasn't used to functioning at such a high speed, and tired more easily when subjected to higher levels of stimulus.

BBC notes that any new activity triggers the brain to lead to a spike in stress. Since staying inside had become the norm during the pandemic, thrusting ourselves into a new routine elevated our levels of stress.

Conversely, being locked down had also caused stress, triggering the fight or flight response within us.

However, since this system is meant to deal with immediate threats, contending with heightened levels of cortisol and adrenaline for over a year led to an eventual crash, per Timeout.