COVID-19 Lockdown Fatigue

Abstract

In this COVID-19 lockdown Survey Monkey study, as many as 75% of 260 respondents reported feeling fatigued. Correlation analyses suggested that feeling fatigued was significantly correlated with demographic variables and virtually every item on every scale of the survey. The demographic correlations suggested that fatigue occurred more frequently in younger participants, in males, and in those not working from home during the lockdown. The significant correlations for the scales suggested that those feeling fatigued engaged in fewer health activities including exercise and self-care; they spent more time on social media including gaming and Facebook; they engaged in less cooking and creative projects; they scored higher on the Stress Scale including worrying more about the virus and their finances; they reported feeling more isolated, lonely, bored and touch deprived; they did more snacking and napping and expressed more “cabin fever”; they had lower scores on connecting and activities at home; and they had higher scores on anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and PTSD scales. A regression analysis suggested that 51% of the variance in the fatigue scores was explained by the depression (37% variance), sleep disturbances (12%) and anxiety (1%) scores. These results are limited by their being self-reported data from a non-representative, cross-sectional sample. Nonetheless, they highlight the negative effects of feeling fatigued during a COVID-19 lockdown.