Subtle signs you're suffering from 'quarantine fatigue' and how to combat it

• Many Americans are feeling an itch to return to their pre-pandemic social habits that's been described as "quarantine fatigue."
• The phenomenon is compounded for many by good weather and a false sense of security if they live somewhere less populated and have remained healthy.
• But quarantine fatigue can lead to poor decisions that can negatively affect public health and the coronavirus's trajectory.
• Early signs you're suffering from it can include irritability and a lack of motivation, but it can be managed.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

After nearly two months largely sheltering in place, Tony Lemieux, a social psychologist in Atlanta, went on a much-needed bike ride with his emergency-medicine clinician friend and their families.

The groups wore masks and kept their distance from each other and fellow recreationalists, but were startled by the number of people they passed not taking the same precautions.

The clinician said he wouldn't be surprised if the scene and others like it landed a lot more people in his hospital with COVID-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes. Such patients, Lemieux remembers his friend saying, "are some of the sickest people I've seen in my career."

Similar scenarios have played out across the US as some cities begin to lift restrictions, the weather improves, and Americans grow increasingly restless. Cellphone location data has shown that, compared to mid-March, people began making more trips, traveling farther, and staying home less beginning in mid-April.

Lei Zhang, director of the Maryland Transportation Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park, which is leading the research, dubbed the phenomenon "quarantine fatigue."

Even if it's not entirely conscious — unlike blatantly guideline-defying "COVID parties" or maskless protests — the trend is troubling because it can lead to a resurgence of the virus that's still killing an estimated 3,000 people per day and has been predicted to lead to nearly 135,000 COVID-19 deaths in the US by August.

"There's a disconnect" between people's actual and perceived risk of contracting or spreading the virus, Lemieux, who directs Georgia State University's Global Studies Institute, told Insider. As one viral tweet quipped, it's "very American to decide we are bored with COVID and therefore it is over."

Here's how not to fall victim to poor decision making that can ultimately make you, your loved ones, and community sick.

The phenomenon is compounded by good weather, financial woes, and mixed information

Quarantine fatigue is quite understandable.

Some parks and beaches are open, restaurants are offering to-go cocktails, and Americans are taking advantage of it — as they should, just occasionally and responsibly.

"The general principle should be: Outside is better than inside; open is better than closed; fewer is better than more people; and stay away from sick people," Dr. Erich Anderer, a neurosurgeon and founding member of the North Brooklyn Runners, previously told Insider.

But ultimately, Zhang said, "when people go out more and go to more places and stay there longer," the risk of spreading the virus goes up.

The fatigue is especially understandable among people who've stayed healthy, or don't live in areas with overflowing hospital traffic and 24-hour screaming sirens. For them, news of the rising death tolls can feel more like an abstract concept than an urgent reality, Lemieux said.

"It's this weird abstract thing that's happening to other people somewhere else, not me, not here," Lemieux said.

The economy matters, too. With unemployment rates at an all-time high, for many Americans, the threats of needing to pay rent or even get food on the table are "more immediate and salient" than the longer-term public health threat of the pandemic, Lemieux said.

And, mixed and misinformation — ranging from changing advice on mask wearing to full-blown conspiracy theories — can lead people to throw their hands up at stay-at-home orders and do what they want.

"When there are competing narratives and competing information, people are going to lean in the direction of what they wanted to do anyway or they're going to do things that are going to reduce that dissonance," Lemieux said.

Not all signs of fatigue are obvious

Restlessness that may lead you to take a more relaxed stance toward physical distancing can manifest in subtle ways.

"There's a lot of potential maladaptive responses we're seeing in various forms, and some of them are more modest" than, say, domestic violence or substance abuse, Lemiuex said. "Did you snap at someone today and not know why you did it?" Blame quarantine fatigue.

Melody Wilding, a social worker who coaches people on workplace success, told Business Insider she's also hearing people struggling with motivation. A month ago, they planned and prepared a week's worth of meals at a time, finally cleaned out their closet, and committed to showing their bosses they're excellent remote workers.

Now, they struggle to do the dishes, care less about their kids' screentime habits, and can't get fired up at work. "People are burning out," she said.

Your quarantine fatigue may also present as loneliness, another very real health threat in an era of physical isolation.

"If we think about loneliness as this adaptive response kind of like hunger and thirst, it's this unpleasant state that motivates us to seek out social connections just like hunger motivates us to seek out food," lead study author Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, previously told Business Insider.

Of course, she said, in a situation like a pandemic that requires you to reduce or eliminate your face-to-face contact, that discomfort needs to be endured to stave off more dangerous, immediate effects.

To shut down poor decision-making, remember the virus doesn't care if you're bored

No matter how understandable, it's important to manage your quarantine fatigue without giving in to it in potentially risky ways. "The virus doesn't care if we're bored," Lemieux said.

"It's the classic psychological problem of favoring short-term pleasure over long-term benefit," Wilding added. To cope, she tells clients "it comes back to making decisions for your future self — making decisions for the person you want to be, not the person you've been."

Experts also reiterate coping mechanisms for dealing with coronavirus-related anxiety: Attempt to establish a routine, eat healthy and find ways to move daily, seek virtual therapeutic help, reach out to loved ones through video or phone calls, and help people less fortunate.

And while you may consider taking up a new hobby, it's also important not to expect too much of yourself right now, Lemieux said. Doing your best to keeping yourself, your family, and your community safe is enough.

"We've got to go a little easy on ourselves right now to do the best we can but recognize there's this uncertainty and cloud hanging over that can thwart the best of intentions," he said. "Give that it's due space."