Why Zoom Meetings Make You Tired and What to Do About It with Dr. Amy Mednick The KTS Success Factor® (a Podcast for Women)

Do you struggle with the new normal that the pandemic has brought — constant Zoom calls, online webinars, and limited face-to-face interaction?
The big changes brought about by the pandemic altered how we function day-to-day. And many of these add stress to our life. So how do we adapt to these sudden big changes and face the new normal?
Dr. Amy Mednick is a psychiatrist working in her own private practice. She received her medical degree with Distinction in Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from MIT. She specializes in the overlap between the humanities and neuroscience and leads a lecture series for psychiatric residents in training, social workers, and psychology trainees. She's been involved in both brain research and linguistic research and has authored articles in Clinical Psychiatry News. Her new book is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections.
In this episode, Amy dives a little bit deeper and explains the unconscious cognitive change the pandemic has brought in our day-to-day functioning and interaction whether in the workplace or in life.
 
What you will learn from this episode:
Uncover why you feel more tired and exhausted with the sudden shift to the online world Explore different ways to overcome mental fatigue in the new normal Learn the three warning signs you need to watch for and the action you then need to take  
“Do things that someone running from a tiger wouldn't do.”
-Dr. Amy Mednick
 
Valuable Free Resource:
How to humanize the new normal and make better virtual connections through promising strategies: Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connection  
Topics Covered:
01:55 - How the Pandemic Started It All: Dr. Amy shares why she and Dr. Leonard decided to write the book
04:05 - Boundaries Between Anything: What made the pandemic hard for most people?
05:25 - The Warning Trio: Dr. Amy talks about the warning signs that our needs are not getting met
06:44 - Need for Safety: Why is it so hard for you to focus especially when everything’s transitioning virtual?
08:45 - Need for Understanding: Why do you end up more exhausted from WFH rather than F2F
09:49 - Need for Belonging: How can exclusion and isolation actually hurt us physically?
12:18 - Dr. Amy explains how the feeling of exclusion manifests in us
19:55 - How to Simplify the Complex: Dr. Amy shares how women leaders can address the complexity the pandemic brought in the workplace
22:29 - What can you do to help your team recharge, especially during the pandemic?
24:31 - Sending Virtual Hugs: Dr. Amy shares how can you create a sense of safety and belongingness within your workplace
25:18 - Does the remote work setting still overlooks women and their capabilities?
26:16 - Disconnecting Online, Connecting Offline: What can you do to avoid misunderstandings and disconnections in remote settings
29:55 - Take Care of Yourself First: Dr. Amy talks about the importance of self-care in lowering your team’s stress levels over Zoom and the new normal
36:10 - Dr. Amy shares why psychological safety is so important
 
Key Takeaways:
“We get used to anything. As humans, we adjust to anything. So, I think now it's a way of life. And it's getting easier.” -Dr. Amy Mednick
“It's a lot of work to make sense of things. So, if you're exhausted at the end of a workday, it could be a warning sign that your brain is working excessively hard just to make sense of what is going on with others around you and that maybe there's an adjustment that you could make there.” -Dr. Amy Mednick
“Mental fatigue, mental work, brain work affects your physical strength.” -Dr. Amy Mednick
“Your brain does not like discrepancy. It does not like things it can't explain. So, when something doesn't match what it expected, like a