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You may be surprised to learn that Zoom Fatigue can actually be a big contributor towards stress and facial tension.
This is because your brain is working harder in a Zoom call than when you are in an in-person conversation.
Why? Because you're just a little box on a screen, emoting more energy to engage your audience, with little to no body language cues, and poor eye contact with other people on the screen.
All of this can lead to more anxiety, exhaustion, overworked facial muscles and stress.
Here’s the science behind the stress…
Stress & Your Facial Muscles
When the body is stressed, muscles tense up to protect us, This tension is almost a reflex reaction to stress - the body's way of guarding against injury and pain.
When muscles are tense and in this state for long periods of time, it can trigger other reactions in the body and even promote stress-related disorders.
Facial tension can cause the face to change shape, along with headaches, heavy eyes and jaw discomfort.
Common areas of tension caused by stress...
- Neck
- Jaw
- Eyes
- Temples
How To Relieve Facial Tension
Massage!! Facial massage can be one of the most beneficial treatments when it comes to releasing muscle tension or knots from Zoom meetings, by helping to increase circulation and blood flow, loosening up the muscles and improving muscle function.
This helps in relieving pain and stiffness. Regular massage is needed to treat stress and tension in muscles, it’s great for our wellbeing and helps to relax you, allowing some much-needed Me Time.
Obviously, you can't do a quick DIY massage during a Zoom call, but you could treat your facial muscles to a little TLC in between calls. These mini-massages can be particularly effective for jaw pain or if you tend to tense your jaw muscles during Zoom calls. (Just make sure your camera is switched off!)
Top Tips To Reduce Zoom Fatigue
- Manage your meetings - try and limit your video conferencing to 4 hours a day.
- Drink plenty of water- to keep you and your skin hydrated. Electromagnetic waves from your screen can cause dehydration and can lead to headaches.
- Check your posture – keeping an eye on how you are sitting while staring at the screen will help prevent stress on the muscles keeping facial tension away.
- Stretch – Stretch your legs, arms and face in between meetings. Yes, your face! Keep the FaceGym Face Ball at your desk to stretch out your muscles throughout the day.
- Facial exercises - exercising your facial muscles, sometimes called face yoga are great ways to boost both complexion and skin tone, but these can be especially beneficial if your face is experiencing Zoom Fatigue. FaceGym's Face Workouts can work wonders for facial tension.
- Breathing exercises - along with exercises to relieve the physical stress of your facial muscles, adopting a habit of some stress-reducing deep breathing sessions can help lower blood pressure and promote emotional calm. Breathing deeply or rhythmic breathing techniques can be quick and simple relaxation tools that not only prevent facial tension, but can improve performance at work too. So you'll be calm, focused and looking great for that next Zoom call!