How Noomers around the world are dealing with COVID fatigue

COVID fatigue is real. Many people feel worn down from COVID, such as from year-long anxiety and worries about relatives’ health or not being able to resume activities that give us joy. Since this feeling is so strong all over the world, we wanted to see if Noomers in different countries are feeling the same way and how they’re coping with it.

United States: exercise and yoga to cope

In the United States, people may have turned to exercise to cope with COVID fatigue. US Noomers spent 21 million more minutes exercising in the second half of COVID (September 2020-March 2021) than they did in the first half of COVID (March 2020-September 2021). When accounting for the fact that more Noomers signed up as the year went on, there were 5 more minutes of exercise per person that signed up and 2 more instances of exercise per sign-up. 

This was especially the case for exercises that are known to be beneficial for mental health. During the second half of COVID, time spent doing yoga increased by 1%. This may mean that people were spending more and more time doing yoga to cope with COVID fatigue. 

The UK: health behaviors

Over the past year, the UK has experienced several major lockdowns, as well as a fast-spreading COVID variant. In Great Britain, it looks like healthy activity increased when lockdowns were in place and decreased when lockdown restrictions lifted throughout the year. This may mean Noomers coped with COVID fatigue by focusing on healthy behaviors (for example, logging the food they were eating) while lockdowns were in place. Then, when lockdown restrictions were lifted, UK Noomers logged much less, presumably because they focused on enjoying being out and about once again. 

The UK may have also coped with fears about COVID by paying more attention to weight loss. On July 27, Boris Johnson announced the launch of a national campaign to tackle obesity and publicly urged Britons to lose weight to reduce risk from COVID. There was a spike in sign-ups for Noom that week, which could mean that some Britons signed up for Noom to address their weight-related fears of COVID.

Seems like Noomers have been dealing with COVID fatigue by focusing on healthy behaviors, such as exercise of food logging. How have you been coping with your COVID fatigue? Let us know!