How Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is Impacting UM Students

By Matthew Hendley and Madeleine Nolan
Journalism students

As the world slowly gets back up to speed, people are slowing down. In a recent review, a google trends analysis showed that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), a disorder characterized by extreme fatigue or tiredness that doesn’t go away with rest, is at an all-time high. According to experts, these are side-effects of technology overuse during the pandemic.

“It’s the overstimulation for our brains, which have not adapted. It’s sleep patterns being disrupted from blue light and not getting the same amount of sleep and rest, it’s a decrease of boundaries, and it’s a decrease in human interaction within community structures,” Social Media Analyst Colin Likover said.

After a full year of Zoom classes, some Ole Miss students are feeling the effects of CFS.

“It’s just, I wake up and I’m tired, you know?” said Aaron Nguyen, “It’s just zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom away.”

Freshman Emily Grace Dusin said she is also feeling fatigued after a long semester with no spring break.

“Sitting at a computer all day, it gets really tiring, and especially with no spring break, it’s been constant school work, with little to no time to sit and relax,” Dusin said.

For those who work from home, fatigue also may result from a lack of separation between work-life and home-life.

“The boundaries between work and real life, human life, personal time are evaporating very quickly, if they have not already evaporated in this last year where your computer is at home, your workspace is at home…Where does the office really begin and end?” Likover said.

Neuroscientists say that eight hours of sleep is of course the most effective, as well as separating your work and life, in battling chronic fatigue.