We usually talk about virtual meeting fatigue like it’s a math problem — too many meetings, not enough time. So we trim the calendar, shorten the slots, and hope the brain catches up. But new research from Aalto University suggests the picture is more complicated, and honestly, more interesting. Their study found that sleepiness during virtual meetings isn’t always about mental overload — sometimes it’s about mental underload and boredom. That changes how we think about the fix.
Scheduling & Boundaries Cognitive Load Meeting Culture Energy Management
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The Two-Faced Nature of Meeting Fatigue
When we talk about Zoom fatigue, the default assumption is that it’s caused by too much — too much eye contact, too many decisions, too much cognitive load. And that’s real. But the Aalto research suggests a second path: the brain can also be exhausted by too little. When a meeting is passive, cameras are off, and you’re not actively contributing, your brain drops into a low-stimulation state that mimics drowsiness.
I used to think my exhaustion after a day of meetings was just… meetings. But the feeling of being both wired and tired makes more sense when you realize the brain is getting hit from two opposite directions at once. The fix for one won’t fix the other.
The research on meeting fatigue often splits into two camps: hyper-arousal (stress, overload, hypervigilance) and hypo-arousal (boredom, under-stimulation, drowsiness). The 4D model of videoconference fatigue breaks this down further into personal, organizational, technological, and environmental factors. But the practical takeaway is simpler. You need to know which kind of tired you are before you can fix it.
The Microsoft Work Trend Index found that 68% of employees say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday. That scarcity of deep work makes every meeting feel like an intrusion — whether the meeting itself is engaging or not.
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The Obvious Culprit: Why Back-to-Back Blocks Drain You
Let’s start with the one most of us already feel in our bones: the back-to-back schedule. Sophie Leroy’s concept of attention residue explains why the fourth meeting in a row is the one where you completely lose the plot. You’re not just in that meeting — you’re still mentally processing the unresolved tension from the previous three.
The cognitive load accumulates fast. Each meeting depletes working memory, attention control, and decision-making capacity. Unlike physical fatigue, cognitive fatigue lacks obvious warning signs until you’re significantly impaired — which is why you don’t realize how drained you are until the last meeting ends and you can’t string a sentence together.
- Default to 25 or 50-minute meetings in your calendar settings. This creates a natural buffer without manual effort.
- Block 10-minute “recovery” breaks between meetings until the habit sticks. Treat them as non-negotiable.
- Audit your recurring meetings — which ones could be a Loom video or a Slack update instead?
I’ve found that the buffer isn’t just about rest. It’s about giving the previous conversation a proper ending in my mind so I can show up to the next one without the old one leaking through.
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The Hidden Drain: Self-View and Mirror Anxiety
Stanford professor Jeremy Bailenson’s 2021 study identified a less obvious cause of fatigue: the constant self-view window. It’s like someone holding a mirror to your face all day — you can’t help but check your own expression, adjust your posture, and monitor whether you look “engaged enough.”
Research shows this self-view effect is particularly pronounced for women and those with social anxiety, with roughly a 14% greater cognitive load impact. It’s not vanity — it’s a continuous, low-grade performance evaluation that your brain never gets a break from.
The fix is almost comically simple, but it works. Hide your own video feed. In Zoom, go to View → Hide Self View. In Google Meet, click the three dots on your video tile → Remove from screen. In Teams, right-click your video → Turn off incoming video for self only. Studies suggest this can reduce self-reported fatigue by 15–25%.
It feels strange at first. You worry you’ll drift off or make a weird face without realizing it. But the relief of not watching yourself perform normal human expressions is immediate. You can trust that if your face does something odd, someone will let you know.
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The Boredom Trap: When Virtual Meetings Are Just Dull
This is the one that stopped me when I first read it. The Aalto University study, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, measured heart rate variability during virtual and face-to-face meetings among 44 knowledge workers across nearly 400 meetings. The researchers expected to find stress. Instead, they found that workers with low work engagement and low enthusiasm became measurably drowsy during virtual meetings.
Honestly, I’m still not sure the boredom explanation covers everyone — some meetings are genuinely dull in any format. But it’s worth asking whether the format is making the dullness worse. When cameras are off and you’re not actively participating, the brain has too little input and compensates by checking out.
The Aalto study confirmed that only highly automated tasks — like walking — can be done without degrading your attention. If you try to focus on two cognitive tasks (answering emails and listening to a status update), you either miss something important or switch constantly, which is even more taxing for the brain. Walking, specifically, can boost energy and help concentration. But answering emails during a meeting? You’re not really doing either well.
The underload theory flips the script. Instead of “I need fewer meetings,” sometimes the answer is “I need to be more present in this one” — or honest enough to admit I shouldn’t be there at all.
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Practical Fixes That Match the Real Problem
So how do you know which kind of tired you are? The fix depends on the source. If you’re over-aroused (stressed, hyper-vigilant), the answer is boundaries, buffers, and hiding your self-view. If you’re under-aroused (bored, drowsy), the answer might be turning your camera on, standing up, or proposing an async alternative.
Track Your Energy, Not Just Your Schedule
For one week, note how you feel after each meeting: drained, neutral, or energized. Look for the pattern. Is it the long blocks of back-to-backs, or the long, passive presentations?
Propose a Specific Switch
Instead of just complaining about a meeting, say: “I realize I’m mostly an observer on this recurring sync. Could I switch to async updates and just attend when I have a specific input?” Most managers will accept a clear, low-friction alternative.
Protect the Buffer Like a Meeting
The 10 minutes between meetings isn’t “free time” — it’s cognitive recovery. If you fill it with Slack catch-up, you’ve defeated the purpose. Stare out the window. Walk to the kitchen. Let the brain reset.
The Owl Labs 2025 State of Remote Work report found that 67% of remote workers cite too many meetings as their biggest productivity drain. But organizations with structured meeting reduction programs saw 23% higher employee retention rates. The fix isn’t just about individual habits — it’s about culture.
For more on this, I wrote about specific fixes for virtual meeting fatigue that go a little deeper into the daily tactics.
You stop treating meeting fatigue as a single problem with a single solution. You start asking whether you’re exhausted or just under-stimulated — and you pick the fix that fits. That distinction alone can save you hours of wasted cognitive energy, whether that means hiding your own video feed or finally admitting that passive attendance is draining you more than a full day of deep work ever does.
— Marianne