WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Fewer faces,
more breaks.

Video calls tire us in ways meetings in a room do not.

Researchers point to staring at faces up close, watching yourself all day, sitting in one spot and back-to-back calls. Most of the fixes are small settings and habits you can change today.

10 MIN between calls

Find your drain

A person seen from behind stretching their arms up at a home desk beside a window, a closed laptop in front of them — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Hide self-view
Camera off when it can be
Breaks between calls
Small settings, less tiredness

THE SHORT ANSWER

It is not just the meetings,
it is how we have them.

Three findings from studies of real workers
and what they suggest you change.

CAMERAS

Cameras on, more tired

In a four-week study of 103 employees, people with cameras on reported more fatigue and spoke up less in meetings than those with cameras off.

See the numbers

MOVEMENT

Get up, go audio

A fixed camera keeps you in one spot. Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson suggests audio-only breaks and turning away from the screen.

Try it today

BREAKS

Ten minutes between calls

In an EEG study, stress-linked brain activity built up across back-to-back meetings but held steady with 10-minute breaks.

Find your drain

A QUICK CALL CHECK

What wears you
out the most?

Pick the part of video calls that drains you to see what the research found and the change it suggests. The bar shows how strongly the studies link it to fatigue.

Call check

Choose what drains youSeeing myselfCamera always onBack-to-back callsBig faces, close upSitting in one spot

Seeing myselfHide self-view

In a survey of 10,322 people, self-view was the main driver of women's higher fatigue. Once your framing looks right, hide the self-view.

Camera always onChoose when

A four-week field study found cameras on meant more fatigue, especially for women and newer employees. The researcher argues people should be able to choose.

Back-to-back callsAdd breaks

In a small EEG study of 14 workers, stress-linked activity rose across back-to-back meetings but held steady with 10-minute breaks.

Big faces, close upShrink the window

Bailenson suggests leaving full-screen and shrinking the call window so faces appear smaller, and sitting further back.

Sitting in one spotMove about

Put the camera further away so you can move, or switch to audio only for a while and turn away from the screen.

Sources: Stanford News (February and April 2021), University of Arizona News (August 2021) and Microsoft WorkLab brain research (2021).

Based on Stanford, University of Arizona and Microsoft studies of video meetings. This is general information, not medical or employment advice.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Who gets tired,
and what helps.

One figure from a large survey,
one from a study of brain activity.

13.8%

Women very or extremely tired after calls

A survey of 10,322 people found 13.8 percent of women and 5.5 percent of men felt very to extremely fatigued after video calls, about 1 in 7 women and 1 in 20 men.

FATIGUE · STANFORD 2021

10 min

Break that kept stress activity steady

Fourteen workers wore EEG caps through four half-hour meetings. Back-to-back, stress-linked beta waves rose over time; with 10-minute breaks they held steady.

BREAKS · MICROSOFT HUMAN FACTORS LAB

Women in the Stanford survey had the same number of meetings a day as men, but their meetings tended to run longer and they were less likely to take breaks between them.

FOUR CHANGES TO TRY

Same meetings,
less drain.

None of these needs new equipment. They are settings and habits drawn from the studies above and from UK workplace guidance on screen breaks.

Hide self-view
Check your framing at the start, then hide your own video so you are not watching yourself all meeting.
Shrink the window
Leave full-screen so faces are smaller, and sit a little further back from the screen.
End calls early
Leave 10 minutes between meetings. In the EEG study, breaks stopped stress-linked activity building up.
Break little and often
The HSE says short, frequent breaks are better than longer ones less often: 5 to 10 minutes every hour beats 20 minutes every 2 hours.

A person in headphones seen from behind walking across a sunny living room while on an audio call — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Close-up of a laptop's built-in webcam with a small sliding privacy cover pushed across it — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

FOR TEAMS

Make video
the choice, not the rule.

The Stanford researchers suggest organisations try no-video meeting days, make video off the norm for meetings that do not need it, and set guidelines on how often and how long meetings run, with more breaks between them.

The University of Arizona researcher behind the camera study argues that employees should be able to choose whether to use their cameras, and that someone with their camera off should not be assumed to be distracted or unproductive.

Questions

Questions people ask

Is video-call fatigue real?

Researchers at Stanford built a 15-item Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale and tested it across five studies with over 500 participants. A later survey of 10,322 people found some groups much more tired than others.

Why are video calls more tiring than meetings in a room?

Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson points to four causes: intense close-up eye contact, constantly seeing yourself, being stuck in one spot, and the extra effort of sending and reading signals on screen.

Does turning the camera off help?

In a four-week study of 103 employees, people with cameras on reported more fatigue and were less engaged in meetings. The effect was stronger for women and newer employees.

Why do women report more fatigue?

In the Stanford survey, self-focused attention from self-view, which the researchers call mirror anxiety, contributed most. Women's meetings also tended to run longer and they took fewer breaks between them.

How often should I take a break from the screen?

The HSE says there is no legal rule, but short frequent breaks are better than longer ones less often, for example 5 to 10 minutes every hour rather than 20 minutes every 2 hours.

Fewer faces,
more breaks.