What is Mental Fatigue and What Causes It?
Do you find yourself dragging by mid-morning? Tired of pushing through despite feeling tired all day long? Running on empty doesn’t have to be your norm.
In this blog, you will discover other symptoms for mental fatigue you may be suffering from as well as some of the best tips for overcoming them.
What Is Mental Fatigue?
Mental fatigue or mental exhaustion is the sense that your brain is running on empty. You can’t think clearly, processing even the simplest information becomes a challenge. You are mentally and emotionally drained.
For many individuals, they feel like their mind is in a constant fog.
Fatigue is not a normal part of the aging process, although more of the population who say they are fatigued are seniors. While our bodies do slow down as we age, chronic fatigue symptoms show that something is wrong, according to CNN Health. Getting checked out is the key to living a healthy, active life, both mentally and physically.
Physical symptoms of fatigue include
- feeling weak when performing daily physical activities
- experiencing muscle weakness
- being not fit for physical work or exercise and
- having low stamina
Mental symptoms of fatigue include
- poor concentration
- inability to think clearly (brain fog)
- difficulty with finding the right words
- poor memory
How to Overcome Fatigue?
Addressing Food Sensitivities
Food is your energy source, meaning the quality of your food as well as the efficiency of your digestion directly affects your energy levels.
Most typical food intolerances are those towards gluten and milk products. Elimination of gluten, milk products (especially cow milk), or any other products you are sensitive to from your diet is a crucial step in overcoming fatigue.
Physical Exercise
Physical exercise represents a stressor for your body with many benefits for your short- as well as long-term health. Several studies demonstrated the effectiveness of exercise in raising energy levels and overcoming fatigue.
Your energy is produced by mitochondria, the power stations of our cells. The most net amount of mitochondria is contained in your muscles. Muscles play an important role in how energized you feel. Thus, strengthening and growing your muscles help you to combat fatigue.
Get More Sleep
Fatigue isn’t always caused by not getting enough sleep, but improving the quality and duration of your sleep is a great way to stop fatigue in its tracks. Tricks for better sleep include going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
Limit caffeine use, especially in the evening. Also, find a way to relax before going to bed like breathing exercises, reading or meditation.
Reduce decision fatigue
To avoid decision fatigue, which often comes from taking on too many tasks at one time, try setting aside specific blocks of time to address specific tasks.
For example, if you’re like most of us, you read and respond to email throughout the day, try setting aside a block of time in the morning and afternoon to address them all at once.
Kill distractions
Eliminating distractions is perhaps the most straightforward yet the most difficult to master.
After all, with so many online distractions to steal your attention from what’s truly important, wasting time is a modern-day pastime. Surfing the internet, scrolling through Facebook, watching YouTube videos, curating playlists on Spotify, playing any number of addictive app games. And on and on.
All of this sensory overload, however, also overwhelms our brains. The more we engage with time-wasting distractions, the more stress they can create.
Speak to a Therapist Now
Seeking a mental health specialist to identify any medical causes of mental fatigue is vital as an initial step. Once cleared medically, a therapist or psychologist can help you pinpoint the areas of your life that require improvement.
You can also contact me to help you gain mastery over your life, operate a change in your routines at a deep level, and regain that mental clarity and energy you were born with.
