Do you feel tired? It may be that your brain is exhausted as a result of intensive mental work. Learn to recognize these symptoms and calm your mental fatigue.
Do you feel extremely tired? Do you think physical and mental exhaustion is becoming normal in your life? If so, you may be suffering from mental fatigue. He mental fatigue It can occur due to excessively prolonged cognitive activity. In this way, the person who has this feeling of tiredness and mental dullness can end up leading to a psychological or physical illness that limits your daily life even more.
When mental fatigue or mental fatigue If not taken seriously and accumulated it can lead to serious consequences. Your partner, work, organizing activities, children: it is a good combination that causes your tasks to accumulate and you have no time to even think during the week. Yes, we can all be multitasking but there is a great risk when our “superwoman” or “superman” side is exaggerated. So, how can we detect this mental saturation?
What is mental fatigue?
When there is mental fatigue, the same thing happens as when we feel excessive tiredness in our physical body. That is, instead of having the body’s muscles in a state of exhaustion, the person feels a mental daze due to mental overwork. Mental exhaustion usually occurs when a person focuses too much on a mentally difficult task for a very long time.
Furthermore, another of the most common causes of suffering from this mental saturation Nowadays is when the person has the tendency to always be on alert due to stress or anxiety. When our brain cannot rest due to this psychological exhaustion, the consequences can be devastating for both our lives and our physical and mental health.
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Symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion
Do you feel irritable? Do you get sick often? Do you suddenly seem to have become clumsy? Has your sexual desire decreased or is it non-existent? Have you started to lose your taste for what you used to love? When all this happens, it is very likely that you will suffer from mental fatigue due to overwork.
- Mental fatigue or mental tiredness also affects your physical condition: Headaches, decreased energy, digestive disorders, etc., are just some of its symptoms. In order to detect if you really suffer from mental exhaustion that can affect your psychological and physical health, psychologists recommend paying attention to the following signs.
- You are irascible and impatient: He extreme exhaustion Both mentally and physically, it puts you in a bad mood. For this reason, people who suffer from this general fatigue usually have a bad temper or are very irritated. Normally when psychological exhaustion is very persistent, emotions take control in most situations.
- Lack of concentration: One of the most common symptoms when there is a case of mental exhaustion or excessive tiredness is that the person’s productivity decreases. The reason for this is that mental fatigue often hinders an individual’s ability to concentrate. So much so that even small tasks can seem very overwhelming.
- Not sleeping well: Even though our logic tells us otherwise, when our brain is tired Due to mental saturation, people tend to suffer more from insomnia or problems falling asleep. So, this lack of rest can make mental fatigue even worse. That is why this psychological fatigue can lead to other pathologies such as anxiety and depression.
- Abuse drugs: People who suffer from symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion They may turn to drug use more than usual. The reason for this is that they turn to these types of substances to be able to manage both impulsive behaviors and the stress, anxiety and fatigue related to their mental fatigue.
- You are sadder: The lack of energy and ineffectiveness in mental or physical tasks can lead you to experience more sadness than usual. Mental saturation also leads to more difficulty managing any of the daily tasks that come our way as well as social relationships. For this reason, when mental fatigue takes over our lives, it is vital to pay attention to our mood, as this can lead to depression.
- You worry a lot: Our body activates the sympathetic nervous system when we are in a situation of mental fatigue The reason for this is that we are on alert, that is, we have the feeling that something is wrong. When a person is constantly mentally exhausted he usually starts to feel worried all the time because of this.
- Change your eating habits: He physical and mental fatigue can change your eating habits. In this way, people who suffer from excessive fatigue tend to snack more than normal and even not pay attention to what they eat. In many cases, the stress or anxiety associated with fatigue is often accompanied by cravings for sugary, salty or greasier foods.
These are some of the symptoms that may indicate that a person is mentally exhausted, since his brain is tired due to great overexertion. In many cases, this general tiredness and apathy related to it usually end up leading to mental and physical illnesses, which is why it is vital to end this mental exhaustion. If you identify with many of these signs, a psychologist can help you deal with this mental fatigue.
What causes mental fatigue?
There are a series of common causes that can lead to a mental fatigue constant. According to the experience of psychologists, mental fatigue usually appears for the following reasons.
- Decision making: When we are faced with situations where we must make many decisions, people can end up suffering from this mental daze Furthermore, in some cases, there are individuals who find it more difficult than others to make decisions, especially if these are important ones. This indecision is also a common cause that can end in psychological exhaustion in the person.
- Overcommitment: Sometimes the problem is that some people don’t know how to say no to what others demand of them. When an individual undertakes to perform many tasks, the symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion may appear.
- Avoidance and procrastination: Although it may seem illogical, the reality is that procrastinating is much more exhausting than it seems at first glance. The reason for this is that when we avoid doing a task that we need to do, anxiety increases because of it. In this way it is possible to produce the anxiety fatigue before the work that at some point or another we will have to do.
- Perfectionism: Excessively perfectionistic people can also suffer from an episode of mental exhaustion This happens because perfectionism is a double-edged sword that can self-sabotage us by causing people to ruminate and worry about a task excessively.
- Stress: As we have mentioned, currently, stress is one of the most common causes that can accompany mental fatigue In fact, it is very normal that if chronic stress is experienced, people end up with a lack of energy and mental fatigue.
These are some of the reasons that can lead to having a mental fatigue permanent in your life. For this reason, if you think you are in any of them, it is important that you consult with a professional psychologist.
How to remove mental fatigue?
In order to combat the mental fatigue The first thing is to reduce our pace of life. To do this, psychologists recommend the following.
- Learn to delegate: Learn to trust others to clear your mind. If you don’t usually act like this, you should learn to do it. Everyone has their own way of doing things, stop trying to supervise and control everything. Try changing it to enjoy reading, watching a show, playing sports, or simply doing nothing. This allows your mind to rest and escape from daily responsibilities for a while. By delegating we are giving our mind space and this is a good tool to combat mental fatigue
- Stop putting pressure on yourself: Are you a perfectionist? Bad news. This obsession with perfection is often accompanied by chronic dissatisfaction. How not to give in to perfectionism? When you have a pending task, set a deadline, respect it and, once completed, never waste time on it again. Another tip that works very well is to observe your small moments of happiness every day, from morning coffee to sweet words from your partner or laughter with friends. Take note of those moments of happiness and release the pressure.
- Rest your mind: In this hyperconnected world, technology is not always the best ally of our mind. We are doing something, we get a message and we run to pick up the phone. Once there, checking a message can become reading the news, checking your bank account, viewing recipes, organizing your shopping list… All of this is a source of exhaustion for our mind because you don’t let it disconnect. You can limit your daily connection hours or establish a time limit, after which you will not connect to the internet. An idea you can implement right now? When your cell phone rings, you don’t have to run out to see what it is. Try checking it every hour.
- Practice letting go: Take breaks, as simple as that. For those people who cannot stop thinking or suffer from anxiety, stress or guilt that prevents them from calming their mind, it is interesting to learn to meditate, do mindfulness or yoga. These techniques will help you channel your thoughts and relax mentally and physically. By leaving thoughts behind mental daze It will be reduced in a scaled manner, so you can include these practices in your daily life.
- Put your mind on standby: The mind needs sleep to recharge its batteries. Needless to say, stimulating your brain by watching a movie before falling asleep won’t help you, focus on reading a book and stay away from screens. Start a relaxing routine an hour before bed and you will see results in no time.
If you still see that you cannot control this situation, psychology professionals are there to help you find your physical and mental well-being. Being in a state where mental fatigue It is constant, it is not a way of life.