What is mental fatigue?

It's common to feel very drained, even more so after a busy day at work. However, when that exhaustion goes beyond the limits of your mind, meaning your brain is overloaded due to too much information, social media use, or too much exposure to work tasks during the day, you may be experiencing mental fatigue.

Also known as mental fatigue, this excess exposure can generate a dysregulation of the nervous system, having an increase in the concentration in the blood of the hormone related to stress, cortisol, thus resulting in mental fatigue. In this article, you will learn more about the main causes, symptoms and how to treat the effect of mental fatigue. Enjoy your reading!

More about mental fatigue

The age of technology has greatly increased people's exposure to information overload, a fact that greatly enhances mental fatigue. Find out in the next topics what aspects can contribute to mental exhaustion.

Causes of mental fatigue

Mental fatigue can happen as a consequence of any situation that keeps the brain always active. A very busy routine can even be synonymous of "status" for some people, however, everything that is in excess can bring you serious problems.

A hectic routine, too many worries, a high level of demand, both personal and professional, and a lack of scheduled time for mental rest can be some of the frequent causes of mental fatigue.

In addition, frequent exposure to various stimuli from social networks or information media are factors that can cause this problem, because it is increasingly difficult for people to disconnect from the virtual world.

Overwork

With the advancement of technology, the exposure of people to overwork increases more and more, all because new forms of work are being adopted over time, as is the case of home office. With this, many people start working continuously, mixing personal routine with professional aspects, not being able to manage time in a healthier way.

The break or the necessary pauses so that the mind can produce in a healthier way are substituted by long hours of work, making the excessive work annul, even, periods that could be destined to a leisure time.

All this overwork and the search for more productivity causes healthy habits to be disregarded, leading the person to mental fatigue.

High intellectual stimulation for long hours

People who try to allocate a large part of the hours of their day studying are not wrong, however, when these hours end up being excessive it is important to be careful, because even when studying in excess you can suffer the effects of mental fatigue.

All this happens because when your brain is allocating its energy to a high intellectual stimulus activity for a long time, it is fully active, decreasing your body's energy to process the information. Therefore, having several days with excessive studying can be real causes for you to reach mental exhaustion too. Stay tuned!

Depression or anxiety

Depression can appear in several forms. It can be defined as a feeling of intense sadness with prolonged duration that causes suffering, affecting performance in day-to-day activities. Anxiety is a disease that presents itself through thought, that is, excessive or persistent intense worries can be characterized as anxiety.

With this, both end up affecting our relationship with the mind, with our emotions and thoughts. Those who experience these diseases can also suffer from mental fatigue. All because the symptoms of these diseases end up changing the way our mind behaves during everyday life.

Stress

Stress can be one of the causes that lead a person to have a mental fatigue. A troubled routine, problems in the relationship with people and professional problems can be factors that contribute to the appearance of stress.

People who experience stress with a certain frequency have a tendency to have a very affected relationship with their own mind, thus increasing the chances of feeling the effects of mental fatigue. Stress is not considered a disease or a medical condition, but it can be a triggering factor of mental exhaustion both at work and in personal life.

Symptoms of mental fatigue

Being aware of your own body's signals can help you identify more quickly when you're experiencing mental fatigue. In the next few topics, we'll talk a bit more about some of the symptoms this condition presents.

Headache

When you come across the frequency of headaches, you should keep an eye out for it. All because it could be your body warning you that there is possibly something wrong going on with your mind. Thus, the pain appears to warn you about something excessive that may be happening in your life.

The person may feel a more throbbing pain or simply that feeling of pressure in the head, which may be accompanied by nausea. Therefore, do not underestimate the frequency of pain in your daily life seeking only self-medication. Analyze deeply the constant causes of these pains, because they can be a sign of mental fatigue.

Sleep disturbance

In situations of overtiredness, a person may suffer from both the feeling of difficulty sleeping, (known as the term insomnia) and the feeling that they have not gotten enough sleep.

This happens because, under these conditions, the brain cannot go through the normal stages of a quality sleep, that is, it makes the person unable to rest what the organism really needs.

Irritability

Several stimuli in everyday life put mental health to the test. A busy and stressful routine, a constant search for more productivity, managing relationships with people and decision making, are among some of these stimuli. These aspects end up being responsible for building our relationship with things.

However, the physical tension and mental fatigue experienced in these moments ends up generating a psychological stress, leading the person to demand more and more, thus generating an irritation in situations that normally would not be irritated. That is, simple situations to be solved, when a person is going through a mental fatigue, tends to complicate them.

Body aches and pains

When you go through a situation in which the body interprets as a threat, the body releases hormones, as in the case of adrenaline, so that the muscles contract. With the nerves more contracted, as a result, pain begins to appear throughout the body.

So, the accumulation of worries and a routine full of tasks can make the body feel this overload, becoming more and more tense during the daily routine. So, be aware when body aches start to be more present in your life - it may be another indication that you are experiencing mental fatigue and need to pay attention to it.

Lack of concentration

When a body is very tired and the mind has spent hours processing a lot of information, it is natural for your body to give signals that you are overdoing it. In exhaustion situations, not only the body gives signals, but the brain does too.

In this way, these signals emitted by the brain end up appearing as a certain difficulty to concentrate or several moments of distractions during the day. However, one of the symptoms that characterize that you are with a mental fatigue is the lack of concentration, which can end up affecting a lot your productivity.

Mood swings

The feeling of having a full mind may not generate a very pleasant sensation for those who experience it. Therefore, those who have mental exhaustion have variations in mood in the course of life situations.

This can happen simply because the person cannot deal with the overload of thoughts and pressure that surround them throughout the day. Thus, the tendency is that the person cannot have a greater constancy in their mood, precisely because of a practice in the routine that does not contribute to better mental health.

Sleepiness

A full and very troubled mind can disrupt the quality of a person's sleep, bringing some consequences throughout the day. Thus, feeling tired or constantly sleepy can be a sign that you are in need of rest, as you have possibly reached your mental limit.

So pay attention to how your body reacts during the days - if it shows signs of being very sleepy, it may be an indication that your mind is not doing very well. The body is very intelligent, whenever anything internal happens, it does its best to bring some notification to note that there is something wrong.

Therefore, pay attention to your body's signals and try to listen to it when it tells you that it's time to calm down.

Pressure changes

The person who manifests a mental fatigue can suffer pressure alterations, this is an episode considered common. Knowing that the mind is a reflection of our body, when it reaches a certain limit, it ends up causing the body to have some more physical symptoms, as is the case of pressure alterations.

This occurs by the junction of habits that make you reach a moment of mental exhaustion, such as overwork, extreme worry, anxiety, a bad night's sleep and, especially, excessive contact with tools that stimulate your brain. In other words, a set of bad habits caused by mental fatigue that end up directly affecting your health.

Gastrointestinal problems

Another physical symptom that mental fatigue can bring to a person are some gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, gas, indigestion, gastroesophageal reflux and gastritis. All this can happen because of the lack of attention that the person gives to a mental exhaustion.

The signs and symptoms of mental fatigue are a way for your mind to indicate that your body is in a state of overload and that you urgently need to rest. So, before it becomes a physical symptom, as is the case of gastrointestinal problems, seek to understand what you will have to modify in your life so that you deal with the mental fatigue presented.

Ways to improve mental fatigue

There are practical and effective ways through small habits that you start to insert in your day to day that contribute to improve your mental fatigue. We list below some of these practices, check them out!

Reorganize yourself

Taking a closer look at how your routine is built will help you have more productive and less busy days, because the lack of organization on a daily basis can give you a very strong feeling that you are not producing what there are many things to do and have little time.

So, try to organize your responsibilities as the order of priorities for the day. What you can't perform on the same day, do your best to schedule it for the next. Having a schedule will also help you have more control of your routine, avoiding the possible delays and stress that lead you to reach a point of mental exhaustion.

Try to eat better

To avoid a low energy, hindering your brain to better process the information of your routine, seek to give attention to the way you are eating throughout the day. With a more balanced and healthy diet, your energy and vigor are increasingly renewed.

Therefore, research on foods that contribute to the health of your mind and especially that are responsible for transmitting a healthier energy. Food is the fuel of our body, so try every day to pay attention to what you eat and try to have a more controlled diet that favors your health.

Do physical activity

It is common to find people who have prejudice or laziness to do some kind of physical activity. However, the lack of practice may come from the simple fact of not being aware of the impact that physical exercise has on the health of the body and mind.

The gym isn't the only physical activity that will help you improve your health, so do some research and find an activity that you enjoy doing. That way, doing an exercise that you enjoy can boost the results of your health. Plus, doing physical activity is a great way to release the energy you've accumulated throughout the day.

Take time for leisure

The glamour of becoming a more productive person can trivialize the time a person takes off to have leisure activities. These moments are important so that you can enjoy special occasions that give you a greater sense of pleasure in your life.

So don't think that setting aside a few days of your week to meet some friends, get together for a family lunch, take a trip with your girlfriend or take your dog for a walk in the park is a waste of time - on the contrary, when this attitude is taken, you are helping your mind to connect with greater moments of pleasure.

Thus, having a leisure time is very important for your mind to reset and recover from the heavier tasks you had throughout the day.

Avoid taking work home

If you work for a company that has a physical space and you have to commute to work, I do my best to make sure that any work matters are taken care of only when I am at work. A very bad habit is to extend your work to your home environment. By repeating this over and over again, you can increasingly live your life as a function of work.

So, keep in mind that you need to set time limits for everything you have to do with regard to work. For those who work in home office, setting times to perform professional tasks will help you not to generate a mess in your routine, mixing commitments.

Spend time with family and friends

Having time saved in your schedule to spend with your family and friends will contribute to you having more restful moments in your routine, as a mental overload appears when we stop doing or relating to things we enjoy.

Therefore, value more and more those Sunday lunches with family, or those outings with your friends where you laugh a lot, you can be sure that this attitude is contributing a lot to your mental health.

If necessary, seek a psychologist

If you feel that this mental fatigue is lasting for long days in your life, seek the help of a professional, such as a psychologist. He can help you understand what are the behaviors that you have in your routine that contribute to this mental fatigue.

The help of a professional in these cases, greatly enhances your quest for a more balanced mental health, so don't put off your consultation if you need one.

Can mental fatigue trigger an illness?

When your body sends some warning signals and you do not try to pay attention to them, mental fatigue can generate some physical consequences to your body, modifying the functioning of the body, which can lead to hypertension and body aches, headaches and gastrointestinal problems. In addition, it can increase the chances of the emergence of depression and anxiety attacks.

Therefore, our body is a great ally for us to avoid some diseases. The symptoms that appear are a way for it to communicate that something is happening. So, try to build healthier habits and try not to ignore your body's signals.