Tired of Being Tired? Go Mental!

Debilitating fatigue can have physical or mental sources, and both of them leave you feeling like you’re completely out of energy. And this sense of exhaustion will be true even if you haven’t expended any energy through the day!

One of the largest sources of mental fatigue comes from chronic stress and anxiety that are not well managed. This kind of fatigue can also accompany headache, irritability, dizziness or blurred vision, loss of appetite, short term memory problems, lack of focus, difficulty making decisions, and/or lack of motivation.

What To Do?

The most important first step is to identify the source of the stress and work to manage it. This may involve changing that source, creating routines that help keep stressors from “getting inside” where they can create the tension that can lead to fatigue.

Another useful technique shown to help reduce mental fatigue is yoga. This exercise is a perfect combination of physical stretching and mental relaxation. This study showed that even a “a 30 min programme of yogic stretch and breathing exercises … had a markedly invigorating effect on perceptions of both mental and physical energy and increased high positive mood.”

If you are a person who needs structure in your life, in order to follow through on your commitments, join a yoga class. They are now quite commonplace and span a continuum from meditative to being very physically demanding.

That said, if you are a person who can set your own routines in your own home, the routines and postures are easily found online, with plenty of instructions. Whichever one you choose, in the end you’ll be helping calm your mind, exercise your body, and energize your life in the process!