Signs you’re mentally exhausted

There are two types of exhaustion: physical and mental. The latter, for some reason, most do not take seriously, believing that it’s just complaining, and it’s enough to do something nice or pour it with liters of alcohol, and that’s it, you can live in your rhythm further. However, this is not the case.

Mental exhaustion is no better than physical exhaustion. It can provoke the development of psychological problems, which, among other things, break the personality. There are many reasons for mental exhaustion – from prolonged stress to serious diseases. But today, we want to talk not about what causes it but how to determine that you are mentally exhausted.

10 signs you’re mentally exhausted

1. You become irritated and impatient

It’s not about moments when someone pisses you off. Experiencing irritation and impatience at such moments is the norm. We are talking about the state when it is difficult for you to control your emotions when you are knocked out of a rut and your mentality is shaken.

At such moments, you can feel annoyed with anyone, even if they came to you with words of support. Even one word can be enough to make a thought arise in your head to send a person to hell. To get the latest stories, install our app here

2. You lose concentration and motivation

Mental exhaustion is most noticeable in work processes. If, even when you experience stress, concentration and motivation are constantly at about the same level, then with mental exhaustion, they fall so much that you don’t want to take on anything, even if it doesn’t bode well for you.

At first, you start to get distracted more and more often and delay deadlines. Later, with increasing mental exhaustion, even simple tasks may seem impossible, and you accumulate more and more unfulfilled obligations, which drives you into even more stress.

3. Your sleep is disturbed

The fact is that mental fatigue does not equal physical fatigue, and what you perceive as exhaustion is mental overexcitation. When you are mentally exhausted, you experience constant fatigue, as if you are about to pass out, plunged into a sound sleep. But one has only to lie down on the bed, and that’s it; sleep disappears. And when the nervous system is overstressed, insomnia easily occurs, which, in turn, increases mental fatigue.

4. You have a strong desire to live an unhealthy lifestyle

Mental exhaustion leads to a drop in the level of hormones of joy and an increase in the number of stress hormones produced. The body, realizing that it alone cannot cope with such a load, begins to search through the memory and pulls out memories of how good it was at certain moments. And since bad habits are the easiest way to cheer up, many turn to alcohol or something more serious. To get the latest stories, install our app here

Moreover, this desire can be so strong that the level of influence on the mentality is similar to the basic needs. That is why mentally exhausted people prefer to go to a bar or another place where they can get high on both legal and prohibited substances.

5. You get depressed

Do not confuse mental exhaustion and depression. The first is a condition similar to physical fatigue, exhaustion of mental resources. The second is a serious condition caused by constant stress when everything around turns gray, and nothing pleases, even what previously brought pleasure. To get the latest stories, install our app here

With prolonged mental exhaustion, a person feels stress more and more, which smoothly flows into depression. If you do not give yourself a rest or restore resources, this threatens to escalate depression into a chronic condition.

6. You worry a lot about nothing

For the body, mental exhaustion is no better than physical exhaustion. Feeling exhausted, the body begins to produce more stress hormones, transferring the sympathetic nervous system to the “fight or flight” mode. That is, the body believes that you are in danger, and the unequal system mobilizes to reflect it, which further exhausts it.

In addition, since the body is in constant combat readiness mode, you may be haunted by a feeling of anxiety and panic. Any action may seem suspicious or dangerous.

7. Habitual physical activity becomes unbearable for you

Doctors are not yet sure why mental exhaustion affects physical activity. There are suggestions that the tolerance to physical exercise decreases, making it seem as if you are putting more effort into performing actions than in reality.

The same thing, just the opposite, happens when you’re in high spirits. You feel a surge of strength and can, for example, lift a dumbbell a few kilograms more than in a normal mood.

8. You eat more than usual

The work of the brain and nervous system is energy-consuming and requires a lot of energy. With mental exhaustion, even more, energy is required because the body, in addition to ensuring the operability of these systems, also needs resources to restore to a normal level.

Therefore, you may have increased cravings for food, especially sweet and fatty foods, since carbohydrates and fats provide the most energy.

9. You make more mistakes than usual

When you are mentally exhausted, the brain and nervous system react worse to changes due to the deterioration of cognitive abilities. This leads to making more mistakes due to incorrect assessment of the situation.

Mental fatigue not only reduces the ability to react quickly but, in general, can disrupt your ability to correct mistakes. This is especially dangerous in cases where a person works in a responsible position, and a quick reaction is required from him.

10. You feel more pain

Pain is transmitted along the nerve endings and processed by the brain. When you are mentally exhausted, the nervous system is in an excited state and can react more acutely to external stimuli. To get the latest stories, install our app here

Moreover, if normally the nervous system could not notice certain sensations, then mental exhaustion can mistakenly interpret the signals as pain. Because of this, there may be a feeling of pressure in the head, discomfort in the stomach, and so on, and the existing pain increases.