Fatigue is an annoying feeling. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we would love to lie back down one last time in the morning when the alarm clock goes off. Hardly anyone lies to get up in the morning, unless we have something really nice to look forward to that day. But, unfortunately enough, this is not possible every day. Most days we get up in order to go to work, or to study, and to get back home in the evening. This rhythm is something which most people keep up for 5 days per week. Nowadays, we are available anywhere, and at any time. We have a mobile phone, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. This is not like it used to be. We now experience more fatigue than we used to in the past. But how is this possible? This article explains why we feel fatigued and how we can treat it.
Why are we fatigued?
In the past, we used to live according to the time of day, and we would do different activities throughout the day. For example, we worked the field, we milked the cows,... We constantly used different muscles. Nowadays, most of us sit behind a desk and mainly use one muscle: our brain. This is one which definitely gets fatigued after some time. Furthermore, we used to be able to relax when we got home. Maybe you now think: 'Relax, I have to make dinner and clean,...2. This is true: like in our current society, people in the past did not really just sit down and not do anything, either. They would be taking care of chores. We still do so nowadays, but we have a lot of electronics, which keep exhausting our brin, even when we are not doing anything. It namely is not that bad to do some cleaning when you get home. This way, you can alternate between sitting still all day and getting some motion in the evening. Nowadays, we often sit down in front of the TV of the computer, meaning our brain does not get the chance to recuperate. Furthermore, there also are certain psychological disorders which strengthen fatigue. Examples of these can include stress. We put our body and brain under constant pressure. We push ourselves more and more, because we notice that we cannot perform as well as we used to. Our stress affects our ability to focus, as well as even our memory. Also, worrying thoughts are not good for our brain. And example would be depression, but even stress. We keep thinking the same things over and over, we exhaust our brain by putting constant pressure on it. This is definitely something which can cause a fatigued feeling. In depression you often feel fatigued, and you do not want to do anything. In depression it often is so that fatigue is a feeling, rather than your body actually being fatigued. This is often the case in stress or burnout, however it is more important here to rest than it is in depression. In depression it is good to physically do things, while in a burnout it is better to just take it easy.
How do we treat fatigue?
First of all, it is good to talk to your doctor about your fatigue. Fatigue can namely have different causes. Here you can ask for advice regarding your treatment. If a psychological cause is at hand, you can ask a psychologist for help or follow the online self-help program. It namely supports you in finding what it is that helps you move forward and what makes you happy, so that you can keep yourself from going past your own limites in the future.
Test your stress, depression, and anxiety!
You can always take the free online stress test to discover if your fatigue might have to do with psychological factors.
