Mental exhaustion is a feeling of extreme tiredness, characterized by other feelings including apathy, cynicism, and irritability. You may be mentally exhausted if you've recently undergone long-term stress, find it hard to focus on tasks, or lack interest in activities you usually enjoy.
Mental fatigue is the feeling that your brain just won't function right. People often describe it as brain fog. You can't concentrate, even simple tasks take forever, and you find yourself rereading the same paragraph or tweaking the same line of code over-and-over again.
Mental fatigue is a state of tiredness that sets in when your brain's energy levels are depleted. Mental fatigue is usually the result of prolonged stress. Long-term stress can be brought on by a variety of factors, including a challenging life event, a demanding job, or procrastination.
Mental exhaustion can affect physical well-being, causing a person to feel physically exhausted. Similarly, physical fatigue or chronic stress can also result in mental exhaustion. Some tips to relieve mental exhaustion include practicing mindfulness and making certain environmental changes, either at work or at home.
Over time, mental exhaustion can lead to trouble sleeping, stress-related headaches, digestive system problems and ulcers. Emotional exhaustion develops in response to feelings. You may develop it when you process sadness, anxiety, loss, frustration or similar emotions.
The main difference between someone mentally exhausted and someone lazy is that someone who is mentally exhausted feels numb and won't care about the consequences anymore (IDSMED, 2019). If this sounds like you, then it's very important that you acknowledge the fact that you're not just being lazy.
Instead, a mental health crisis or a breakdown of your mental health is a situation that happens when you have intense physical and emotional stress, have difficulty coping and aren't able to function effectively. It's the feeling of being physically, mentally and emotionally overwhelmed by the stress of life.
Some research suggests that it can take one to three years APA PsycNet “A study of coping: Successful recovery from severe burnout and other reactions to severe work-related stress.” View Source .
Brain fog occurs when the brain is overworked or under strain. The most common symptoms are feeling dazed and confused, headaches, thinking more slowly than usual, an inability to remember things or even tasks just completed, mental fatigue, and mood swings.
In fact, most research concludes that physical activity has either a positive effect or more often, little or no impact on mental performance. However, when a person's mentally exhausted due to sleep deprivation, their alertness will suffer while most aspects critical for physical performance will be preserved.
Experiencing workplace stress for prolonged periods can lead to burnout. 1 Burnout symptoms include feeling exhausted, empty, and unable to cope with daily life. If left unaddressed, your burnout may even make it difficult to function.
Symptoms of psychosis include delusions (false beliefs) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that others do not see or hear). Other symptoms include incoherent or nonsense speech and behavior that is inappropriate for the situation.
It is possible to recover from mental health problems, and many people do – especially after accessing support. Your symptoms may return from time to time, but when you've discovered which self-care techniques and treatments work best for you, you're more likely to feel confident in managing them.
There's no cure for mental illness, but there are lots of effective treatments. People with mental illnesses can recover and live long and healthy lives.
Physically walk away from whatever it is you're working on for 5-10 minutes and indulge your inability to concentrate. It's up to you what exactly you do during this time, but activities, like getting some fresh air, doing stretches, or grabbing brain food, can all be helpful.
Emotional burnout is a state in which one feels worn-out mentally because of accumulated stress from a situation in their personal life. It could be work-related, school-related, relationship related or it could be related to any other aspect of your life. Burnout can be very exhausting to experience.
How Long Does Burnout Last? It takes an average time of three months to a year to recover from burnout. How long your burnout lasts will depend on your level of emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue, as well as if you experience any relapses or periods of stagnant recovery.
The following factors can contribute to fatigue, either alone or in combination: Psychological and psychosocial – stress, anxiety, and depression. Physical – anemia, diabetes, glandular fever, and cancer. Physiological – pregnancy, breast-feeding, inadequate sleep, and excessive exercise.