Hi all,
I want to talk about tiredness today. Specifically, how tiredness is closely tied to the mind.
According to some, some (or most or all) illnesses are caused by psychological issues. Illnesses are reflections of underlying psychological problems. I also believe that at least some illnesses are like this. However, my point today is that it is not only illnesses but also some of the physical symptoms that we experience daily such as tiredness are also sometimes due to psychological. For me, it is mostly psychological.
Tiredness can be entirely physical. You work out too much too often and you will be tired. Anyone who does that will be tired. We don’t have limitless energy.
But some people have more energy naturally than others. I am one of those. My mom and her side of the family gave me that gene that helps me keep active for the whole day and I will not mind it. However, whether I can use that energy or not depends very much on whether I am happy or content at that point. If I do something I like, that means I will be able to use my energy well in the upcoming days. If I experience something bad and I am affected by it, that energy is gone.
That pattern obviously leads me to do things that will give me joy, because that is how I can use my energy. And I want to use my energy because I have it. Not using it means not using something you possess in the good of others (and yourself), which I think is not a good thing to do. It also means the energy will stay in you and disturb you. Life needs to be about the things you like doing and I am glad to have such a force in me that pushes me towards that.
Do I always succeed in doing the things I like? Unfortunately not. Sometimes, we are forced to do things that we do not want to do. What I try to do in those cases is to add another thing that I like on top of what I have to do. That means more things to do but oh well. For example, I had a stressful September and a part of October. Normally, my energy would drain but it did not this time because I did something I enjoyed every day at least for a few hours. That few hours kept my energy going in the face of stress.
How is your tiredness pattern? Did you notice a correlation between tiredness and your psychological state? Can you keep your energy in stressful situations? If so, how? Let’s talk about tiredness.
Often, I’m tired because I don’t get enough rest. I tend to push myself to get things done, and this will go on until I either have sense enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour or I sleep through my alarm one day because my body realizes that’s what it needs.
I also find I get tired when I’m not challenged sufficiently. If I’m engaged in something that has my full attention, that I enjoy, I can do that for a while. But if I’m doing something repetitive or something I’m not really interested in, I’m yawning and fighting to keep my eyes open.
Re: stress, I can usually power through until the stress lets up, and then I crash, drained of energy.
Thanks for the comment! Rest is important for energy for sure. What I notice though is that when I am happy, I need less rest and more activity. How much rest we need might also depend on our happiness level.
I am totally with you on your point on challenges!
Your last point: I experienced that crash huge last year in the global sense. I ‘powered through’ for months and then crashed.
I get very low on energy if I am.upset.
Same here!
There is definitely a positive correlation between our psychological and physical state. Stress and over thinking/worrying can drain our energy. At the same time, if we just push ourselves for that extra physical task, it can directly impact out mental state as well. That is why people suffering from stress and depression are suggested to do more workouts. Good to know that you have high energy levels. Next time you feel stressed and drained out, push yourself harder for both your body and mind.
Good Post!
Thank you! I definitely feel very good when I am physically active. So I agree that the body and the mind affect each other. Thanks for the reminder!😊
Hi Betul
I love your posts as they seem always meaningful and generate great discussions.
To challenge stress or overcome other psychological matters, one needs to exercise regularly as it is the key. Stress is a sign of living and as long as we live there will always be problems. However, our mission is not to get rid off (because we can’t), but manage them by shifting them from the mid to the body through exercise.
Secondly, apart from exercise other strategy if one wants to be happy and energetic is to generate three positive things for everyone disappoint we face. If you deduct 3 positive things from one negative, we are left out with two positives and with them we can engage in another task that may yield another negative thing. The point is always start with some positive reserves.
Third point and this is a wisdom I learnt from Al-Ghazali’s book titled “Disciplining the Soul” and in it he says that if we want to achieve our goals that we should do four things: sleep less, eat moderately, speak less and tolerate more.
Each one of these points has a meaning on its own, but they are correlated with the end point which is to achieve our goal. For example If we eat moderately, we are more likely to sleep well and wake up early and be more energetic to do more work. If we speak less, we are less likely to attract enemies and envious people to ourselves. And lastly if we tolerate more, we will be able to give ourselves chances to concentrate on our goals, despite the envious people who are giving us the trouble with the intention to prevent us from achieving our goals.
Great posts Betul and thank you once again.
Abdifatah Dhuhulow
This is a great comment, thank you! I agree to the point about exercise and I did not try the second point. But I do know about Al-Ghazali’s points. In fact, he starts his book with these points, am I right?
Also, thank you for your kind words!
Honestly, I think my energy is low because I sleep. Now why i can’t sleep may be psychological….
Yeah, that may be a chain effect.
I feel like garbage if I sleep too much. Boredom might play a heavy hand in that. I like to keep busy and sleep when I can (sometimes sleep at night is not possible.) I’ve noticed that sleeping at particular times can be helpful too. If you sleep at night, try not to nap unless you need to during the day. If you work graveyard shifts, sleep a set amount of hours during the day. That’s what works for me anyway.
For me, if I don’t take a nap during the day, my energy drops quickly. So napping helps. But I also feel bad if I sleep too much at night and it actually makes me less energetic.
Wow I am enlightened
Glad to hear that!
Thanks
Am Michael from west Africa Nigeria
Nice to meet you! Betul from Turkey
I agree of your points! I’m tired if I have no enough time to sleep because of overworked or doing too many activities all day long (physically tired).
I’m tired if I have a bad day and doing things that I don’t like to do (mentally tired). Mental tiredness can drain my emotions when I’m not free to be and express myself.
Same here! I get to be affected by the same situations.
Great article. As I’m getting older, I’ve noticed my energy going up and down. Of course, exercise makes it better, but I always choose to write. Lol.
Now on another subject, I’m nominating your blog for “The Sunshine Blogger Award.” I hope you’ll choose to participate. I’m looking forward to reading your answers to my questions. Visit my blog to see what you need to do. Keep on blogging. 🙂
Thank you for dropping by:)
Congrats on your award and for nominating Pointlessoverthinking. Since this site has a team of authors, I am not sure if I can accept it on everyone’s behalf. So, I will possibly have to skip that. But many thanks anyways!
I understand. Just showing you that you have a fan in me. Hehehehe
That is a so nice of you! You have a fan here too😊
wow, It all makes sense now. I too believe I am part of the group of individuals who naturally have more energy than others, However, Like you said It’s all up to how I am feeling to decide on how efficiently that energy is used. I find that when I’m partaking in one of my many motionless time passers such as youtube, or social media scrolling I’m a lot more prone to become trapped in the cloud of tiredness and slowly lose energy the longer I take part in said activities. Vs When I’m doing goal-related work, actual work or physical work, (to a certain extent of course) my energy is put to great use and what feels like my body is recycling energy is pushing me to go on as long as needed for the job.
Sorry for the long one, but thanks for your insight on the topic, great piece betul.
Thank you for dropping by and for the nice comment! What you are describing is exactly me! I am glad that the post gave you some insight!
If I don’t get enough hours of sleep, I get tired and can’t get on through the day. But I tend to be more energized at night than the day anyway.
Interesting! I am always tired by the evening! Sleep is a major factor, I agree.
Stress gets me extremely tired. But lately, unfortunately, I have been pretty low on my energy on a daily basis…
Is it because of stress?
Great point about how doing something we enjoy can actually give us energy. Reminds me of an important notion of “strengths” connected with career advising: one’s personal strengths being not just things you are good at, but at the same time, things that energize us.
(Not to discount the crucial importance of leisure, of course.)
Yes, that is very crucial! I think enjoying your work is more important than being good at it, although both are important.
Going with how you feel is important I think, like the other day I just felt like having a nap so I did, I’m one of them that has a lot of energy to so I could have pushed on but I now realise there is no need to fight how your feeling, I suppose your body know when it needs to rest like after you’ve done lots or in advance of what’s coming up, I was going to Lithuania next day for a mini trip this particular time.
Nice! I try to pay attention to how I feel too, because that is our bodies’ language to communicate with us. They say something and it always pays off when we listen to them!
I have noticed that the body is an amazingly complex system. Some days, against all odds it seems (perhaps because I didn’t sleep well the night before), I have tons of energy. Other days, I feel drained even though I’ve rested well and such. I think I often feel most tired when I know that I have to do something that I dread doing. This suggests–as you contend–that psychology has so much to do with tiredness. Being physically fit also plays such an important role. the mind-body-spirit connection is strong. Taking care of the body promotes mental and spiritual health. Stress is probably the greatest cause of fatigue there is. Thanks for this. I don’t think enough about tiredness and its various influences.
Thanks for the comment, Troy! I agree that sometimes, it is difficult to understand the reason of tiredness. But it usually correlates with willingness to do something and happiness.
I’m always tired 😴
When I am stressed, I also feel tired all the time. Do you think there is a stress factor in your case as well?
Yes definitely. I have anxiety so everything stresses me
Any strategies to deal with it?
In general, i try to be more mindful. Also, breathing exercises. Talk to someone when ur really stressed. Read. Write. We each have things that relax us.
Those are good ones!