How mental exhaustion can waste your life
Stop when your body tells you to
Mental exhaustion is feeling drained of all energy, and as it proceeds, motivation starts declining rapidly, as well. This problem is typically a result of stress or long-term overload. It can make even simple tasks feel impossible and leaves people feeling foggy, forgetful, and emotionally unstable. In severe cases, it can lead to clinical depression or anxiety disorders.
Sometimes it feels like your head will burst from the racing thoughts, tension and anxiety (Photo: Pixabay).
Mental health is something that should be taken seriously. It’s just as important as physical health but often isn’t given the same attention. I had a period of active near-daily blogging last autumn but at one point I simply had to stop for the sake of my sanity. During my break in winter, I often wished to come back to writing again. Yet, I was powerless. It was near impossible to put pen to paper (or, rather, fingers to keyboard). The exhaustion quickly consumed any thoughts that were coming to mind.
Nobody would try running with a broken leg. Why do we do it when our mental health needs treatment?
Many things can contribute to mental exhaustion, such as work pressure, emotional problems, lack of sleep or poor diet. It gets trickier when these factors start emphasizing each other. Strong emotions keep your thoughts racing, which affects your sleep. Being tired all day makes you more prone to irritability and poor judgement, including the consumption of lots of sugar. While sugar gives an immediate reward and a momentary energy boost to the brain, this comes at the price of a sharply spiking and then quickly collapsing blood sugar levels. In the end, this produces even more tiredness and moodiness.
Mental health should be prioritised. Nobody would try running with a broken leg. Why do we do it when our mental health needs treatment? (Photo: Pixabay)
Mental illness can lead to suicide, yet it’s still considered a taboo topic in many parts of the world. We need to talk about mental health more openly if we want to prevent the waste of life and abilities. Thankfully in my case, it did not manage to reach such an alarming extent, so the body’s self-preservation managed to prevent a disaster.
Sadly, high demands for performance can be deadly! As many as 15% of the patients with major depression commit suicide! A scientific publication discusses the matter,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9457005/
“Wasted Life” — an artwork that I generated using the Wombo Dream app.
This article is reposted also on my other blogging and social profiles.
https://linktr.ee/neurodivergent_ai
Check out more of my artworks in my community on Ko-Fi.