Human beings require adequate rest. Otherwise, we will be feeling tired all the time. You need to rejuvenate yourself, through rest, to avoid sensory overload.
In this dynamic and agile era of technology, we often find ourselves on the brink of burnout and complete mental exhaustion. We feel overworked, tired, and have little to no energy.
If you’re one of those people who feel tired all the time, don’t worry. You’re not alone!
We may overthink and complicate our feeling of continuous and frequent tiredness with an underlying condition (which may be the case sometimes).
However, it’s not that drastic, when you figure out what’s wrong with you and assess your senses.
More often than not, all you need is a good time off to get connected with your senses, rejuvenate yourself, and extend the well-deserved rest to your senses.
Exhaustion and fatigue are common among every individual.
At some point in time, even if it’s not today, you’ll end up feeling tired, drained, and depleted of energy.
However, if it’s frequent, meaning that you face constant fatigue, exhaustion, or feeling of tiredness, then it means that you need to listen to the signals that your body is conveying to you.
All your senses act up and send signals to your brain that they are overworked and require rejuvenation.
Feeling exhausted or tired is so common amongst individuals that it has a standalone acronym called ‘TATT,’ which refers to being ‘Tired all the time.’
According to the NHS UK, we all feel tired from time to time, because of some obvious reasons that include:
Many other factors contribute to frequent tiredness and it’s important to note the point where you started feeling tired or depleted all the time.
Hence, it becomes important to dive into different aspects of mental fatigue or constant tiredness.
We may categorize the causes of constant tiredness into the following categories:
| Category | Characteristics |
| Psychological | Anxiety & Stress, Emotional Trauma, Depression, Insomnia, Mental Health Issues or Disorders |
| Physical | Underlying conditions, Nutrient Deficiencies, Being Overweight or Underweight, Exposure to Harmful Gasses (Poisoning) |
| Lifestyle | Sedentary or Inactive Living, Bad Habits, Too Much Caffeine, Late Working Hours or Rotational Work Shifts (Between Day and Night) |
Let’s dive deeper into all the categories so that you have a better understanding of why you’re feeling tired all the time.
Many psychological factors contribute to deteriorating mental health, which includes feeling tired all the time.
Some of the most common factors of why you’re feeling tired frequently include:
One of the most common mental health issues that surround our brain is anxiety and stress. Both usually go hand in hand, with one leading to the other. The piling up of stress and anxiety surrounding our day-to-day lives takes its toll on our brains. And if you don’t give yourself a breather, your brain will go into a crash mode, making you feel tired and depleted of energy. The more you keep dwelling on stressful thoughts, the more that feeling of constant tiredness will start kicking in.
Another important contributor to mental fatigue and frequent tiredness is emotional trauma. If you have undergone any life-changing event that left emotional trauma or emotional shock in your mind, you’ll constantly feel the pressure on your head, and won’t be able to exert energy in anything. You’ll be fatigued all the time.
Ongoing mental health issues like Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Depression will also play their role in dictating your feelings. If you suffer from mental health issues, you are likely to face tiredness more frequently.
Sleep is an important aspect of one’s life. We cannot function without adequate sleep. If you suffer from insomnia or not being able to get proper sleep, your mind and body would have to work twice as hard, and eventually, your energy levels would drop significantly, and you’ll end up feeling tired all the time.
Apart from psychological factors, certain physical factors weigh in towards feelings of frequent fatigue, exhaustion, or tiredness. These factors include:
If you have any underlying health condition like Hypothyroidism, you’ll witness frequent and unexplainable fatigue and tiredness, usually because of that condition. Similarly, in health conditions like Anaemia, where your body is deprived of iron, you will feel more tired, as your body does not have enough iron to push optimum energy levels.
Similar to iron deficiency, if your body lacks the required vitamins and nutrients, you will face the issue of ongoing fatigue and feeling of restlessness. Deficiency in body nutrients like Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamin B12, Magnesium, Zinc, and Vitamin B2 will result in exhaustion and frequent tiredness.
An important aspect to consider in your life is keeping your BMI in check. Being underweight or being overweight are two extremes that you should avoid. If you are underweight, it means that your lack body fats and energy stores to help you remain active, while being overweight means that you have excess fat stores that may result in other serious conditions related to the heart and liver and in turn, you’ll end up feeling tired and restless more often.
Sometimes, when you’re unwillingly or willingly exposed to harmful gases and toxins that surround us, you’ll start noticing fatigue and tiredness more often as these gases are poisonous and cause your energy levels to deteriorate drastically if you’re exposed long term.
Lifestyle factors that contribute to constant tiredness or exhaustion include:
The biggest issue that we face today, mostly among youth, is that people abide by a life of extravagance and laziness. Youngsters are coming up and saying that they feel tired all the time, simply because they’re playing video games 24/ 7. They’re not living an active lifestyle that involves going out for a walk or jog. Sedentary or inactive living poses grave consequences for our physical and mental health, which is why we end up feeling tired all the time because we’re simply not ready to get up from our couch and step out of our comfort zone.
Linked with sedentary living, people often develop habits like being lazy, procrastinating, developing a poor diet, relying on food and video games as a support system, consumption of alcohol, and vice versa. The problem with developing bad habits is that you’ll get accustomed to them, and it’ll be extremely hard to break such habits. Because of these bad habits, you’ll often find yourself on the verge of exhaustion and tiredness.
Any beverage that has too much caffeine in it, will make you feel restless. People who have long working hours or late-night shifts use caffeine as a support system to get an energy boost; however, that energy boost will be short-lived. In the long run, you’ll end up requiring more coffee to survive and without it, you’ll feel depleted of energy. Remember, nothing can complement or replace a good night’s sleep.
People who work late hours or have rotational shifts between day and night often complain about feeling tired all the time. There are two main reasons for that:
Late working hours are equivalent to fewer working hours. Hence, you suffer from inadequate sleep and if you continue with the same routine, you’ll end up in a state of total burnout or sensory overload, causing your body to feel tired all the time.
If you have rotational shifts shuffled between day and night, your biological clock will get disturbed, and hence, your sleeping pattern will get disturbed because you don’t have a standard sleeping time. The disturbed biological clock causes your body to feel tired and inactive and over time, this will get worse.
There are many reasons why one might be feeling tired all the time, and we’ve tried to cover the important ones for you.
Having said that, you must be thinking of ways to overcome that constant sensation and feeling of tiredness and how you could rejuvenate yourself.
If you think that the answer is a simple vacation or taking a long break from work or daily stressors, then you’re not seeing the complete picture.
To stop feeling tired all the time, you need to think big, and you need to think with the ‘senses’ that you are gifted with, as your senses hold the key to breaking the spiral or loop of never-ending tiredness.
If you’re living an active and healthy lifestyle and you still feel that you’re tired, then you need to give rest to your senses and rejuvenate yourself through ‘Sensory Rest.’
Our senses are mediums or channels through which we interpret and experience the world around us.
There’s a lot to experience in the outside world and luckily, our brain is smart enough to categorize our experiences, through our senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste.
Even if you lack any sense like sight or hearing, you may still encounter a condition called sensory overload, as sensory overload applies to all the senses. And when you’re planning on giving your senses a break, you’re planning to get rid of constant tiredness.
As explained by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith: “We accept the health benefits of avoiding junk food, but we rarely consider the effects of the junky cluttered sensory impressions we receive from our choices of entertainment and living environment.”
When we encounter frequent exhaustion and fatigue, we need to practice and emphasize sensory rest because when we are constantly feeling tired, we’ll end up overworking our senses, which will result in sensory overload.
If you want to avoid sensory overload or constant fatigue, here’s something that will help you develop some context:
| Senses | What to Avoid |
| Sight | Unnecessary screentime and exposure to blue or bright light |
| Hearing | Unnecessary, harsh, and loud noise or volumes or exposure to noise pollution |
| Smell | Foul odor or stench including air-polluted environments with harmful and toxic gases |
| Touch | Unnecessary or compromised movements that create pressure on your joints or touch response including harmful surface |
| Taste | Overeating or eating unhealthy food, smoking, or intoxication of any form |
When it comes to giving rest to your senses, you must avoid the factors that we’ve mentioned above.
In addition, you may also try other techniques to rejuvenate yourself from constant tiredness, by giving rest to your senses.
One of the ways you can give your senses some rest is to unplug yourself from distractions that include watching TV for longer periods, playing video games, and spending time on your computer or phone. Dedicate a time for yourself to unplug and unwind and practice meditation and mindfulness in that time.
This will help you get the required sensory rest.
Here’s a 12-minute meditation to help you reconnect to your senses and simple guide to meditation for beginners.
Mindfulness meditation practices will also help you to reconnect with your senses by developing a calm and more aware outlook, allowing your senses to rest, and significantly helping to remove frequent tiredness.
You can start reconnecting to your senses and allowing your senses to rest by exposing yourself to the natural environment and getting out of your artificial environment and ‘self-perceived’ comfort zone.
Go for a hike outdoors. Enjoy the natural atmosphere. Take in the restorative powers of nature to unwind from all the fatigue, stress, and distractions.
You can even decide to go and camp outdoors, lighting up the fire in the good old traditional manner, feeling the outdoor fireplace firsthand, while you enjoy the natural and soothing environment around you.
Sometimes, you need a good, long, warm bath to rejuvenate yourself and give rest to your senses.
Soaking yourself in lukewarm water will relax your sense of touch. And if you want to make your bath even more impactful, then try using scented bath salts, body washes, or shampoos that spread calming and soothing fragrances, allowing your sense of smell to rest as well.
Read our other article – Importance of drinking water and ten ways to improve your water intake
If you suddenly feel irritated and obnoxious just because you’ve put on clothes that are offering your discomfort, get ready to ditch them as they are causing pressure on your sense of touch, and hence, will make you feel uneasy and even tired because of constant stress.
Wear fabric that will make you calm and feel comfortable in your skin, helping to give rest to your senses and making you feel more active and alert.
Processed food tends to make you feel more tired because of its poor nutritional content.
You can start by eliminating processed foods from your diet and make constant efforts to incorporate a healthy diet. This will help you rejuvenate, detoxify, and provide rest to your senses.
Try enjoying natural foods like fruit and vegetables. They will make you feel more active and energetic.
Don’t worry if you’re feeling overwhelmed, as the emphasis is on taking one step at a time.
Everyone feels tired. And some may encounter exhaustion and fatigue more often than others, but don’t let that demotivate you or make you go into denial.
You need to explore the reasons for your frequent tiredness and see where you are lacking.
However, if there’s one thing that we’re sure of, is that everyone requires sensory rest, and sensory rest will help you get rid of constant tiredness and exhaustion in most cases.
Even if you suffer from underlying conditions or mental health disorders, committing to sensory rest will significantly improve your mental health, especially when it comes to low energy levels or the sensation of feeling tired all the time.
Just remember to take one step at a time and trust in the steps or process that you’re committing yourself to.
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