Let's talk about fatigue

"Why am I always so tired?"

Fatigue differs from simply being tired or sleepy because it is hard to kick. We can bounce back from being tired or sleepy by putting in some solid resting time. But that’s not necessarily the case with fatigue. On the contrary, people tend to feel even more fatigued after resting for awhile. What gives? Let’s talk about this today.

Types of fatigue

Fatigue is the result of our biological systems working overtime to interact with what’s happening to and around us. The reason I’m putting it in such general terms is because fatigue is complicated and has far-reaching implications to our health. To (over-) simplify things, let’s look at some broad categories and examples:

Active vs. passive fatigue

As the terms suggest, active fatigue comes from actively working on something; perhaps over an extended amount of time - most often a task or a job. Passive fatigue comes from doing work similar to being on-call. While you may only receive one call on your shift, passive fatigue can be developed from the anticipation of receiving an especially demanding task or working on unexpected tasks.

Mental vs. physical fatigue

Mental fatigue can be roughly divided between emotional and cognitive fatigue. Emotional fatigue can come from having experienced a significant event such as losing a loved one or being in an extended, heated argument. Cognitive fatigue can come from working extensively on a project that requires a lot of thinking and planning.

Physical fatigue can come from overworking the body but it can also come from improper care of physical needs. Some examples of this can be sleep deprivation and poor nutrition.

Local vs. general fatigue

It's possible to only feel fatigued in one area (local). For example, shoulder and neck issues can be quite common in the Seattle tech world and office workers in general. Shoulder and neck issues can be an example of local fatigue that does not necessarily interfere with other activities. General fatigue, on the other hand, can end up interfering with all aspects of a person's functioning - sometimes effectively putting them out of commission.

Important external factors

There are important factors in our environment that impact the fatigue we experience. How is our surrounding meeting our needs such as temperature, lighting, noise level? Do we have the resources we need to accomplish our tasks and goals? Do we have enough time to finish what we need to do? Is there something stressful in our family or friend circles that has been on our minds? Are we feeling pressured by co-workers and supervisors? Are there any messages or overt incidents of discrimination toward the groups we're part of?

Consequences:

When we are feeling fatigued, we're overwhelmed and therefore don't typically have the same internal tools and resources to do things like when we weren't fatigued. What can happen is working at the current capacity while sacrificing work quality. What can also happen is working even harder to achieve the same result at the cost of feeling even more fatigued for longer. While this creates an experience of working hard, many of the mental and physical systems involved are "checked out" and can't to keep up to achieve the same level of performance. Either way, the quality of our performance is likely to suffer and might even be at the cost of internalized sense of shame and failure.

Fatigue is the underlying cause of many mental and physiological disorders. Because the fatigued state makes it harder for the body to regulate itself for normal functions. Some examples are gastrointestinal issues, chemical imbalance in the body (such as depression), high blood pressure, and excess body fat around the waist.

Strategies for managing fatigue:

More than one of the fatigue types can be present at the same time to influence the experience and degree of fatigue. A tense confrontation can lead to general fatigue both emotionally and physically. Because fatigue is complicated, it is helpful to identify the fatigue type(s) and what tasks/work/interactions got us there.

A common solution is "work smarter, not harder." Instead of doubling down on effort when feeling fatigued, are there external factors mentioned earlier that you can change to make your life easier? Taking short but frequent breaks. Eating a nutritious meal. Taking some time to gather the resources and information you need. Assertively asking those around us for what we need in order to do well.

It can also be helpful to think about what might be motivating you to "double down" on work even when you're feeling fatigued. Are there values like achievement and working hard that are important to you nudging you forward? It's so common for values and beliefs to play an important role in how we do things. These values and beliefs may have come from our upbringing, significant past experiences, family, and culture. This is especially true when we're in vulnerable positions like the fatigued state to turn to these values as our rock. Depending on the situation, you could benefit from examining when these values and beliefs are serving you well and when they are leading to unproductive self-talk, judgement, and poor performance.

Sleep is a critical element for recovering from fatigue. Take some time to look into improving your sleep hygiene can also go a long way.

A final word on fatigue:

I'd be remiss to not include a comment about how many of our modern day demands lead to burnout and fatigue. As people, we are simply not wired to be "on" for the lengths of time and intensity we are asked to do on a regular basis. In some ways, it's normal for us to feel fatigued. It reminds us to be human, to pause, to care for ourselves and our loved ones. I hope you are able to extend compassion toward yourself in times of fatigue. And breathe.

*Ross O. Phillips' 2015 review of definitions was referenced for this blog post.