Insufficient Sleep

Several sleepless nights make you feel tired, puts you in a bad mood and makes you irritable. In a manner of speaking, your brain ‘shuts down’ and it seems your ability to focus, complete tasks and make decisions is greatly impeded. Continue with this bad sleeping habit long enough and you might be looking at other health issues such as depression, obesity and heart diseases. You don’t want that.

Hence, you have to find the time to sleep. Find out how much sleep you need to function properly, expert typically advice 7–9 hours of sleep daily. But if you are already experiencing a sleep deficit, you might need to increase your sleeping hours. We recommend you turn in for the night earlier than you used to and take advantage of the weekend when you don’t have to go to work.

Furthermore, reduce caffeine or energy drink intake as much as possible. While they provide a temporary fix, it disrupts and further complicate your sleeping patterns in the long run.

Prolonged Hours Of Mental Work

The brain uses water, sugar and oxygen regularly. Because of long periods of intense mental work, the brain’s energy is used up more rapidly. The more it is used up without being replenished, the greater the chances of being mentally fatigued.

Repetitive Task 

It might also interest you know that a boring job could make you mentally fatigued. Research has shown that working in a place where you’re not stimulated and inspired can lead to a decline in cognitive functions in the long run. This decline is seen in people’s inability to pay attention, complete tasks and manage time.

Repetitive tasks usually become boring and strengthen the feelings of mental fatigue. Therefore, if you’re not inspired by your job, if you’re not learning something new and exciting every day, if all you do is show up at work and count down with the clock until closing time, then it probably time for you to make that career/job change.

Ways To Overcome Mental Fatigue

· Taking lunch breaks

· Taking a walk and get some fresh air

· Eating regularly and well, a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and protein

· Drinking lots of water

· Taking short breaks at intervals during work, talk to a colleague.

Bottom Line

In summary, the effect of mental fatigue can be seen in reduced decision-making ability. Above all, it reduces productivity or performance, reduces attention and vigilance, reduces ability to handle stress on the job and reaction time. Eventually, it can lead to loss of memory or the ability to recall details, increased forgetfulness and increased errors in judgement etc.

Consequently, this sort of awareness are very helpful to reduce or eliminate mental fatigue. Finally, if you’re experiencing extreme symptoms of mental fatigue or exhaustion and are unable to change them on your own, it may be time to see a doctor.