Fatigue: Meaning, Symptoms & Causes

What Is Fatigue?

Psychological fatigue is an erosion of enthusiasm caused by obstacles, roadblocks, or added rules & constraints.

People experiencing emotional exhaustion often feel like they have no control over what happens in their life. They may often experience the feelings of getting “stuck” or being “trapped” in a situation.

Symptoms Of Fatigue

Although fatigue is sometimes described as tiredness, it is different to just feeling tired or sleepy. Everyone feels tired at some point, but this is usually resolved with a nap or a few nights of good sleep.

These are some of the symptoms of fatigue. They range in emotional, mental and physical symptoms.

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Chronic tiredness
• Muscle weakness
• Over-working
• Impaired decision-making & judgment
• Moodiness (irritability)
• Poor concentration
• Low motivation

The symptoms mentioned above may differ from person to person.

Lack of energy, poor sleeping patterns, and decreased motivation (as mentioned above) can make it difficult to overcome exhaustion or fatigue. Overtime, this stressed-out, tired state can cause permanent damage to your health.

Causes Of Fatigue

There are various causes that trigger fatigue in anybody. Some of the causes include:

• Medical Causes:
  • There are a number of diseases & disorders which can trigger fatigue. Unrelenting tiredness may be a sign of illnesses such as thyroid, heart disease or high blood pressure.
• Life-Style Related Causes:
  • Life-style related causes include:
    • Lack of sleep or sometimes too much sleep can cause excessive tiredness
    • Substance abuse affects the nervous system and can disturb normal sleep patterns
    • Lack of physical activity may cause fatigue as fitness improves health, and reduces stress levels.
    • Poor diet intake like consuming high energy foods may hold onto being energetic for sometime then later on leads to excessive exhaustion.
  • Workplace Related Causes:
    • Workplace stress can lead to being tired
    • Overworking leads to stress, and soreness in the eyes, it can also cause headaches leading to low motivation and low energy
    • Shift work sometimes lead to an irregular pattern of sleep, leading to different types of headaches and causing mental fatigue

Conclusion

Knowing the symptoms of fatigue can really help in fighting the signs of exhaustion. Although, anyone experiencing long-term stress can often become emotionally exhausted & overwhelmed.

Thus, in difficult times, emotional exhaustion can sneak up on you and cause a lot of distress, but it is never too late to get help.