One of my听听clients, who I鈥檒l call Jenny, is a 39-year-old entrepreneur. Lately, she鈥檚 been struggling with fatigue,听nothing too severe听but a general sense of exhaustion,听or, in her words, 鈥渘ot feeling as sharp and energetic as I鈥檇 like.鈥澨齌he first solution that comes to mind is simple:听. But what if she tries resting听and still feels sluggish?
The Two Types of Fatigue
Jenny鈥檚 situation is not uncommon. It illustrates what I鈥檝e come to think of as the difference between two types of fatigue:
- When your mind-body system is truly tired, or what I鈥檒l call real fatigue.
- When your mind-body system is tricking you into feeling tired because you鈥檙e听in a听, or what I鈥檒l call fake fatigue.
It鈥檚 important to differentiate between these two sensations because the response each requires couldn鈥檛 be more different鈥攖he former calls for shutting things down and resting. The latter calls for nudging yourself in the direction of , not taking the sensation of exhaustion too seriously but, instead, working your way out.
鈥淩eal鈥 Fatigue
When it comes to physical fatigue, it may be the easier of the two to discern. This is because feedback tends to be more objective鈥攜our , your听,听or听the speed at which you run (or the weight you lift)听. For more generalized and predominantly psychological fatigue, however, such clear metrics are lacking. This means that you鈥檝e got to听feel听your way into the right response.
Generally speaking, the cost of pushing through real fatigue is greater than the cost of acquiescing to fake fatigue.听Going too hard for too long and pushing yourself over the edge can result in , which听 shows can take many months鈥攁nd, in severe cases, years鈥攖o reverse.
The safest bet, then, is to treat the onset of exhaustion as if it were real fatigue. Take a day (or a few) off. Sleep听a little extra.听Disconnect听from digital devices. If you can,听spend time in nature. Reexamine your regular听routine, and if something seems haywire,听make adjustments.
If you do all this and yet still feel malaise, then it鈥檚 worth seeing what happens if you firmly nudge yourself into action.
鈥淔ake鈥 Fatigue
An extreme example of 鈥渇ake鈥 fatigue is the exhaustion that accompanies depression. Your brain is doing everything it can to trick you into staying in bed all day when the best thing to break out of the cycle would be to get up and go, or what psychologists call 鈥渂ehavioral activation,鈥 which is a听听for depression.
This isn鈥檛 to say the sensations of lethargy, dullness, and torpor are not real鈥攖hey are,听and they can be . But those sensations, as far as we know, are not organic, not caused by a lack of sleep, an expenditure听of physiological resources, or something wrong in the body, for example. If they were, taking action would make the situation worse. But, as听听shows, with depression, taking action鈥攑articularly when supported by therapy鈥攖ends to make the situation better.
This kind of fake fatigue听happens on a smaller scale听all the time. For instance, about eight months ago,听I kept putting off starting my next big writing project. I felt tired! So I rested. And rested some more. After about three weeks of this, with the help of my own coach,听I decided to force myself to just get started. Three days later, I was in a great writing groove that lasted for over a month. More rest would have only deepened听the rut. I needed to work my way out of it.
How to Stop Feeling Tired
There is one more layer of nuance here, and it鈥檚 an important one. Sometimes, breaking the cycle of fatigue requires combining both of the above strategies. You may be experiencing real fatigue and thus need rest. But after a week of rest, your mind-body system may be recovered yet still latched onto the inertia of doing nothing. At this point, the strategy shifts. In sports, this is why so many tapers end with a few short, intense efforts.听听show that these efforts wake the body up and snap it back into action.
Your best bet is to think of managing exhaustion as an听. Over time, if you pay close attention to how you feel, what you do in response, and what you get out of it, you鈥檒l become better at differentiating between real and fake fatigue. The first step is learning that not all sensations of fatigue mean the same thing.
For those听accustomed to always pushing through exhaustion, perhaps you need a bit more rest. For those accustomed to always resting, perhaps you鈥檇 benefit from more of a just get-going,听鈥渕ood-follows-action鈥澨齧entality. Think of these approaches as two tools in the kit. There鈥檚 a time and place for each.
Brad Stulberg () is a performance coach and writes听翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 Do It Better column. He is also the bestselling author of the books听听and听.