Mental Exhaustion: How Does It Affect Your Entire Body?

So what happens when you sleep?!

When you sleep, the brain slows down your metabolism so that other organs can heal, recover and restore themselves. Your immune system recovers, with the body resting, impurities and free radicals are eliminated. Hormones are more produced (e.g. growth hormone, GH). So the brain (highly energy-demanding organ) allows this recovery phase! But believe me, he is functioning well (and not off), lots of activities going on in the brain. It just switches off what you don’t need for the rest of these activities. And this is seen and proven in the electroencephalogram.

If you don’t get enough sleep there are a series of changes in brain circuits, changes in neurotransmitter receptors and memory damage, learning, etc.

But what about mental fatigue? In this case, the biggest component is repetition, monotony, lack of variability with excess of unpleasant or little pleasant activities.

Experts explain that the absence of news causes a lack of focus and attention, the main reason for people to have a sense of mental exhaustion. The prefrontal cortex “gets used” to stimulation and slows attention.

Changing routine, looking for new intellectual stimulus, learning to relax, delegate obligations and having specific moments to dedicate yourself to rest of the body are ways to protect mental health.

The world record in which a man managed to stay awake was 11 days. After that he had a straight sleep just 14 hours to get himself together… a little bit, is it? Yup it is! The brain isn’t as tired as the body!

So, engage yourself in different activities and avoid mental exhaustion. Work out and stretch your muscles for a good nights sleep and recovery.