Signs of mental exhaustion: Headaches, mood swings, poor sleep are symptoms of burnout

Symptoms of mental exhaustion: You might get headaches, sore muscles, back pain, or stomach problems. If you have conditions like chronic pain, it can become worse than usual (Image: Canva)

Mental exhaustion is like physical tiredness, except that it’s your mind and not your muscles. You see it when you are trying to focus on a mentally tough task for a while. You can feel a brain drain when you stressed out due to your job, caring for children, helping aging parents, and other things can lead to mental exhaustion.

Here are the signs that you may have mental exhaustion:

• Mental fatigue can put you in a bad mood. You may be angry, snapping at people frequently. It’s harder to control your emotions.

• You can’t get work done. Mental exhaustion makes it hard to concentrate. It also makes you feel less motivated, making you miss deadlines, getting you distracted. Tasks can seem impossible.

• You zone out. Meaning you get drowsy or find your mind going on to other things especially while doing tasks like driving. You may also find it hard to focus on what you are doing and have poor reaction time. A lot of car accidents are caused due to such exhaustion.

• Poor sleep is another sign of such fatigue. You may think tiredness is equal to god sleep, but when your brain is tired that is not the case. When you have a lot of work, you also suffer from more symptoms of insomnia. And it becomes a vicious cycle because the less you sleep, the more tired you get.

• Mental fatigue can cause you to develop unhealthy habits like increased drinking of alcohol or taking drugs. It can accelerate the problem in people who struggle with those who substance control issues.

• You may feel numb, and that may make it harder for you to get out of bed every day. You may feel low and hopeless. If this continues for more than two to three weeks, do consult your doctor as you may be suffering from depression.

• You may be worrying about everything. Constantly alert that something may go wrong. You may panic, get anxious something that goes hand in hand with feelings of depression.

• You may think all you need to do is exercise, but that will seem impossible to you. The idea of having to move or exerting yourself will seem like an uphill task and totally distasteful to you.

• Mental exhaustion can affect your appetite. You may snack more and not pay attention to what you eat. You could also start eating more sweets, salty, or fatty foods. Or you may stop eating completely. Stress affects different people, in various ways when it comes to food.

• Mental fatigue lessens your ability to fix your mistakes. You can also end up making more mistakes than usual. This can cause problems in jobs, such as driving.

• You feel more pain. You might get headaches, sore muscles, back pain, or stomach problems. If you have conditions like chronic pain, it can become worse than usual.