Stress And Fatigue: When You Can’t Take It Anymore And You Don’t Know Why

Stress and fatigue make up a direct and exhausting link. We have all been through times when worry, pressure, and external demands turn into physical discomfort as well. The forces are lacking, we cannot find the energies and the body is slowed down. It is not enough with what happens in the mind so that the organism is also affected.

There is also another fact. This type of exhaustion related to our psychological state and states of stress is experienced differently from ordinary fatigue. It is common that the night rest does not finish to replenish us. Nor give us two days of relaxation on weekends. Thus, to the exhaustion itself is added numbness, back pain or heaviness of arms and legs.

The truth is that many of these clinical realities respond to what we know as emotional exhaustion. It appears, above all, in people who have a stable stress situation over time. The symptomatology is so complex and delicate that it well deserves to stop and delve into it.

Stress and fatigue: why do they appear together?

Fatigue has, on average, two very specific origins. The first appears with physical overloads, when we make a specific effort that demands strength and endurance from us. On the other hand , we cannot rule out exhaustion mediated by deficiency states when we lack a nutrient or deal with a disease.

Thus, something that happens frequently is that people do not usually identify that fatigue that is of emotional or psychological origin. Sometimes it is enough to deal with a specific problem at work to get home exhausted. It does not matter that we have not made a physical effort, the mental overload is enough to consume many of our physiological resources.

On the other hand, there is something important to consider. Research works show us that stress and fatigue make up a complex reality in which multiple variables are integrated. Let’s get to know them.

Stress and metabolic overexertion

The University of Missouri-Kansas and the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran conducted joint research to understand the biology of stress. Thus, something we must consider is that this psychological condition has a high metabolic cost in our body.

• Stress appears when we consider that the demands of the environment exceed our resources. We have the feeling of not being able to get to everything, that we are losing our ability to control.
• The experience of stress intensifies cognitive processes (we think more, we are more alert, we try to focus our attention on many aspects…). All this leads our brain to enter a state of alarm. He understands that there are many fronts that we must be aware of and what he does is activate the sympathetic nervous system.

• What does this translate to? At a higher metabolic cost. There is also another fact. This hyperactivation of the sympathetic system leads us to a state of alert in which it is very difficult to get a good night’s sleep. We sleep, but we do not rest and we do not rest because the REM phase is shorter, which fragments the sleep and we wake up tired.

Stress and tiredness, a link related to general discouragement

Stress and fatigue make up that binomial that is a reason for consultation in primary care centers. People feel exhausted and that exhaustion does not go away with rest, a vacation or a good diet. Not when you add persistent stress, the feeling of not fulfilling all obligations and the continued feeling of ineffectiveness.

Studies, such as those carried out at the University of Leipzig, indicate a series of interesting facts in this regard:

• Stress and fatigue appear in people who show a state of chronic stress. They are situations in which this condition goes beyond 6 months or a year. It is very common in those who deal with unemployment, family, relationship or financial problems.
• When chronic stress is not controlled, it is very easy for anxiety to appear as well. It is then when a more intense physical symptoms appear: tachycardia, digestive disorders, musculoskeletal pain, feeling of weakness, a greater tendency to infections.
• Now, there is a striking fact. Stress and fatigue also correlate with discouragement, lack of joy and apathy. These are vital times when fatigue goes hand in hand with negative valence emotions and personal crises.

What can I do when I feel like I can’t take it anymore?

It is advisable not to reach the limit. Stress is like someone carrying a bag on their back and accumulating stones. If you do not download them somewhere, you will continue to accumulate them until you can no longer, until you fall exhausted and without strength. However, the complexity of stress is that it is made up of multiple elements: skills to manage it, the state of mind and the problems that each person has to deal with.

The best thing to do in these cases is to start with the primary care physician. Rule out medical problems is critical. Later, we can turn to psychological approaches:

• Learn problem solving techniques. What worries today cannot be postponed until tomorrow.
• Detect stressors and work on them. There will be some that we cannot control and that we are forced to accept. What, however, it is in our power to address, it will be time to do so.
• Work irrational ideas and thoughts to shape a healthier mental focus.
• Establish times of leisure, rest and self-care.
• Integrate relaxation techniques and deep breathing into day-to-day life.
• Improve our sleep hygiene.
• Maintain an active life avoiding sedentary lifestyle.
• Have good social support.
• Set goals that excite us in the short and long term.

To conclude, if stress is a constant in our lives, it is advisable to consult with specialized professionals. Sometimes chronic stress demands changes from us. Some course variations for which it can be very useful for someone to give us a hand.