How many times have you asked yourself, "Why am I so tired when I stay home all day?"
Trust me, you are not alone.
Many people have felt and are currently feeling this exact way. Being stuck at home has come to feel like years rather than weeks. But why?
Here are possible explanations for why you feel this way:
Mild depression
A loss of one's routine can often result in feeling lost, discombobulated and without purpose. It is completely normal to feel out of touch with reality because, quite frankly, we are all out of touch with our old reality right now.
There is economic uncertainty that grows each day. Your old normal ceases to exist. Maybe you've had more time than you're accustomed to in order to genuinely think about what the future holds.
All of these things can contribute to mild and often serious feelings of depression.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is something that many experience throughout the fall and winter months. SAD is sometimes referred to the "winter blues", labelled as such due to a lack of sunlight with shorter daylight hours during these months.
Recently in Toronto, we had a stretch of three weeks where we had little to no sunshine and it left a good chunk of the population feeling like "zombies".
I just want to feel "normal" again, but how?
Try these:
Talk to someone
First and foremost, any time you are experiencing any signs of depression you should talk to someone. Please consult your family doctor or a mental health professional who can help. These individuals are trained professionals whose jobs are to help during times like these.
Next, reach out to friends and family; everyone is in this together. Creating and often just realizing that you have a support system may be just what you needed. At the very least you can set up things like video calls while watching the same show in an effort to feel closer without the fear of endangering yourself and others.
Create a schedule
Bodies crave routine, this is nothing new. Have you ever tried to wake up earlier than you normally do? How did that go?
Chances are, you felt significantly more tired than you would on a "normal day."
Why is that?
Well, in order for our bodies to work optimally, there are so many things that it must do throughout the day in order to maximize bodily function. It's almost as though right before you were about to get your morning coffee at 8:15 like you normally do, someone knocks on your door and announces that they need to check your cable lines. Your day becomes a calamity of errors and irritability. But why does this happen?
A New York Times Magazine article in 2011 written by John Tierney has an explanation.
The article is called Do you suffer from decision fatigue?
Chances are, you have never heard of this term before.
Tierney defines decision fatigue as the following:
"Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue — you’re not consciously aware of being tired — but you’re low on mental energy."
So as you can see, the more unconscious our actions are, the less likelihood we spontaneously combust. If we find a way to make more choices cyclical, we minimize the chance of being stressed out by irrational decision making.
Start an exercise program
Exercising releases endorphins. Endorphins are literally happy hormones.
A Healthline article written by Jacquelyn Cafasso and medically reviewed by Stacey Sampson sites this:
"Endorphins are involved in our natural reward circuits and are related to important activities like eating, drinking, physical fitness, and sexual intercourse. Endorphins also surge during pregnancy. They minimize discomfort and pain and maximize pleasure. This helps us to continue functioning despite injury or stress."
What better way to combat sadness than with happiness?
If you're looking for an exercise program try one of our Coach Koe Bootcamps.
Currently we have 6 classes available:
Monday Wednesday Thursday FULL BODY 6pm EST
Tuesday Thursday FULL BODY 12pm EST
Friday Arms & Shoulders 5pm EST
Contact us for your free class!
References:
Do you suffer from decision fatigue ? written by John Tierney
Why do we need endorphins ? written by Jacquelyn Cafasso Medically reviewed by Stacy Sampson
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Three weeks of nearly zero sunshine turns Toronto dwellers into depressed vampires Written by Sabrina Gamrot
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