Mental fatigue is a state of tiredness that sets in when your brain’s functioning drive gets depleted. We experience mental fatigue usually as the result of prolonged stress; it gets prolonged by a variety of factors, such as multitasking, pending work, challenging events in life, a demanding job, demanding spouse, kids, and also mainly because of procrastination.

If mental fatigue is ignored, your brain just won’t function right. It is also described as brain fog. If it is not tackled in time, it becomes difficult to concentrate on even simple daily tasks; while reading newspaper you might just glare it blankly, you finish a task but keep lingering on even after it’s finished, you may find yourself repeating a task again and again. Things which you would have finished off keep piling and you become more irksome, you get impatient with co-workers, you pick arguments with family members, friends etc. If not treated in time, mental fatigue can become acute or chronic. Acute fatigue is short-lived and is relieved after a brief period of rest. Most of us experience acute fatigue during an afternoon slump or at the end of a particularly hectic day. Acute fatigue is normal because after a good sleep in night, you feel fresh and recharged the next morning.

However, if left unaddressed, acute fatigue can snowball into chronic fatigue and ultimately lead to burnout. Identify the root causes of your mental fatigue and take proactive steps to manage it early on.

What causes mental fatigue? It is complex to explain. It is usually caused by multiple causes such as too much of physical work, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, hormonal imbalances, bad relations, too much of cognitive load and physical illness. The cognitive overload can take the form of intense focus on a single task over an extended period of time, for example, the case for those chess grandmasters that burn 6,000 calories in a day which often results in mental fatigue of the players. We all spend lot of efforts in spreading our attention across too many things; we take so many decisions throughout the day. We wake up every morning with decisions to make right from what to wear, what to eat, and of course the perennially difficult decision of heading to the gym, health regime. And once you clock into work, the decision flood gates open. By the time you are winding down for the night, you have made an average of 35,000 decisions….isn’t this unbelievable?

We grasp so much of information and process it, the emails we answer, the tasks we need to keep track of, the daily chores; our mobile phone keeps us so busy that taking care of all of this makes us mentally tired. Worrying about a task can be as mentally taxing as actually doing it. That means even while we are procrastinating, we are taxing our brain.

Luckily, there are steps you can take to manage both the physical and cognitive sides of mental fatigue.

Weather it is physical tiredness or mental fatigue, it can be tackled by taking good rest. But if it is mental tiredness that impacts both body and mind. So when you are stressed, pause. Because stress requires a longer pause to resolve the inner wound. And, even when things are fine learn to take a pause. We take our strength for granted, our inner strength is so important, it should never be overlooked. Factually, the stress response is supposed to be short-lived because it wears down our body, your health, and our energy. It also impacts our emotional intelligence and decision making. When we get tightly wound up, we tend to react to situations than to respond with reason.

I have constantly been a fast mover for as long as I can remember. My mind moves faster and my body automatically maintains speed with my mind. I don’t like to waste time, I get things done quickly, and finding proficiencies and shortcuts in work and life brings me great contentment. The thing which I am not good at is taking a break or even just a short pause between moments. That is really what this post is about; it is a reminder to self and any other fast movers out there about the significance of taking space between moments.

Resting increases productivity, it works miraculously. We feel fresh, we feel vital, our confidence increases, and therefore a good pause is most essential.  Listen to your mind, when it asks for a pause, take a pause. Sometimes you need to stop in order to get ahead. Pause to ask yourself what, how, when, whom, and why you are doing things; these questions can be tell exactly what you need in order to continue your progress. Other times, you may simply need a break to recharge and prevent exhaustion. If that occurs, you are going to spend a lot more time recovering than if you had taken a break in the first place.

So whenever you lag behind, press the pause button. If you are all times working on yesterday’s work, you will never be able to give time to today’s work, it’s time to take a pause and catch up. If you are experiencing monotony and feel your quality of work is reducing, pause. The importance of pausing applies to all areas of life. I used to associate stopping and quietness to laziness. I generally thought it was a big waste of time. But in fact, it’s a way to recharge and reset your energy, which can actually help you become more productive.

So when you have anger take a pause to resolve the anger within, it is destructive to your mental state. When you have doubt, do not rush; take a pause to think pros and cons. When you are tired, take a pause to refresh. If it is physical tiredness, it can be tackled by resting but it’s the mental tiredness that impacts both body and mind. When you are stressed, pause. The reasons for stress are different for everyone: students stress about studies, businessmen about profits, a person in job about performance, a housewife about house management, a sick person about sickness and after effects. Stress needs a longer pause to resolve the inner wound. And, even when then things are fine learn to take a pause. We take our strength for granted, our inner strength is so important, it should never be overlooked.

Pausing increases productivity, it does it miraculously. We feel fresh; we feel vital and beam with confidence after a good pause. Listen to the whispers of the soul, when it asks for a pause, take a pause. Sometimes you need to stop in order to get ahead. Pause to ask yourself what, how, when, whom, and why you are doing things; these questions can be tell exactly what you need in order to continue your progress. Other times, you may simply need a break to recharge and prevent exhaustion. If that occurs, you are going to spend a lot more time recovering than if you had taken a break in the first place.

So whenever you lag behind, press the pause button. If you are all times working on yesterday’s work, you will never be able to give time to today’s work, it’s time to take a pause and catch up. If you are experiencing monotony and feel your quality of work is reducing, pause.

Stephen Covey says in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that sharpening the saw is an ongoing process of personal change. You need to define your own strengths and limits in life. We all have busy lifestyles; therefore it’s no surprise we have to insert a pause often to sharpen the saw. Time Management is the most required practice; we must make it part of our life. Our future success depends on how refreshed we feel to take up personal and professional responsibilities.

Learn to enjoy life and time with others: attend those functions where you can catch up with your friends.  We cannot force quality time with our loved ones until we really pause mentally and physically. Learn to pause to enjoy the time together. Put other things on hold while you spend time with your family. Most important take a pause before it becomes inevitable.