Burnout: Are You Too Fatigued?
Feeling Sleepy or Feeling Tired?
If you tried to run as fast as you could for five minutes, will you be more likely to feel like you want to lie down or fall asleep? That’s the difference between fatigue and sleepiness, at a high level. When we feel sleepy, we should sleep, and when we feel fatigued, we should rest.
Feeling Sleepy or Feeling Tired?
Although it may seem redundant to distinguish between the two, it can get confusing during the day and night. We might feel tired after work or exercise, but we might confuse that feeling for the need to sleep. If we take extra naps when we feel fatigued, this can interfere with our sleep and disturb our sleep cycle.
The point being, sometimes more sleep may not be the answer to our daytime fatigue. So, how can we measure this and tell the difference?
The Fatigue Severity Scale (FFS) is the best bet here. FFS is a validated assessment of your fatigue and how it affects the activities in your life. Nine questions need to be answered according to how strongly you agree or disagree (one if you strongly disagree, seven if you strongly agree).
Take a pen and paper and respond to the below statements:
Average your score for the above. If you’re average is 4 or above, then it’s time to get some rest and take a bit of time off — According to Dr Chris Winter’s book ‘The Sleep Solution’
What is ‘Rest’?
As we know, rest does not mean sleep. We can define rest as:
Cease work or movement to relax, sleep, or recover strength.
You might be getting the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep, which is Ideal. However, are you pushing your body too hard while awake? Are you taking time to do nothing? I’m not going to tell you what’s causing your fatigue, as there are endless causes. Everything from iron deficiency to Parkinsons Disease — Nevertheless, sometimes simply scheduling some time off to do nothing everyday can give ensure you perform consistently well, long term.
Similarly in ‘How Sleep Removes Toxic Waste From The Brain’, we discussed how the ‘Sleep is for the weak!’ trend is substandard for long term performance and cognitive health — Rest is no different. If you want to stay at the top of your game in the future, rest up in the present.
I love the 80/20 (Pareto Principle) approach. That is, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. An example would be in a sales team — 80% of sales come from 20% of clients.
Although not fixed to 80/20, it useful to analyse what isn’t providing a good return on investment. For example, when I am feeling fatigued, I try to think “What small activities (20%) are causing the majority (80%) of my fatigue?”.
Get creative and go even further: “of that 20%, which activity is in my control and not providing 80% of the positivity in my life?”. Whatever activities are remaining on your list, dispose of them. They are causing issues.
Actions
If you averaged four or above on the FFS, try at least one of the below tomorrow or next week:
- Perform an 80/20 analysis
- Meditate for 10 minutes
- Take a day off caffeine
- Read fiction for 30 minutes
- Go to the cinema or watch a movie at home