I have a question today.....
Which one is more worse, mental tiredness or physical Tiredness??
Must Share your Perspective.....
**Images from Pinterest **
Lemme share my thoughts....
I’ve been both kinds of tired. There was the physical kind after hostel days. Running between my clincial Job , cooking food that sat heavy, going to gym, Second clinic...hence no proper sleep for weeks, carrying laundry, and my own mood up three flights of stairs. My legs would ache. My back would hurt for days..oh goodness sometime it become worse. My eyes would burn. But I knew what it was. I could point to it. “I’m tired because I didn’t sleep. I’m tired because I walked 12,000 or more steps. I’m tired because I lifted.”
Then there’s the mental kind. The one that came after coming home. No exams. No hostel routine. Just sitting. Just thinking. And somehow feeling more drained than I did when I was running on 4 hours of sleep.
**If you ask me which is worse, I’ll say it without thinking: mental tiredness. **
First ...letz talk about physical tiredness. Physical tiredness has rules:
Physical tiredness plays fair. It tells you why it’s there.There can be several reasons but surely with a solution that you can avail yourself. You skip sleep, you feel it. You train, you feel it. You fast, you feel it. Cause and effect. Clean.....! It also has a solution. Rest. Food. Water. Sleep. I’ve tested this. In my hostel stay...when After two and a half months in hostel, I came home and slept for 11 hours straight. I woke up and my body felt different. Not perfect, but lighter. My shoulders weren’t locked. My head didn’t throb. I ate home food and my stomach stopped complaining.
Physical tiredness is honest. It doesn’t lie to you. If you’re sore, you’re sore. If you’re hungry, you’re hungry. You can measure it. You can fix it.
I remember one night in hostel we had a group project till 2 AM, it was my sisters thesis project and i was helping her. I went to bed at 2:30, woke up at 6:00 for my job. All day I was dead. Legs heavy, brain foggy, yawning in the middle of my shift. But I knew: “Okay, tonight I sleep early and I’ll be fine.” And I was. One good night fixed it.
**
There’s relief in that. You know the end exists. You know rest is coming.
**
Image from Pinterest
But,
In other case, Mental tiredness has no clock:
Mental tiredness doesn’t follow rules. You can sleep 10 hours and still feel like you didn’t sleep at all. You can take a day off and still feel exhausted. You can be sitting on your bed, doing nothing, and feel like you ran a marathon. Its like something is eating from inside your body and trust m its te worst feeling ever then physical pain.
It doesn’t tell you why it’s there. Sometimes it’s overthinking. Sometimes it’s nothing. You just wake up tired of being you. Tired of deciding. Tired of pretending you’re okay.
The worst part about mental tiredness is You can’t explain it. If someone asks “why are you tired?” and you say “I don’t know,” they think you’re lazy. They think you’re dramatic. But you’re not. You just can’t find the words because the tiredness is inside, not outside.
Image from Pinterest
I think....Physical tiredness ends. Mental tiredness repeats,its just like a loop and its too difficult to come put of it... obviously not impossible but near impossible.
Lets Comapre
1- If I’m physically tired, I can see the finish line. “Finish this assignment, then sleep.” “Complete this workout, then eat.” There’s a last step.
On the other hand
Mental tiredness doesn’t have a last step. You finish one thing and your brain gives you three more. You rest for a day and the guilt tells you’re wasting time. You try to relax and your thoughts, overthinking won’t shut up. And this is the terrible feeling ever. It's like the whole self is stuck at a point where no longer is the way but want to come out of this loop.That’s exhausting. To be your own pressure and your own judge. Physical pain stops when you stop. Mental pain doesn’t stop even when you stop.
2- You can hide physical tiredness. You can’t hide mental tiredness....If I’m physically tired, I can fake it. I can smile, stand straight, finish the task. People see me working, they think I’m fine. And I am fine. Just tired. No one can have any idea whats going on with my body. Because my fake expression will never let anyone know about my pain.
On the other hand
If I’m mentally tired, faking it takes more energy than the thing itself. When Mentally tired.. 99% time facial expressions show that tiredness. I smile, but it’s heavy. I talk, but my words are slow. I laugh, but it doesn’t reach my eyes. And then I go home and collapse, not because my body is tired, but because pretending was exhausting. Its like talking , smiling even each facial expression tale alot of energy.
3- Physical tiredness makes you sit down.You can be around anyone, can still talk to anybody but Mental tiredness makes you disappear while you’re still sitting there. Its like lost in another dimension.
4- Recovery is different
To recover from physical tiredness, I need sleep. Maybe some yoga, exercises. Maybe protein. Maybe a day with no stairs. Simple.....or sometime just a pain killer is enough.
On the other hand
To recover from mental tiredness, I need more than sleep. I need quiet. I need to not decide anything. I need to not be useful for a while. I need to feel safe, not just rested.
5- Physical tiredness limits your body. Mental tiredness limits your life. You can work through sore legs. You can’t work through a sore mind. Not well. Not honestly.
6- The dangerous one
Physical tiredness can hurt you. You can injure yourself. You can get sick. So you respect it. You stop.
Mental tiredness is dangerous because it doesn’t look dangerous. You can function. You can show up. You can say “I’m fine.” And slowly you stop caring. Slowly you stop trying. Slowly you think this is just who you are now. Slowly you lost your internet in every thing and then a moment comes when you lost your internet in own self.
That’s what scares me. Because no one brings you soup for mental tiredness. No one tells you to rest your brain. They tell you to “cheer up” or “be positive.” As if that’s a switch.
So,
In my perspective
I don’t think you have to choose. We’re not supposed to pick one. We have both a body and a mind. But if I have to pick which one I’d rather deal with, I pick physical.
Give me sore muscles over a numb mind. Give me a day of rest over a week of pretending. Give me a body that hurts because it worked, not a mind that hurts because it can’t stop working. Being a Physiotherapist, most of the time i myself deal with my physical pains but For mental tiredness: I’m still learning. Sometimes I go for a walk alone. Sometimes I sit with my sister and say nothing. Sometimes I write it out, like this. I’m trying not to fight it. Fighting makes it heavier.
So,
Physical tiredness is worse for your body. Mental tiredness is worse for your life. And I’d rather be sore than empty. So yes. Mental tiredness is worse. By far.
What do you think???
