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Emotional fatigue: causes, symptoms and how to combat it

Sometimes, it is normal for people to feel tired, with little enthusiasm to do something or to meet people and it can even happen that they feel tired to talk. We call this state of emptiness and emotional fatigue, of feeling incapable of communicating or expressing any feeling or feeling exhausted by the mere presence of a person, we call emotional fatigue.

What is emotional fatigue?

Emotional fatigue is a state of extreme emotional, physical and psychological exhaustion caused by an accumulation of stressful situations.

It is known that each person has different capacities to tolerate stress , since in each individual it varies from the method they use to tolerate it, to the time they can endure in the face of a stressful situation.

Causes of emotional fatigue

One of the causes of emotional fatigue is the accumulation of stressful situations. The stress generated by these situations makes the individual feel exhausted to reduce their productivity.

Those who suffer from this problem may find that feeling so exhausted they lose energy, which leads them to feel increasingly helpless, anguished and resentful of life itself.

Emotional fatigue can also be caused by performing tedious or repetitive tasks , which can be generated at work. A clear example of these tasks can be the delivery of work projects, where they absorb most of the employer’s time and can cause isolation , which leads to problems in their social life or also in their home.

Symptoms of emotional fatigue

  • Negativity
  • Exhaustion (physical and mental)
  • Anguish or depression
  • Impotence
  • Insomnia
  • Headache and muscle pain
  • Isolation
  • Difficult to focus
  • Circulation problems
  • Ineffectiveness in performing tasks
  • Demotivation
  • Loss of appetite
  • Lack of creativity or imagination
  • Not wanting to listen or pay attention to anything.

What can trigger a picture of emotional fatigue?

Emotional fatigue can be caused by various factors. Among the most common are: the labor factor and the sentimental factor.

Feeling undervalued at work

Continuous criticism, demands and devaluation from colleagues and superiors could make you lose the desire to improve yourself at work, they will create and increase your emotional fatigue.

Sentimental matters

Sentimental problems such as fights with people in your close environment – either family, friends or partner – can directly affect your physical and emotional health. When these emotional problems occur , emotions shoot in different directions, creating confusion and recurring thoughts that do not let the mind rest. This disorder of confusions and thoughts makes the subject lack peace of mind and suffer from emotional fatigue.

Relationship between emotional fatigue and stress

Through scientific studies, emotional exhaustion and stress have been shown to be directly associated.

The research was conducted to assess the causal relationship between stress and burnout in physicians, based on the recognition that these problems are quite common in healthcare professionals. Of course, it is not for less, since these professionals are daily with a constant struggle between health and disease, between life and death. They carry an enormous responsibility: people’s lives.

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The study conducted in the United Kingdom was based on the random selection of 800 doctors who were registered in the country, who would be tested following their stress episodes for three years. The selected group of physicians contained the same number of men. One in five doctors of every age, gender and type of practice had qualified outside the UK. The stress levels of the physicians who participated in the study were assessed using the 12-item version of the general health questionnaire.

At the end of the investigation, the results showed a reciprocal causality between exhaustion and stress. The largest causal effects showed a causal cycle in which high levels of emotional exhaustion caused stress and high levels of emotional exhaustion were caused by stress, although emotional fatigue is probably the key precursor to stress. Doctors who are emotionally tired get stressed. This leads them to be more emotionally tired and even more stressed, thus creating a vicious cycle between emotional fatigue and stress, from which it is difficult to get out without help. It is concluded that there is a direct relationship between the suffering of emotional fatigue and the subsequent suffering of stress .

How can you combat emotional fatigue?

Emotional fatigue is a very common problem in the population, since it is suffered by a large number of people. This does not involve a specific treatment, but it is advisable to follow some tips to reduce it and improve step by step.

Recognize the problem. Putting a brake and taking time to think and reflect on what is causing the problem. After recognizing it, it is necessary to rethink your priorities and know what you really want, what interests you, where you are standing and where you want to go.

Take time for yourself. Exercise, have coffee / lunch with your family or friends, read a book or watch a movie, but most of all, take time to relax and disconnect from activities that cause you stress .

Set limits. Excessive demands are not healthy, because sometimes these demands are so high that they can lead to failure, not achieving what is proposed, and when failing, the individual’s self-confidence decreases, which is an important factor for the occurrence of the exhaustion.

Seek support if necessary. Sometimes people with emotional fatigue tend to isolate themselves from the rest and do not realize that by isolating themselves they are making their situation worse. They should be aware of what they are experiencing and seek support from family , friends, or a mental health professional.

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Hello Readers, I am Nikki Bella a Psychology student. I have always been concerned about human behavior and the mental processes that lead us to act and think the way we do. My collaboration as an editor in the psychology area of ​​Well Being Pole has allowed me to investigate further and expand my knowledge in the field of mental health; I have also acquired great knowledge about physical health and well-being, two fundamental bases that are directly related and are part of all mental health.

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