Feel Exhausted? 7 Surprising Reasons Why.

I am a master at piling too much on my plate, and after years of doing so, I feel like I am (unfortunately) very qualified to talk about the feeling of being completely and utterly overextended and zapped of energy. Until recently, I didn’t fully understand that there are multiple reasons for this feeling. But then my husband shared with me a TED series post called “How to be a better Human.” Avalon Nuovo wrote a great article called The 7 types of rest that every person needs. Did you know there are 7 ways we can be worn out? He explains the 7 ways to renew yourself, depending on what type of rest you actually need.

The 7 types of rest:

1. Physical rest, which can be passive (sleep, a nap) or active (stretching, massage, yoga)

2. Mental rest- mental breaks every 2 hours as a reminder to slow down

3. Sensory rest- from bright lights, computers, and sound like background noise or conversation

4. Creative rest- to reawaken our creativity and problem solving, such as being in nature, standing by the ocean, visiting an art museum or gallery.

5. Emotional rest- taking the time to check in with yourself on how you are REALLY doing and giving yourself permission to cut back as needed without constantly doing things to please others.

6. Spiritual rest- feeling a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose through prayer, meditation or community activity.

This explains why you and I can get a good night’s sleep and still not feel renewed- because sleep is only a solution for 1 type of “tired.”

Avalon explains:

“We go through life thinking we’ve rested because we have gotten enough sleep — but in reality we are missing out on the other types of rest we desperately need. The result is a culture of high-achieving, high-producing, chronically tired and chronically burned-out individuals. We’re suffering from a rest deficit because we don’t understand the true power of rest.”

When I first read this article, my heart stopped. It’s like it was speaking directly to me, this explained SO MUCH to me as a woman always filling her plate with more goals, more work, more more more. So THIS is why I am always tired. Who knew? I cut this article out and pasted it at the front of my journal as a constant reminder.

I encourage you to take some time with this list and see which ones you may need more of for you to reel rested. I found there were several I needed to focus on (a friend of mind jokes that she needed to work on all 7) and I continue to revisit this list when I have a chain of low energy days that I can’t seem to shake.