9 Signs of Emotional Exhaustion

Emotional Exhaustion: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, and More

Have you ever felt like nothing is ever going to get better? Emotional and mental exhaustion happens when the stressors from professional life or personal life or both manage to wear you out and drain you until nothing feels right. 

We are all familiar with the state of physical exhaustion, when our body gets so tired that it cannot bear any more physical activity unless it gets re-energised. Physical exhaustion can be easily recognized and reversed by resting and eating energising food. The same is not the case with mental exhaustion as most people don’t realise it is happening and continue with their lives without doing anything about it. Their efficiency reduces gradually until they can’t keep going on anymore.

Here 9 warning signs to check if you are mentally and emotionally exhausted:

  1. Irritability

You get worked up from really small things like spilled coffee or a person’s comment even if it doesn’t pertain to you. Frustration can be accompanied by sweating, hyperventilating, racing heart, anger and confusion.

  1. Lack of motivation

You don’t feel like doing anything. Even when you do something like studying or just doing the work that is assigned to you, you are forcing yourself to do it and you would not do it if you could help it. You are not even motivated to do things that used to make you happy.

  1. Anxiety

Everything, be it leaving your house or asking for help, makes you fearful and nervous. In severe cases, one might even experience panic attacks in seemingly harmless situations in which the fear takes over completely and you feel like you are having a heart attack.

  1. Sleeping troubles

Your sleeping schedule is utterly ruined. Every night, it is difficult for you to fall asleep and when you do, it is so light that you wake up from even slight disturbance. You become sleep deprived eventually and physical exhaustion follows.

  1. Impatience

When you are impatient, you are unable to wait for something or someone and you openly show your discomfort caused by a delay. Depending on the temper, you can either get angry or simply upset. Impatience can make you take impulsive and irrational decisions that can hurt your well being.

  1. Indigestion

Mental discomfort can also lead to tummy troubles. Loss of appetite is very commonly associated with stress. You are never hungry and you don’t even feel like eating your favorite foods. Brain controls all the bodily functions and so mental exhaustion can lead to digestion system dysfunction, the symptoms of the same are bloating, inflammation and cramps.

  1. Sudden breakdowns

You unexpectedly burst into tears for no apparent reason. Crying is just an outlet of the emotions that have built up inside you and you haven’t paid any attention to them or you didn’t realise they were there in the first place. These emotions can be of loneliness, insecurity, dejection and what-not, depending on the person.

  1. Disconnection from reality

You start doubting everything and everyone because it all seems fake to you. It’s like you are not even connected to your own body and you are a complete outsider. Nothing makes you emotionally connect with your surroundings and you keep going on with your days without any feeling of connection.

  1. Emptiness

The feeling of having no purpose in life and it makes you want to give up everything. You are void of emotions and nothing seems to affect you, be it success or failure. You feel bored and you feel like you are all alone. Life seems meaningless.