Ten top tips to help battle your fatigue

Feeling tired? Run down? Lacking motivation?

You may be wondering why you are feeling so exhausted recently! Being at home more should make you less tired, right? Wrong! There are actually many reasons why we might be feeling tired and by finding out more about these, we can find solutions to help us feel more energised.

1. Are you sitting down all day?

One of the main reasons we could be feeling so tired is that we have been moving much less than we would in a normal week. Movement is vital to our health and wellbeing and if we are sitting for long periods of time, this can cause us to feel lethargic and lack motivation.

What to do: 

Make sure you take breaks throughout the day and make a real effort to get up and walk around, even if it is just around the house. Taking regular breaks and moving around will actually improve your productivity and help you to feel more awake!

2. Are your studies more intense?

Now that everything is online, including lectures, chats with friends and meetings with tutors, you’re looking at a screen all day without visual breaks! This can cause you to feel more tired as your studies become more intense.

What to do: 

If you are still studying, try to make sure you give your eyes a rest throughout the day by focusing on something physical rather than virtual. Don’t worry about being productive every second of the day. If you give yourself breaks your will find you are more focused when you need to be!

3. Are you camera shy? 

You may not be used to seeing yourself on camera, and it has been proven this can have a huge effect on your mental and physical wellbeing, as you are constantly confronted with how you look. This can cause us not only to become very critical of ourselves, but it can actually make us more tired!

What to do:

If you are feeling particularly tired, turn of your camera when you attend a meeting or seminar, if you can. The most important thing is your contribution! If you are on camera, try to avoid looking at yourself and focus on what others are saying and the goals of the session.

4. Do you have a hectic home life?

During the Coronavirus pandemic your lifestyle may have changed a lot. Some of us will have children to look after, some will have to do more cooking or cleaning as the services that helped with these are no longer running, some may be caring for relatives or friends. We all lead very different lives, some with more commitments than others and this can be very exhausting.

What to do:

Make sure you are realistic about what you are able to achieve on a day to day basis and try to embrace your hectic home life with open arms. Make sure you take some time for yourself too. Give yourself an hour or two every day dedicated to you and use it to relax and free your mind from your daily worries!

5. Are you getting distracted easily?

Studying from home will be easier for some than others. Lots of us have distractions around us which can make staying focused more difficult, especially if we have limited space to work and are sharing a working area with others. This means keeping concentrated requires more energy and thus makes us more tired!

What to do:

You can limit distractions by creating a routine with those who live with you. For example, you can try taking your lunch breaks at the same time. Try to relax and don’t panic if you start to get distracted. Take a ten minute break and come back to your work. Try not to get annoyed at yourself for getting side-tracked too! We are all human!

6. Do you miss your friends?

Usually we interact a lot with other people on a day-to-day basis and this can help us to feel energised throughout the day. As we can no longer maintain these sorts of relationships, this can actually make us feel more lethargic as we aren’t getting these regular interactions that help us feel energised.

What to do:

Keep connected through other means such as Microsoft teams or other instant messages. It can help to create a group chat with friends that you would usually lunch with or speak to throughout the day. This way you have your study group chats and a separate chat for social messages. However, do make sure you switch off notifications every so often, so that you are able to take a break from technology at some point!

7. Do you feel that you have lost your freedom?

One of the main challenges that we can face while being at home is that our freedom and self-expression has in some ways been taken away from us. We do not have the choice to study/socialise from home, and having to behave in certain ways that may not suit our individual choices can really impact our mental health.

What to do:

Try to find ways to create a routine that is best for you and bring choice back into the equation! Variety is key too, don’t keep every day the same and make some time for activities that you want to do! Finding what works for you is really important, so take time to establish your own routine.

8. Are you sitting comfortably?

A lot of energy is spent keeping you upright! If you have a poor posture a lot more energy is used, as your muscles have to work harder to keep you sitting up straight. Not only will this make you feel tired, it could really cause you to be in pain too!

What to do:

Try to keep a good posture when moving, sitting or standing. Your head should be in line with your body and your back straight. If you find this difficult try some exercises to help fix your posture. You can find some common posture mistakes and how to fix them on the NHS website.

9. Are you having trouble sleeping?

Sleep is extremely important to our mental and physical health, so getting a good amount of sleep during the night is essential. During uncertain times it is common to have some disruption to your sleeping routine, so you may find that you are having trouble sleeping.

What to do:

Feeling worried or stressed can make it harder for us to switch off, which can be problematic when it comes to having a good night’s sleep. Make sure you leave time to relax and destress before you begin your night-time routine. Going to bed earlier can help too! To read more tips on how to help you sleep better, click here. 

10. Are you feeling the physical effects?

Fatigue and a lack of sleep, can cause a number of physical symptoms, including headaches, backache and muscle weakness. These can also be a sign of physical exhaustion and your body warning you that it needs to rest.

What to do:

If you are not feeling these effects on a regular basis, you can help to relieve these symptoms with some simple techniques and exercises. For example, acupressure has been proven to be very effective to relieve migraine headaches. If you are suffering from constant aches and pains, these could be a sign of another condition and you should make an appointment with your GP.