Yep, mental exhaustion is undoubtedly a thing! I'd love to see how heart rates change with something like test question difficulty. Since sweat is generally a product of heat and occurs when your heart works harder during exercise, I wonder if the heart also works harder to pump the brain with more oxygen to enable it to... think harder? Obviously just musing, am no physiology expert.
There’s something to this. I’ve noticed an increase in heart rate, possibly a sympathetic reaction with the effect of pumping more blood to the brain? In any case it is not long before beat fatigue sets in and my mind is worse off.
This effect is similar with racing games, and generally enything requiring good reflexes. When exhaustion kicks in after 20-30min of trying, accuracy and lap times/scores plummet.
I would attribute it more to being focused rather than being relaxed, but those two states are connected.
There is no why answered here just speculation. Anyone with sufficient knowledge of metabolism would think a fatigue process and stress process is happening during heavy thinking just that we lack the specific knowledge of what’s happening. This article has one tiny finding and who knows how reproducible the study is, along with a tautological title.
When I go running, it's some kind of aerobic sensation, but eventually my thoughts shift when it's time to stop.
If I lift heavy things for an hour, I can also be quite winded but there's usually some gas left in the tank I just know it's better to get some rest and allow muscle to repair.
Some kind of crossfit style workout, yet another sensation.
Sometimes I can take a nap as soon as I get home after the above, especially a vigorous run in the Arizona desert during summer.
Knowledge work has its own fatigue for me. If I go deep into flow state while working on something, eventually I reach a generalized mental haziness, where I want to relax and let my mind wander or be passively entertained.
Usually I have trouble sleeping after intense thinking, mind still firing but not effectively. I just want to "chill" and watch TV or do something simple and rewarding like clean the house to try and bring it fully out of gear.
Mental fatigue is a thing, too. It's not the same as physical hardship, but that doesn't mean you haven't worked hard when you leave your air-conditioned office to get some rest because you can't focus anymore.
This also works the other way around. For example, when doing heavy weightlifting in the gym, the central nervous system takes a huge blow, and most people will certainly feel some mental fatigue the hours and possibly even the days after a workout session.
I'm not GP, but for me it's not about physical exhaustion, but a mental fatigue. I still can get in the zone and spearhead something for 8-10 hours non-stop, but afterwards I'm feeling super lazy, like not wanting to think about anything, e.g. doing something purely mechanical.
You may find it interesting, so I figured I'd share it. I offer no opinions, other than to say it is interesting and that the study was done with a very small sample size. (I'm unqualified to opine beyond that.)
These being tired and fighting exhaustion with exercise threads must be a dread to read for anybody who works hard physically.
But I'm in the same privileged or at least not working physically position and I found most correlation with number of tasks I'm focusing on.
If there are too many things at once or none of them stands out, I'm more likely to feel tired.
If I'm focusing on a specific thing associated with specific action with no other things on my mind, it seems to be getting done effortlessly with high energy state.
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