Mental exhaustion is a real thing. Have you ever felt that it some point during the day you just struggle to make good decisions? Maybe it’s that afternoon crash or those cravings that hit you right before dinner or right before bedtime. The truth is that our brain is only capable of making so many good decisions, and the term “mentally exhausted” is real.

Your brain burns calories constantly throughout the day. Whether you are working a full time job, in school, or at home raising children you are burning calories. A few really famous people take the “so many mental decisions” seriously and they eliminate having to, in a way, waste a decision on something that doesn’t matter to much to them. For instance, Mark Zuckerberg wears the same two or three shirts every single day because he doesn’t want to waste any mental calories on his outfit.

On this blog post I want to give you a few tips on how to combat mental exhaustion and stay energized, focused, and present throughout the day. Because the truth is, our days turn into weeks, which turn into months, to years which sums up our lives and I want to come alongside of you and help you thrive every single day.

1. Use Small Opportunities to Rest Well 

Like many of us, when we have a moment to ourselves, or we are waiting at a red light you can often find me clicking around on my phone checking my social media apps, my email, etc. A tip here is to use these moments to rest your mind. Close your eyes, if you can, focus on taking deep breaths, relax your shoulders. Take a moment and pray, think about five positive moments that have happened so far today or think of five things you are thankful for. Take time to use those small windows as mental breaks to recharge your mind. 

2. Don’t try and Do it All

There are only 24-hours in a day, and you spend at least 8 of those hours sleeping. It’s time to be realistic about how much you can and you want to accomplish during the day. Sometimes we set the bar way too high on ourselves and we get so caught up in completing our tasks that we wear ourselves down completely. Just accepting that you can’t do it all in 1 day can be incredibly freeing for your mind. Cut your to-do list in half and carve out time to do something you love every single day. This will help you fight mental exhaustion and have a healthier mindset. 

3. Get Up and Go

Most Americans have jobs where they are required to sit at a desk for hours at a time. This can cause physical and mental exhaustion. Research has proven that exercise fights fatigue and brain fog. A workout or going on a walk as short as 20 minutes has been shown to increase blood flow to the brain and boost energy levels, your mood and creativity. 

4. Look Out the Window

Research at the University at Melbourne found that students who took a break from studying and looked out the window for a few minutes reduced errors in their work and improved concentration. Micro-breaks are very important and your brain naturally relaxes when you look out at nature. So take a break throughout the day. Maybe work outside for an hour or two and take mental breaks looking out at the grass, the water, wherever you are. 

5. Single-Task

Many of us are multi-taskers, but what often happens is we are splitting our attention up between activities that we aren’t really doing anything 100%. Focus on doing one task a time. Only have one tab open on your computer or device, when you are in the office, just make the phone call and then move onto the next thing. Cut down on the decisions you are trying to make all at once. You will feel more present in the moment and you will free up your mind to not be overworked and experience stress much sooner.