Dealing with mental fatigue

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I'm curious. How do you deal with mental fatigue?

I get this pretty often, especially when trying to learn something new or I'm in a very social situation. It's like my brain goes on overdrive to try to grasp a concept, but it ends up working a little too hard and then I get tired. When that happens, I can't concentrate properly and start tuning everything out. Often times I find that taking a nap or going to a quiet area will help, but it's not always feasible or possible.

Does anyone else deal with this on a regular basis? And if so, how do you work around it?

I get something like this. In a project sense if I'm burned out but need to continue, it often helps if I look at another part of the problem. This lets me reset/refresh to some degree as I get fresh eyes on a new issue which jars my brain into focus.

With people, it may work to shift attention to a different group. There are times when I feel that my comfort level with a person or group is just shot (for many reasons) and that I'm rattled as a result. Talking to someone else can freshen me up. Wakes up the socialization routines that might have been knocked offline by the other interaction.

Short answer: Change things up as best you can and hope for a second wind.

Mostly I don't deal with it, I just try to tough it out. If I were better at diplomatically getting rid of people, I'd get rid of them and wait till I'd got my strength back before letting them anywhere near me. I'm also lousy at recognising my own fatigue, which doesn't help.

I suppose one possible solution would be to just tell them straight - "look, I'm sorry about this but can you try again, a bit more slowly? It's bee a long day and my concentration is going south."

I think the reason why some of us fatigue quicker in busy environments is because our minds are more likely to 'move' to sources of stimulation; wandering from noises to speech, to random thoughts to things happening out the window, etc. etc. This all takes energy.

My strategy for reducing accumulated fatigue is to ascertain what is important to give my attention to in any given situation, and stick to it. If you're at work, you give it to the activities of work and nothing else, if someone talks to you, you give it to listening, if you get distracted, bring it back to what you really want to be doing, and let the distraction go, unprocessed.

If you find there's nothing that needs your attention, let your attention rest on something restful, like your breathing. A common thing to do is to start thinking or daydreaming or letting the mind roam for something stimulating for it to do.

It's a kind of sensory hygiene/discipline.

People with AS more commonly have a deficiency in melatonin which effects the amount you sleep. It is possible that you are not getting enough sleep and need a melatonin supplement. Ask your doctor about this or at least do some research on what melatonin supplements to take before you try it. I had this problem and it did cause me to be easily fatigued mentally.

Some people are exhausting to me. I have a perfect example of this which I want to describe. It was 5 months ago and it was one of the very good days, where I had a good mood and almost felt balanced. I had an appointment with an old friend and was looking forward to it. We hadnt seen each other for a long time and I was curious. We met in a cafe and started talking about our lives and the person at some point had a monologue and I started to miss everything he was saying because it was so fast and it was like he wanted to finish speaking before I interupt, but he never came to an end. I noticed that I begun shivering because I was affected by his tension and I couldnt understand nothing. I had to interrupt him at some point to tell him that I was extremely uncomfortable, and asked if we could please change location. We went to a park, him still speaking all the time while I tried my best to calm down and listen. It didnt get better in the park and I dont remember his stories. When I went home I was completely confused and stressed. I walked around in my appartment for ca. one hour instead of sitting down. I tried to put on slow music, I tried to make a tea, I tried all the time to calm down, to sit on the floor or anywhere, but I couldnt. I was stressed and confused for 3 days after. Now I wandered what happened and I think that people affect me more than what is normal and more than what I had thought until that day. I know the person is very extreme, but because of that, this experience thought me something about myself. I was unconsciously affected by him and had no chance to control it, and that disturbed my own balance and stole all of my energy. I think this is the case anywhere I go.

For me personally i need to chop and change what i am doing. I find that if i focus on a single task for too long i day dream and feel tried.

If i am working on something say like applying for jobs, organising something etc, is helps to have a person i know to encourage me along the way, otherwise i just ware myself out over thinking everything.

What I also try and do to avoid mental fatigue is to get some exercise, eat a proper breakfast and as i have seen other people say as well, if a task becomes difficult, try and focus on something different.

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