It is well-established that sitting in front of a computer all day can make a good portion of people fatigued, and we will explore why this is below. However, there can be many other reasons that you might be feeling plain old beat at the end of the day. Here we will look at what some of the other reasons are and how to figure out just what is making you hit the couch instead of the gym when you head home from the office. Your brain health cannot really be separated from your physical health, as we will see below.
Why Would a Computer Make Me Tired?
The short answer is because your brain uses a full 20 percent of your energy, and most people with computer-based jobs use their brains even more than they use their computers. The more accurate answer, though, is a bit more complicated. Not only does your brain use a lot of energy, but it also controls all of the other parts of your body that use up energy. The most impactful way it does this is through stress and anxiety. Not only are you stressed because you have to make deadlines, but you are also made anxious by it.
This anxiety is the result of a flight-or-fight reflex hard-wired into us by millions of years of evolution. Your body simply does not know the difference between being chased by a saber-toothed tiger and being chased around by an angry boss. Either way, the body releases adrenaline.
It releases so much, in fact, that it can cause your adrenal glands themselves to become fatigued — on top of the fatigue from the increased heart rate, racing thoughts, and increased respiration caused by stress itself. That said, even if you are stressed at work, there may be other reasons you feel fatigued. It is well worth looking into them before you chalk it all up to your time in front of your monitor.
Also read: How to Protect Eyes from Phone and Computer Screen
Thyroid Disease
First, it is important to note that there is not one disease called “thyroid disease.” Instead, it just means that there is something amiss with your thyroid. Generally, you can have an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or an underactive thyroid
(hypothyroidism). Your thyroid controls your metabolism, so it certainly makes sense that an underactive thyroid would lead to lethargy and fatigue. If your metabolism is low, you will naturally feel tired. What is odd is that hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid, can sometimes also lead to exhaustion.
This is because the increased energy you get from a higher metabolism often leads to anxiety. This can, in turn, make it harder to sleep and keep you so keyed up all day that you become both exhausted and unable to sleep. No doubt, this is a recipe for disaster if there ever was one. The only way to know if you have thyroid disease, or which type of thyroid disease you have, is to test your thyroid levels. Fortunately, this is a simple and well-established test that can give you all you will need to know about the various hormones produced by your thyroid gland.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
While it is easy to test for thyroid disease, it is almost impossible to test for chronic fatigue syndrome. The main reason for this is that scientists are simply not quite sure what exactly causes it… or even what it is. Despite this, it is a well-established
the phenomenon, and something you will most likely want to talk to your doctor about if you suspect you have it. A big clue to this being the culprit would be if you still feel fatigued even after a long vacation from work.
Also read: Top 10 Wearable Health Gadgets and Devices to Make Life Easier
Gluten Sensitivity
One of the symptoms that frequently accompanies gluten sensitivity is depression or lethargy. The good news here is that accurate and simple tests exist for most types of gluten sensitivity — but not all types, though. A great hint that gluten sensitivity is the
root issue is that it is nearly always accompanied by gastrointestinal difficulties. Since these same symptoms are often present in anxiety, gastrointestinal problems are not a slam-dunk diagnostic tool, but they can give you a direction to look in when you speak to your doctor.
Whatever the root cause of your fatigue might be, it can be exacerbated by too much time in front of your computer with your brain in overdrive. Either way, if you are feeling more tired than you should at the end of the day, it’s a good idea to introduce more breaks into your day. Stress will only make things worse, and a mere fifteen-minute break every hour or two can really work wonders.
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