When people think of exhaustion, they immediately think of the lack of sleep. They think of waking up too early, or going to bed too late, or even just tiring oneself out during a long day. And yes, that is exhaustion. But no one ever mentions how exhaustion can spiral into a never ending cycle of physical, as well as mental exhaustion.

The lack of a good night’s rest, combined with the constant state of overworking yourself can lead to terrible harm to your ability to learn. It impacts aspects such as memory, comprehension and can even result in a weakened ability to focus.

Numerous studies have even been done to prove the overlooked, yet dangerous effects of extreme tiredness. In fact, it has been proven that “if you stay awake for nineteen hours straight, you become as cognitively impaired—as unable to focus and think clearly—as if you had gotten drunk” (Hari 70). This coincides with the reason why you should never drive when you feel drowsy. Many people believe it is only because our eyes might become heavy, or you feel the need to rest. And yes, that is part of it, but, the fact is that when you drive when exhausted, you have the same chances of being in an accident as if you were drinking, because of the lack of focus and attention (Zhang/Zhao).

However, there is more than just the “sleepiness” type of exhaustion. It can also come in the form of repetition. By doing something over and over for a long time, it can cause one to be tired of it, and the same conditions can occur. Let’s say that someone spends 10 hours staring at a screen, whether it be a television, or social media. When it comes time to put that down and focus on something important, like school, work, or reading, it becomes almost impossible. This is because our brains are now adapting to mostly short-term content and we struggle to pay attention for long periods of time. We no longer know how to sit with long forms of content or our own thoughts because we tired our brain out from long periods of short-form content. “One famous study found humans would rather give themselves electric shocks than sit alone with their thoughts for 10 minutes” (Frick). We no longer have the focus, the attention span, or even the drive.

The hard truth is that exhaustion is not just affecting our attention spans, it is affecting our quality of life. Unless, as a society, we stop glorifying a way to keep our minds busy and we start focusing on relaxation, we will never be free. To win back our focus, we need to prioritize rest.

Citations:

Frick, Winnie T. “I Have Forgotten How to Read.” The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail, 9 Feb. 2018, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-have-forgotten-how-toread/article37921379/.

Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – And How To Think Deeply Again. Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2022.

Zhang, Xingjian, and Xiaohua Zhao. “A Study on the Effects of Fatigue Driving and Drunk Driving on Drivers’ Physical Characteristics: Traffic Injury Prevention: Vol 15 , No 8 – Get Access.” Taylor & Francis, 15 July 2014, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15389588.2014.881996.