Combatting Workplace Fatigue: 5 Tips for Boosting Your Energy

Sitting at a computer while working doesn’t exempt you from experiencing exhaustion at the end of the day.

Not only physical work can cause fatigue. It may also indicate that you have not replenished your body’s resources, distributed the load incorrectly or do not see any special meaning in what you are doing. We will tell you how to conserve your energy while living in constant stress and working in emergency mode.

Why does sitting at the computer tire us out so much?

Psychologists hypothesize that mental work is exhausting because the brain has to exert a lot of effort to focus on tasks that don’t interest us. Many interesting distractions, such as news and online discussions, can divert our attention away from the task at hand. This constant struggle against distractions wears us out, but it’s necessary for getting work done.

A few years ago, scientists in Canada conducted a study where they monitored 156 students for a week. The scientists constantly asked the students what they were doing, how they felt, what they really wanted at the moment, and how much effort they had to put in to resist these desires and continue studying. The study revealed that the students who had to resist more temptations felt more tired.

Psychologist Michael Inzlicht, one of the study’s authors, states that humans must always be engaged in activities like sleeping, seeking partners for reproduction, and obtaining food, to survive. Failure to remember to do any of these tasks would result in failure to survive. As a result, the body created a biological mechanism that compels people to move from one task to another. Psychological fatigue that occurs at the end of the workday is a signal indicating the need to switch to a different activity.

TIP #1 – Increase Motivation

In 2019, British scientists studied 100 nurses during their 12-hour shift, observing their behavior, physical and psychological state. They discovered a significant correlation: nurses who actively engaged in their work, felt a sense of responsibility and received internal satisfaction, had more energy and less exhaustion compared to others.

If we truly consider our work important, it becomes easier for us to complete it and less likely for us to get distracted. Consequently, our brain remains interested and less fatigued.

Try this exercise to boost motivation: reflect on how your work benefits others at the end of each workday. Even if assisting others is not in your job description, remember that working enables you to support your loved ones financially and provide housing, food, and clothing for them, as well as assist elderly relatives if need be.

Psychologists Adam Grant and Sabine Sonnentag discovered that being aware of how one’s work affects others around them can boost motivation, increase focus during tasks, and provide a greater sense of happiness and satisfaction in life. Therefore, taking this simple action can yield several benefits.

TIP #2 – Don’t get distracted too often.

Working on multiple tasks makes the brain less efficient compared to focusing on one task, as the human brain is not engineered for multitasking and gets fatigued easily.

What is the solution to fixing it?

1. Plan your day to have multiple free hours dedicated to important tasks. Request your colleagues to avoid interrupting you during this time and disable notifications in your email and messengers. An Indian software development company set a rule at the end of the 20th century; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, no one disturbs anyone while important matters are resolved on other workdays. This policy led to a boost in productivity overall. Furthermore, employees reported feeling better psychologically, with quicker task completion generating positive emotions that empowered them to work even harder.
2. To minimize distractions, actively limit your access to news, game applications, and social networks during working hours. Remove your smartphone from the table to eliminate temptation. Open only essential tabs in your browser and close them promptly when finished. Consider using a dedicated work laptop with only necessary applications installed and avoid logging into social networks. Use a separate laptop for non-work-related tasks if financially feasible.

TIP #3 – Take Breaks

Several studies demonstrate that taking several regular but short breaks throughout the day can enhance the restoration of energy, cognitive abilities, and stress reduction more effectively than taking one long break. In 2014, DeskTime experts, a software company that tracks work time, analyzed data from several users and discovered that the most effective workers worked in cycles, where they immersively worked on tasks for 52 minutes and disconnect from work for 17 minutes.

Modern scientific ideas about the basic cycle of rest-activity state that the body goes through all five phases of sleep on average for 90 minutes at night and experiences a peak of activity during the day, followed by a 15-20 minute decline in the same time. It is recommended to spend this time resting.

During a 15-minute break, what actions can you take?

1. Taking a short nap restores strength, improves cognitive abilities, and eliminates sleepiness. However, sleeping for over half an hour produces the opposite effect. The inertia of sleep makes you feel drowsy until the evening instead of feeling awake.
2. Have fun and increase the production of mood-enhancing endorphins by going to the park, as confirmed by numerous studies.
3. Discuss personal matters. Researchers discovered in 2007 that engaging in a 10-minute conversation with coworkers about non-work-related subjects can enhance cognitive function.

What not to do during mini-breaks? Checking social media and messengers. This can deplete the remaining energy. According to researchers from the American Psychological Association, excessive use of gadgets increases the level of stress and significantly spoils the mood.

Tip 4 – Start working less

Fatigue at work often arises due to overloading rather than psychological problems. In such cases, the previous advice is unlikely to be of help. The only way out is to discuss the issue with your supervisor.

1. Be sure to record all your work, including minor tasks, particularly when orally communicating with your boss instead of in a chat. When a new request arises, clarify its priority and, if it’s urgent, identify what can be postponed. This will enable your boss to evaluate your workload and assist you in properly managing it.
2. Think about planning your day to distribute your energy. Attempt to tackle complex tasks before noon because the morning cortisol peak adds determination and energy, increasing the likelihood of completing them faster than in the evening.
3. You should not exceed the expected working hours, bring work home, work at night, on weekends, or while on vacation. Do not worry about negative effects on your career, as bosses often ignore overtime working hours and do not compensate employees accordingly.
4. As studies have shown, recovering faster and resting better is facilitated by not thinking about work during non-working hours. So, refrain from checking your work email on weekends.

Tip # 5 – Take care of yourself

When the body’s resources reach zero, coping with work that does not require significant mental effort becomes difficult, and fatigue sets in more quickly. Therefore, it is crucial to recuperate physically on a regular basis.

Simply follow the rules:

1. Studies indicate that a decline in strength, reduced creativity, attention deficits, and increased mistakes result from lack of sleep. Experts recommend that adults sleep for 7-9 hours per day as a minimum requirement, and adhere to sleep hygiene practices including going to bed and waking up at the same time, avoiding exercise, eating, and gadget usage two hours before bedtime, even on weekends. Following these guidelines will enhance sleep quality, ensuring that people wake up feeling refreshed, energized, and in a good mood.
2. Blockage of brain receptors that signal fatigue achieves the stimulating effect of coffee while borrowing energy from our bodies. Excessive consumption of coffee potentially causes increased fatigue and drowsiness, according to studies. Observing one’s reaction to coffee and limiting intake to four cups of Americano or five cups of espresso per day, which contain approximately 400 mg of caffeine, is recommended. The European Food Safety Authority suggests this as the maximum safe dose for healthy adults, and completely giving up coffee is not necessary.
3. Engaging in more sports can be equally exhausting as intensive work due to the lack of movement. However, regular physical activity reduces office fatigue, anxiety and stress levels, energizes and boosts mood.

The World Health Organization recommends that individuals maintain good health by engaging in 150-300 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity.