You’ve just wrapped up another workday, and instead of feeling accomplished, you feel drained. Sounds familiar? You’re not alone. Many people end their workdays feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically, wondering how to have energy after work to ‘do life.’
According to The Workplace Health Report, 61% of employees struggle to be productive because of tiredness.
But why are you feeling tired after work? What’s causing this end-of-day fatigue that leaves us longing for our beds?
The answer isn’t as simple as just ‘working hard.’ There’s a deep connection between how we feel after work and our overall mental and physical health. That’s where a healthy work-life balance comes into play. Striking the right balance between work and personal life is critical for overall well-being.
Let’s explore ways to transform that post-work slump into an energized evening to tackle whatever comes next.
How to Have Energy After Work
Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide information on productivity tools and strategies. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any health condition.
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstanding the Causes of Fatigue
Fatigue isn’t the same as being tired. It’s that heavy, dragging feeling that makes even the simplest task feel like a mountain to climb. And prolonged fatigue leads to burnout.
The three main causes of occupational burnout and how they show up:
- Physical fatigue: Low energy levels; feeling tired while doing work-related tasks
- Emotional exhaustion: Lack of emotional energy to engage with coworkers or clients
- Cognitive weariness: Slow thinking and the inability to make decisions
The relationship between fatigue and burnout is a vicious cycle. As burnout progresses, your energy reserves deplete. This underperformance can lead to feelings of inadequacy or guilt, which further feeds into the cycle of stress and exhaustion. Breaking free from this cycle requires addressing both burnout and the resulting fatigue.
One of the common causes of fatigue is inadequate sleep. We all know the ‘zombie’ feeling we get when we haven’t slept enough. Sleep deprivation affects everything from mood to physical energy. It can lead to long-term fatigue, where extended rest doesn’t fully alleviate physical or mental tiredness.
Sleep deprivation affects every aspect of your life. It can weaken your immune system and contribute to weight gain, high blood pressure, and even heart disease.
However, did you know that emotional heavyweights like chronic stress, grief, and depression can drain your energy faster than physical exertion? Stress keeps your body in a state of heightened alertness, constantly ready to react to challenges. Grief and depression drain our energy and cause physical and mental fatigue.
Also read: Signs that show you are overworked
The different types of fatigue
Fatigue manifests itself in different ways. Let’s break it down.
Physical exhaustion
Physical exhaustion is the most common type of fatigue. It occurs when your body is overworked and doesn’t get adequate time to recover.
You might feel muscle aches, weakness, soreness, a general lack of stamina, and trouble focusing and concentrating. It’s like your body is screaming for a break and saying, “Enough!”
This fatigue is common in people who engage in physically demanding work or exercise without allowing enough time for restful sleep and recovery.
Mental exhaustion
Mental exhaustion is less visible but equally tiring. It happens when your brain is overworked from long hours of concentration, problem-solving, or dealing with complex situations.
Common symptoms of mental fatigue include difficulty focusing, memory lapses, and brain fog. This fatigue can erode your motivation, making it hard to stay engaged with your work, home life, or hobbies. Over time, this can lead to a decline in productivity and performance at work, causing further frustration. It’s like your mind is running on empty.
Also read: All about employee overload
Emotional exhaustion
Emotional exhaustion occurs when you’ve been dealing with significant emotional stress for an extended period. This fatigue is closely tied to feelings of detachment, where you feel disconnected from work, loved ones, and even yourself. Emotional exhaustion often manifests as numbness or apathy, where you no longer find joy in activities or work-related tasks you once enjoyed.
Identifying the signs of fatigue and taking proactive steps can help improve your overall well-being.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Improve Energy Levels
Fatigue can feel overwhelming, but there are practical steps you can take to reclaim your mental and physical energy. Let’s explore them in detail.
Addressing stress to boost energy levels
Stress is like an energy vampire. It sucks the energy out of you without you even realizing it. Self-care is your secret weapon against this energy-zapping villain. Taking care of yourself is not selfish; it’s essential.
Even simple self-care activities like walking, taking a relaxing bath, reading a book, spending time with loved ones, meditation, practicing mindfulness, and doing deep breathing exercises can recharge your mental and emotional batteries.
Here are five effective techniques to manage stress levels and promote better work-life balance:
1. Set boundaries
The most critical aspect of self-care is setting boundaries—at work and in your personal life. Learning to say no and delegating tasks can prevent you from becoming overwhelmed, helping you conserve energy for what truly matters.
Here are a few ways you can set healthy boundaries at work:
- Clearly communicate your availability, especially in a remote setup, and inform your team and stakeholders of your working hours. Set the expectation that you won’t respond to messages after work hours. You can set automatic messages/email responses specifying your hours of availability
- Define the number of projects or tasks you can work on simultaneously, and then limit your workload accordingly. If you’re being overloaded with work, politely convey your inability to take it on, as it would affect the quality of your current projects
- Set realistic deadlines and resist efforts by stakeholders to negotiate them down
2. Recharge your energy
Set aside dedicated time to do your favorite activities to recharge your energy. For example, if you are an extrovert, connecting with others can be refreshing, so activities like group exercise classes, social gatherings, or collaborative projects can boost energy levels.
On the other hand, introverts may find that too much social interaction drains their energy, making it essential to carve out time for solitary activities like reading, journaling, or simply enjoying a quiet environment.
Understand what works best for you. Align your daily relaxation activities with your personality type to better manage your energy levels and avoid burnout.
3. Get proper sleep
Research suggests that good sleep leads to stronger stress resilience. It’s not just about the number of hours; it’s about the overall quality of sleep. To get good sleep, you should:
- Avoid bedtime procrastination: It’s the habit of delaying sleep even when you feel tired. This behavior is due to the desire to reclaim personal time after a busy day, but it impacts your energy levels
- Build a consistent bedtime routine: By going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, you regulate your body’s internal clock, making it easier to fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed
4. Go small
The book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan explains that the secret to getting the most out of work and life is to take a small step and recognize what matters.
Going small is all about ignoring all the things that you can do to focus on the things that you should be doing. The idea is to focus on priority tasks so your achievements add up and you don’t waste your energy on insignificant tasks.
5. Do deep work
This quote from Deep Work by Cal Newport explains that when you bring your work into your personal time, you deprive your brain of the opportunity to recover completely. To avoid this, block dedicated hours to complete demanding tasks and eliminate distractions during that time. The time-blocking technique improves focus and reduces stress caused by last-minute deliveries.
Improving energy levels through diet and exercise
You are what you eat, and it shows in your energy levels. Fuel your body with wholesome foods—fruits, vegetables, whole grains—and watch the difference. It’s like giving your body premium fuel to function well.
Here are a few tips to help you eat regular meals and manage your diet better if you have a hectic work schedule:
- Plan your meals and snacks for the entire week in advance. You can also prep meals in advance and cook some food items in batches, like overnight oats, to save cooking time. Refrigerate them and have them on the go
- Find one-pot meal recipes with minimal ingredients so you can cook them easily
- Have a nutritious breakfast to keep yourself energized throughout the day
- Drink enough water throughout the day since dehydration can make you feel fatigued
- Include hydrating foods like cucumbers, watermelon, and oranges in your diet
- Keep healthy snacks handy—nuts, trail mix, fruit, protein bars, and the like
Exercise is another energy booster. It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural mood elevators, which can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being. Strength training is fantastic for building endurance and reducing fatigue.
If you don’t have enough time for a full workout, try 15 minutes of physical activity once or twice a day. When it’s not possible to go to the gym, find yourself an exercise or dance video on YouTube for a quick workout session. You can even use AI tools like ChatGPT to create a personalized morning workout routine.
Read more: How many hours should you work?
Seeking professional help
Sometimes, fatigue is more than just a result of lifestyle or poor diet choices—it can be a symptom of a deeper issue like work anxiety or depression. If you’ve tried improving your sleep schedule, diet, and exercise but still feel persistently tired, it may be time to seek professional help.
A qualified health professional can help you identify the underlying causes of your fatigue and develop a treatment plan that may include therapy, medication, or other interventions. Seeking help can prevent the condition from worsening and help you regain your energy and quality of life.
Untreated, the condition could develop into chronic fatigue syndrome, a long-term condition that causes extreme mental and physical exhaustion. Taking care of your mental health is a critical step in preventing the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Overcoming fatigue at work
Feeling overwhelmed at work? Drowning in deadlines and to-do lists? No wonder you’re exhausted! But there is a way to overcome workload paralysis and feel energized for the things you enjoy!
We talked earlier about setting boundaries at the workplace and doing deep work. We’ll now share a few practical tips to help you manage your workload and avoid exhaustion so you can enjoy a healthy life.
đŸ’¡Pro Tip: Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list? See what you can automate or delegate. It helps you work smarter and save time.
Let’s explore how you can use modern tools and technology to overcome work-related fatigue.
1. Manage tasks better
One of the leading causes of workplace stress and fatigue is the sheer volume of daily tasks. Without a clear system to manage these tasks, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. With ClickUp Tasks, you can break down large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks, assigning clear deadlines and priorities to each.
Then, tackle the high-priority tasks first so you know your most important objectives are being addressed. See what you can delegate to team members and assign those tasks with a simple @mention in ClickUp.
2. Track time
Are you working for long hours but not seeing tangible results? Use ClickUp’s Time-Tracking feature to monitor how much time you spend on each task. This provides insights into where your time is going and helps you manage your time more effectively.
3. Collaborate with your team
Inefficient collaboration with your coworkers often results in increased workload and stress. Try ClickUp’s collaboration tools, such as ClickUp Docs and ClickUp Chat, to enable seamless communication with your team.
With ClickUp Docs, you can create documents collaboratively and work on them together with your team and stakeholders. Edit, comment, and share information easily, keeping everyone on the same page. This reduces the need for constant back-and-forth emails, which can be mentally draining.
With ClickUp Chat, you can communicate with coworkers from within the relevant tasks. Chat view also enables you to easily assign action items using @mentions, share links, and tag other stakeholders in the conversation. Instant communication reduces the need for meetings, saving you precious time.
4. Automate tasks
One of the standout features of ClickUp’s Project Management Solution is its custom automation capabilities. With ClickUp Automations, you can set up rules that automatically trigger specific actions, such as moving a task to a different stage in your workflow or sending reminders when deadlines are approaching.
This reduces the need for manual intervention, freeing up mental space and allowing you to focus on more critical tasks.
5. Use AI to reduce cognitive load
The AI-driven features in ClickUp help improve efficiency. ClickUp Brain, the integrated AI assistant, can automate daily routine tasks, generate reports, and even prioritize tasks based on your work habits. This reduces the decision-making burden and allows you to focus on more strategic aspects.
ClickUp Brain also helps save time by automated note-taking, content creation, and more. It is your digital brainstorming buddy. You can also use it to get project summaries and seek any information from anywhere in your workspace, including connected apps.
6. Cut down prep time with templates
Templates are another powerful feature of ClickUp that can save time and reduce fatigue. ClickUp offers a variety of productivity templates to simplify repetitive tasks, allowing you to start new projects with a solid foundation. By using templates, you can avoid the mental strain of starting from scratch each time and ensure consistency across your work.
Staying organized and productive can be challenging, even for the most disciplined people. After all, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the tasks on your plate.
Though several productivity tools are available to rescue you from this, ClickUp’s Personal Productivity Template helps you become more efficient with your day-to-day activities by setting achievable goals.
With this template, you can:
- Organize and prioritize tasks effectively
- Track goal and project progress
- Prioritize tasks for better workload management
That’s not all! You can also track your progress daily, weekly, or monthly with ClickUp’s Personal Productivity Report Template. It helps you analyze your productivity level and find ways to improve it. With this template, you can:
- See how much time you spend on tasks
- Identify potential areas of improvement to maximize efficiency
- Create personalized reports to measure progress against goals
These are some ways to use productivity tools like ClickUp to organize your work better, save time and energy, and achieve a healthy work-life balance. You’ll spend less time feeling burned out and feel more energized and productive.
Summarize this article for me pleaseFatigue & Loss of Energy: Debunking Common Myths
Although fatigue after work is a common experience, it’s often misunderstood. One of the most prevalent myths is that chronic fatigue is simply a matter of being tired and can be easily remedied with enough sleep.
However, chronic fatigue is a far more complex condition. Unlike the usual tiredness after a long day, chronic fatigue is persistent exhaustion that doesn’t go away with sleep or rest. It can significantly impact your quality of life. It has physical symptoms like muscle pain, headaches, and difficulty concentrating.
If you suspect persistent fatigue, it’s important to consult a healthcare professional to explore potential underlying causes rather than dismissing it as typical tiredness.
Faced with a drop in energy levels, many people turn to caffeine, restrictive diets, or weight loss strategies, believing these will help them stay energized throughout the day.
Let’s talk about those quick-fix solutions you might have heard about:
- Caffeine: Sure, a cup of coffee can boost your energy temporarily. But relying on caffeine to get you through the day can lead to dependency, sleep disturbances, and make you feel anxious
- Dieting: Crash diets or severely restricting calories can tire you even more. Your body needs fuel to function optimally. Sustainable weight loss is about balanced nutrition and regular exercise
- Weight loss: While being overweight can sometimes contribute to fatigue, rapid weight loss is not the answer. Focus on overall health and well-being rather than chasing a specific number on the scale
Sustainable energy comes from a combination of factors, including a healthy diet, regular exercise, quality sleep, and stress management. There are no quick fixes. Let’s wrap up with some final thoughts on boosting your energy.
Summarize this article for me pleaseEnergize Your Workday with ClickUp
Feeling drained and wondering how to have energy after work doesn’t have to be the norm. Identify and address the root causes of fatigue and adopt healthier habits to reclaim your energy and productivity. Start by prioritizing tasks to manage your workload better and avoid feeling overwhelmed in your professional life.
Productivity and task management tools like ClickUp can help you stay organized. You can create to-do lists, automate tasks, collaborate with your team, brainstorm ideas, and do much more to increase your efficiency.
Don’t settle for exhaustion! Sign up on ClickUp for free to improve productivity and reduce burnout.
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