Fatigue is the feeling of being extremely tired and having no energy or motivation. While everyone feels fatigued after periods of extended physical or mental labour, it’s extremely common in people with a brain injury. It makes sense—recovery takes a lot of energy and how many activities you can do and length of time you can do them has changed.
Fatigue is commonly divided into three types [1]:
- Physical: Your body is fatigued and you don’t have the capacity to engage in physical tasks like lifting, standing for long periods of time, or long periods of exercise/sports.
- Psychological/emotional: You don’t have the motivation to complete tasks.
- Mental: You aren’t able to concentrate or complete tasks.
Chances are you have experienced all of these types of fatigue, maybe even at the same time.
Symptoms of fatigue
Fatigue most commonly is associated with feelings of exhaustion and lack of energy. But fatigue can also lead to symptoms such as [2]:
- Being withdrawn
- Blurry vision
- Decreased balance
- Increase in memory challenges
- Irritability, anxiety
- Loss of appetite
- Lack of interest; lack of motivation
- Slow speech
- Shortness of breath
Causes of fatigue
There are a few different root causes of fatigue after brain injury.
The injury
There are parts of the brain that impact your energy levels and your ability to rest. Physical damage to those areas of the brain may cause you to experience fatigue more often [3].
Muscle weakness
If you are building up your muscles after not being able to use them for a while, you may find yourself fatigued by that process. For example, if you are relearning to walk, you will find the process tiring. It may take time, but people who are able to build up their muscles again are able to use them more (and longer).
Mental effort
Activities may require more mental effort, which can leave you feeling fatigued. Examples of activities include:
- Following a conversation
- Homework
- Reading
- Using a computer
- Watching television
- Writing
Lack of sleep
Sleep is commonly affected by brain injury, and the effects from it. It can be harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, or actually feel rested after you’ve slept. We talk more about sleep on this page of our website.
Anxiety/depression
If you’re experiencing mental health challenges such as anxiety or depression, you may also experience increased levels of fatigue. We talk about this more in our section on mental health.
Medication
Some medications have a side effect of making you feel more fatigued. Your doctors will work with you to determine an appropriate medication regime and give you strategies to deal with side effects.
Stress
Stress is a physical, mental, and/or emotional response to a situation, and is meant to get you ready to take some sort of action. An example of this is an approaching deadline for a homework assignment. The risk of submitting your assignment late may cause you to feel a bit of stress, and make you focus more or work faster.
Stress is something everyone experiences, and in some cases (like meeting a deadline) stress can be good and easily managed. But many people, particularly after life-changing experiences like brain injury, can have stress that is so overwhelming it makes it difficult to live their lives. Effects of brain injury like not being able to focus, make decisions, or remember things can lead to even more stress.
It’s a tough cycle that can cause both physical and mental strain. These levels of stress can be caused by environmental factors (like loud noises or bright lights), social situations (like meeting a new person), or even your emotional state (like being frustrated or upset that you aren’t able to do the things you used to be able to do).
When you feel that kind of overwhelming stress, it can cause fatigue because the brain doesn’t get a chance to rest. It probably feels a lot like your thoughts are racing and you can’t settle down.
