Why You Feel Mentally Exhausted (Even When You’re Not Doing "That Much")

The Hidden Cost of the digital Mental Oveload

To still your mind in the constant stream of information

You wake up tired, even after a full night’s sleep. It’s like your brain spent the entire night running a marathon you don’t remember signing up for. Your mind feels like it’s constantly splitting—one part trying to focus on what’s in front of you, another already anticipating the next steps, and yet another trapped in the infinite scroll of the digital world that never stops. It’s like running two operating systems at once—one for real life, which has limits, and one for the digital space, which is endless and relentless. Even when you have time to rest, you struggle to actually feel rested, you are mentally exhausted.

Sound familiar? You open your fridge and completely forget why. Or maybe you grab your phone to check one thing and suddenly, 40 minutes disappear into the abyss. If so, you’re not alone.

This isn’t just burnout. While burnout is a well-documented condition characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced performance (Maslach & Leiter, 2016), what many experience today is also cognitive overload—a state of excessive mental burden caused by nonstop information processing, micro-decisions, and digital overstimulation.

Here’s what’s really happening—and how to reclaim your clarity.

Your Brain Wasn’t Built for This

In the past, our mental energy was spent on problem-solving and physical survival. Decision fatigue and context switching aren’t new, but what is new is the sheer speed and relentless nature of it all. It’s like trying to keep up in a race where the finish line keeps moving further away. We are caught between two worlds—our physical reality, which has natural pauses, and the digital world, which never stops. The result? A brain constantly toggling between "what's next?" and "what now?"—never fully settling into the present moment.

We waste massive amounts of energy on:

• Decision Fatigue – The strain of making countless small decisions daily, from what to eat to which notification to check first. Research suggests excessive decision-making leads to deteriorating self-control and mental depletion (Baumeister et al., 1998).

• Context Switching – Constantly shifting between tasks—email, Instagram, work calls—reduces efficiency and increases stress, with studies showing it can take up to 25 minutes to refocus after an interruption (Mark, Gudith & Klocke, 2008).

• Digital Overstimulation – Your brain is bombarded with news, messages, and alerts 24/7, activating a low-grade stress response that keeps your nervous system in hyper-alert mode.

Even when you’re "resting," your brain never fully turns off—like a phone with a hundred apps running in the background, slowly draining the battery while you wonder why it’s overheating. And just like that phone, part of your brain is always bracing for the next notification, the next decision, the next input—never truly shutting down. Your mind keeps splitting—one foot in reality, the other trapped in the endless, always-on digital world. 

How to Break the Cycle & Reclaim Mental Clarity

1. The 3-Decision Rule – I realized something was off when I spent 10 minutes debating between two smoothie flavors—only to order the same one I always get. But what hit me wasn’t just the wasted time. It was the creeping realization that my brain was overwhelmed by something simple. When everything moves this fast, we start confusing speed with urgency. Suddenly, every choice feels important. There’s this underlying fear—'What if I miss it?'—but half the time, we don’t even know what it is. The result? You freeze up in front of a smoothie menu because your brain is too overloaded to process one more thing.

   
   

   That’s when I knew: my mind wasn’t built for this pace. The solution? Teaching myself to reduce unnecessary choices to conserve mental energy. This principle, often attributed to behavioral science, suggests automating low-impact decisions (e.g., meals, outfits, or work routines) to reserve cognitive resources for more important tasks.

   
   

2. Digital Detox Windows – Implement short, structured breaks from screens. If you need to leave your phone in another room, close the door, and physically remove yourself from temptation—do it. This is where a little self-discipline comes in—think of it as looking out for your future self. If you know the temptation to "just check one thing" is too strong, set yourself up for success by removing it entirely. No one else can do this for you, but you’ll thank yourself later. Research shows that intermittent digital detoxes can help lower stress and improve overall well-being (Rosen et al., 2013).

   
   

3. Morning Mental Reset – Before reaching for your phone, take 5 deep breaths. This is more than just 'wellness.' It’s about staying conscious, making a choice, stepping into the digital world as aware and awake as you would step into a meeting. Show up with a clear intention—why are you there? Picture this: you open Instagram just to reply to one DM, and 30 minutes later, you’re deep in a rabbit hole of travel reels, skincare hacks, and someone’s morning routine in Bali. Without an intention, the digital world will decide for you. Instead, set a clear purpose before you even unlock your phone—what are you looking for, and what do you expect to get out of this interaction? Setting an intention before external inputs flood in can help regulate stress and improve focus.

   
   

💡 Want to go deeper? Book a Discovery Call to learn how The Clear State Coaching Method™ can help you reset your nervous system and regain your mental clarity.

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References

• Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252-1265.

• Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress. Proceedings of CHI, 107-110.

• Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Burnout: The Cost of Caring. New York: Psychology Press.

• Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.