Vox article--Why your desk job is so damned exhausting (2019 update)

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/9/5/17818170/work-fatigue-exhaustion-psychology

"This is the greatest mystery of my adult life: How can I spend all day typing at a computer and go home feeling exhausted? How could merely activating the small muscles of my fingers leave me craving the couch at the end of the day?

This question actually lies very close to one of the more hotly contested issues in psychology: What causes mental fatigue? Why is desk work so depleting?"

At some point they mention willpower <sigh>. Doing things that are unpleasant or deeply repetitive and therefore boring take more energy than pleasant tasks I expect. NO matter how much willpower is applied. And then there's the issue of total energy available. No doubt as a one off many people can muscle through unpleasant tasks.

And while there might be some room for psychological research here I think we'd learn more about fatigue from studying the biology.

 

Oh, but that's far too logical and obvious. How could we maintain full employment of psychosomatic experts if we don't continue with the angels-dancing-on-a-hairpin employment-for-mediocre-physicians program? It's just so damn easy. You can literally put a mat written STOP on the floor and publish a scientific paper all about it. How will the people graded on that steep curve cope with unemployment?

But yes, hell yes let's do that. Not that it will help us that much, but at least it will get the clingy 800-lbs gorilla off our back.

 

Yes, @rvallee

I also think the psychology field is somewhat overcrowded. Which means that all these people need subjects to study. And so we wind up with the shopping bag research. It would be good for psych dept's to raise the bar and to not play the bigger is better game.

 

I can toss in a few theories, with no real evidence but a few thoughts
There is circadian control involved, during the day we have alertness peaks and ebbs based on our body clock
We may be gumming up the glymphatic system
We may be using up cognitive function which is what dreaming resets.
We might be ending up with too much on our minds. For example when normal people need a vacation and go they are still burned out for some time and relaxation without too much thinking gets them back to full cognitive functioning. This might be a variation of that.
There is also immune involvement in brain function, how that related to this issue or brain function in general is hideously complicated

They are modern day mythologists, but with a twist they have some science on their side but think they can expand their bubble to the stars.

 

I have to say since becoming more severely ill over a dozen years ago an paradigm has taken root in my mind where I see the world through the lens of energy/no energy. It has at times been a source of amazement to me that everything requires energy (I know how obvious that is) but my experience of it is much more profound.

Thinking about what I might want to eat and what I can prepare? energy drain
Thinking about my children and wanting to interact with them? energy drain
Trying to remember how I did that thing on the computer last time? energy drain

Since those examples are all mental activities it brings me to another point;
I think my physical incapacities are more down to OI issues and that I could otherwise get around more.

I think the mental energy drain might be for some other reason.

Anyway, this was not a long article and there are probably thousands like this one out there at any given time. It's just so frustrating that such an important health issue gets such a fluffy treatment. I really don't see the psychology community as the experts who will crack the issues around what is needed for humans to get restorative sleep or what might need fixing to do that.