Tired of being tired

Being tired is exhausting. The fight against your eyelids seems incredibly hard and sometimes you just can't resist it. Trying to concentrate is practically impossible and even the most devoted perfectionist isn't able to finish the task as perfectly as otherwise. On those occasions, there is nothing more tempting than a good night's sleep and a soft bed to sink in, especially if you start imagining it during a math lesson. Well, especially here in Finland we all feel like that during the late fall and winter, when it's pitch dark when we leave to school and exactly similar when we come back home. The few, weak rays of light we get from windows help us survive. Anyway, yesterday I had one of those days when all you wanna do is sleep, so I thought about this a little. I came to a conclusion that there are at least three types of tiredness.

The first one is pretty much what I just described, tiredness from having slept too little or being physically so tired. Reasons for that can be doing lots of sports, homework, shopping or whatever that uses your energy. It is the easiest to get rid of, though: all you have to do is go to sleep. 

The second type of tiredness comes also from physical work, but it doesn't make you want to pass out of tiredness. It is a mix of pleasure, muscle relaxation and low energy. That feeling you get after a really good training or a gym session or something like that. You just know you've used your muscles and it feels so good. Add that to a ride home in a warm, silent bus and a perfect moment is created.

The third kind of tiredness is more psychological than physical. Stress, worries, hurry and awaiting duties are what usually cause it. Physically you might feel like running a marathon, but inside your head you just feel like wanting to take a break. It is exhaustion, and in my opinion a way to protect your brain from a burn-out. Sleeping helps with that, but also finishing what you need to do and removing the source of stress. For some, shedding a few tears has a miraculous effect as well.

All in all, sleeping is one of the best things in the world if you're tired and I warmly recommend it. Having said that, I would like to say "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"