The brain and nervous system have a finite amount of “operating power.” Unresolved decisions, open loops, relationship strain, major life changes, major intense stress, illness, chronic pain, and even just a long list of tasks contribute to the systemic load that taxes your system’s resources.
Every decision you make — from what to eat for dinner to what career path to choose — pulls from the same power source.
Even when you aren’t actively thinking about these things, they are draining energy that could be available for other tasks. The background phantom energy even drains while you sleep, which is why you wake up exhausted and are unable to truly rest.
Just as a faulty appliance can trip a circuit breaker for the whole house, intense mental strain in one area can impact other areas.
This is why major life changes or work stress leaves you with less energy available even for the things you enjoy, like workouts, hobbies, or time with friends.
In a state of chronic energy drain, even the most simple tasks become a heavy lift.
The question is: how do you stop the energy drain?
The Common Advice to Conserve the Energy
In a house, the solution to the energy drain is simple: turn off and unplug devices that don’t need to be plugged in. Obviously, you can’t unplug your fridge or other major appliances. But at the very least you can turn off desktop computers and printers, unplug laptops and other devices that don’t need to be plugged in all the time.
For some people, the equivalent solution applies to unplugging the brain and restoring the nervous system.
You can “unplug” by externalizing what you’re holding:
- set a specific time to think about each decision or issue on your plate
- write down your tasks and decisions
- write down the criteria you’ll use to make decisions, so you don’t loop on them
- time block your tasks
- schedule conversations and follow ups
You can also restore the nervous system by unplugging through quiet activities like meditation, or mind-body exercises like yoga.
The Counter-Intuitive Way to Unplug
If quiet activities make things worse, then you need more stimulation and intensity — something so mentally or physically demanding that it forces your full attention and leaves no room for the other tasks and decisions to keep running in the background.
For some people, these “quiet” strategies don’t work. Writing down your decisions and tasks doesn’t keep them out of your head, and looking at the lists feels even more overwhelming.
Sitting in meditation just amplifies the spinning thoughts.
Your brain may feel like the refrigerator: impractical or impossible to turn off or unplug.
If quiet activities make things worse, then you need more stimulation and intensity — something so mentally or physically demanding that it forces your full attention and leaves no room for the other tasks and decisions to keep running in the background.
You need an activity that is so completely all consuming that it forces a shut-down of every other thing that could consume energy in the background.
This could be a heavy lifting session, a workout focused on compound lifts or complex movements, or an intense circuit with multiple movements that forces you to keep moving and stay focused on what you’re doing.
If a workout isn’t your thing, try a new hobby or learn a new skill. Learning something new forces your brain into active processing mode, leaving no room for all the background stuff.
Embrace What Works For You
If the standard advice to “quiet your mind” leaves you even more drained than before, you might benefit from plugging in via a higher-consuming activity that forces the other energy drains to unplug.
Sometimes the only way to finally find the “off” switch is turn the intensity all the way up.
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