Tired After a ‘Lazy’ Day? Inactivity Can Be Surprisingly Exhausting

Have you ever spent a quiet day resting, only to feel unusually tired by the evening? It may sound strange because you did nothing all day- no physical activity, just lying, sitting, and resting.

Doing almost no physical activity and resting all day left you feeling tired, even though you did nothing. Have you ever wondered why it happens? When you take a break for a day, your body goes into a state of rest, but your mind is constantly worrying about a million reasons. A day with little movement may leave you feeling sluggish, although tiredness can also relate to sleep, stress, illness, or other factors.

Why Do We Feel Tired After A Lazy Day?

We feel tired after a long day because no movement of our body leads to slower blood circulation. Being inactive for long periods may affect how alert you feel. It does not necessarily mean that too little oxygen is reaching your brain.

Your body uses energy even at rest, but physical activity generally requires more energy. When we are lying in bed and doing nothing for a long day, our blood circulation slows down due to the lack of movement, and hence less oxygen reaches our brain, muscles, and other parts of our body.

When we remain in a state of rest, Long periods of inactivity can make some people feel less alert or motivated, but a single day of rest does not necessarily lower your metabolism. Spending more time on screens or being inactive for long periods of time causes boredom and lethargy, which drain our mental energy and make us tired, just as being engaged in physical activity does.

How Does Inactivity Affect Our Body?

Physical and mental activity are closely connected. When we move our body, our blood circulates properly and helps oxygen reach our brain and muscles. Movement helps our body to stay awake. Even light movement, exercise, and stretching make our body active.

On the other hand, being inactive for a long time leads our brain to interpret the signal of winding down and makes our body and brain lethargic. 

You feel tired, so you decide to rest. When you rest, your brain becomes more lethargic, so you do not want to get out of bed, and it leads to more inactivity.

To break this slow cycle, you need to move your body. Moving your body does not mean doing heavy exercises; only slow, light movements, walking, and stretching work to awaken your mind.

How Does Being Inactive Affect Your Mood?

Physical activity is not only related to fitness. Mental wellness is also connected with it.

When you remain in a state of rest constantly, your brain sends signals to stay inactive, and being inactive can affect your mood because you do not want to do anything. When you end your day without doing anything, you feel less motivated and even frustrated.

Adding some movement to your daily routine helps you to break this cycle of inactivity; it helps to change your environment or routine. By movement, it does not mean doing heavy exercises; it simply means moving your body. You could take a short walk, stretch, or do a light household task. Even getting up and moving around can break up a long period of sitting. 

Is “Rest” That Bad?

Now the question arises: is rest that bad? The answer is no, but you need to understand the difference between resting and being lazy. Rest is very important. It is mandatory to give your body time to recover to maintain energy levels. 

It is completely fine if it happens occasionally, but if this happens repeatedly and becomes a habit, then it is bad. Then it turns into lethargy and often causes frustration because when you are inactive for long periods of time, you do not want to do anything, which makes you feel demotivated.

A healthy routine requires a balance between both being active and taking rest. You do not need to be active all day, nor feel guilty for being inactive.  Aim to break up long periods of sitting when you feel able, while allowing yourself the rest you need to recover.

Simple Ways To Beat The “Lazy Day”

Simple ways to avoid being tired after a lazy day are just movement. It can be anything; it does not require going to the gym and lifting weights to maintain fitness. It's just about adding a slow movement to your daily routine, such as: 

• Just moving out of your bed helps break the cycle of inactivity. Stand up from your bed, wash your face, change your clothes, and open the curtains. It will help you to beat your tiredness.
• Going for a short walk can actually beat your inactivity because it changes your environment and makes your blood circulate properly.
• Get proper sleep of 7-8 hours; it will give rest to your mind and help it to work properly.
• Drink water regularly, particularly if you have not had enough to drink. Dehydration may contribute to tiredness, but drinking water does not treat inactivity by increasing oxygen delivery to the brain.

Ayurveda Perspective  On Inactivity

In Ayurveda, inactivity is a major problem, which worsens the Kapha dosha (associated with lethargy), and its increase leads to greater sluggishness and fatigue in the body.

It increases the heaviness in the body. Lack of movement slows down our digestive fire (Agni), leading to digestive problems and the production of toxins (Ama).
Ayurveda claims that appropriate body movement and appropriate sleep are both important for a balanced life. Performing pranayam reduces sluggishness, and it will help you feel less tired.

Conclusion

A rest day helps your body to recover, but resting for prolonged periods can cause feelings of sluggishness and make you feel tired even after doing nothing for a long period of time.
This happens because when we remain inactive for a long period, our body's blood circulation slows down; consequently, the body functions more sluggishly, and oxygen reaches the brain at a slower rate.
When we rest, our brain interprets the signal of inactivity as a cue to wind down, which leads to a sense of lethargy. Spending too much time on screens counters the feeling of lethargy, which makes our mind tired even after doing nothing.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, prolonged inactivity may be associated with an increase in Kapha and a weakening of Agni. These are Ayurvedic concepts and should not be presented as proven effects of reduced blood circulation. 

References 

Physical Inactivity Syndrome: A Risk Factor and Target for Intervention—A Narrative Review - PMC  

Physical activity 

Nearly 1.8 billion adults are at risk of disease from not doing enough physical activity