Causes of tiredness 🛏️💤
Tiredness has 8 different causes.
Sleep only treats 1 of them.
An average high-performer has only one strategy for exhaustion: sleep more.
When that doesn’t work, he assumes something’s wrong.
The honest answer is usually simpler.
Sleep is only one type of rest.
There are at least eight, and the one you need is rarely the one you’re getting.
There were stretches in my career where I’d get deep sleep but still feel hollow by 10 am.
I thought I needed more sleep.
But I just needed some silence and solitude, and sometimes an honest conversation with someone who didn’t want anything from me.
Types of rest worth knowing
🛌 Physical
↳ Sleep, naps, stretching, letting the body actually stop.
↳ The one everyone thinks of, and the only one most people protect.
🧠 Mental
↳ Breaks from active thinking, decisions, and the inner monologue that runs all day.
↳ 90-minute breaks, 30-minutes of exercise, journaling, or just stopping the chatter.
👥 Social
↳ Time away from people, or time only with people who don’t require you to perform.
↳ Founders especially spend most of their day “on.” Sleep won’t fix that.
🔇 Sensory
↳ Screens, notifications, background noise, constant input.
↳ The nervous system never gets quiet. Silence and darkness move the needle quickly.
🎨 Creative
↳ Experiencing beauty without producing it.
↳ Nature, art, music. Receiving rather than creating.
❤️ Emotional
↳ Freedom to feel what you feel, without managing other people’s reactions.
↳ A trusted friend, a therapist, a journal. Anywhere you don’t have to be the strong one.
🕊 Spiritual
↳ Connection to something bigger than the to-do list.
↳ Purpose, meaning, reflection. Whatever that looks like for you.
🤝 Relational
↳ Time with people who refill you, not drain you.
↳ Relationships where the mask comes off.
Burnout causes
Burnout is rarely about doing too much.
It’s about resting holistically.
Audit which of the eight you’ve actually had this month.
And which you haven’t had in a year.
Which kind of rest do you always make time for?
Gareth Lloyd lives in Singapore
Gareth Lloyd – Building a Healthier Future | Co-Founder @ Truly Nuts & White Lion Foods | Serial Entrepreneur | Sustainability Advocate | Investing in Health, Wealth & Earth 🌍
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