It’s hard to define, harder to measure, but mental energy is something everyone needs more of.
July 21, 2024
Your brain is quite demanding. Whilst it is only 2 percent of your body weight, it consumes 20 to 25 percent of your metabolic energy. And that’s just on idle.
Once the brain gets active, its energy demands multiply.
Just paying attention guzzles energy, requiring mental energy. Making decisions, reading this, just thinking – it all takes energy.
And working in the mortgage market probably takes up more mental energy.
Mental energy is not something spoken about much.
Some see it as one part mood (feelings about having the capacity to complete mental or physical activities), one part cognition (mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses).
Whether it is your mood or cognitive powers – they need energy. But both can be drained and both can be increased. In fact, we need to accept that our mental energy will rise and fall like the stock market, but the trick is to notice when it is low and find ways to get the levels back up. Unlike a car, we don’t have a light to warn us that we are about to run out of fuel.
In fact, there is no agreed-upon measure of or method for assessing mental energy. We just need to be more aware of it and manage it better.
Motivation and mental energy are connected, as the more mental energy you have, the more motivated you feel.
However, you can separate the two.
Motivation as the wanting - which is what you want to achieve and have. The mental energy goes into the doing and the thinking to achieve this and motivation can still be there with low energy levels. It is just harder to achieve what you want to achieve.
If you feel the motivation is going, it is not that motivation that is flagging but the fact that there is less energy to drive it.
Mental energy is a major player in everyday life. We need it not just for motivation, but for everyday tasks, self regulation, thinking and so on.
We don’t really have a definition of mental energy – but just think of it as a measure of your mood and cognitive powers. And whatever mental energy is, it plays a role in shaping and enhancing your personality and achievements. Higher levels of mental energy can make your working day more effective and more efficient and for some, make them more successful.
As mental energy is closely linked with intellectual performance, so is it tied to immune function.
Yes, it has been shown that activated by stress, for example, the immune system triggers an inflammatory response that makes significant demands on energy.
Now it is easy to think that the opposite of high mental energy is fatigue. But it is more complex. Sitting at a desk all day decreases energy without necessarily increasing fatigue. And moderate exercise has been shown to increase energy without affecting levels of fatigue.
The opposite of mental energy isn’t fatigue, it seems that it’s apathy.
Whatever mental energy turns out to be, one thing is clear: It’s something people want more of.
Day in, day out, most mental energy is acquired from good food. Proteins, carbohydrates, fats—are essential. But when we are mentally tired, we reach for foods that are less helpful.
People are also a great source of energy and that is what we want to get from this Broker Boost Initiative.
So, understand your mental energy and seek to increase it.
