Staying Present When You're Tired
It’s that time of year for many. The season is ending and headed into post-season or you’re ramping up for long, hot summer workouts. Regardless of where you are, the drain of a long season and/or the shift in to summer heat can take a toll on your mental sharpness. It can become more difficult to use your mental tools because of distractions and fatigue. There are three “big” ways your body responds to fatigue in ways that affect your mental skills (NIH, 2022; Young et al., 2020)
- Prefrontal cortex function is less effective. This part of your brain helps with complex tasks, focus, and reasoning. Fatigue slows it’s function and effectiveness down resulting in brain fog and difficulty holding attention
- Energy drops. Fatigue prevents your brain from keeping up with higher level functions like language processing and regulating emotions.
- Perception of effort. When you’re tired, cognitive tasks seem harder even if your body feels rested. You feel like you must put more effort into “thinking.”
All of these effects make it more difficult for you to stay present in the moment during games and practices (the same goes for your athletes!). Here are a few ways you can keep your attention where you need it in those moments (Huster, 2025):
- Label how you’re feeling and accept it (v. trying to ignore or resist it). For example, tell yourself, “My eyes are tired.” Accept it then move on.
- Avoid trying to seek clarity where you can and put the emphasis on simply noticing sensations and events. For example, instead of trying to fully understand why something just happened, notice it and write it down if you need to revisit it later. You won’t be able to do this with everything, so pick and choose what is a priority in the moment.
- Don’t force a stare. Keep a relaxed, soft gaze. Occasionally, let your eyes close for a few moments instead of forcing them open for extended periods of time. In these down moments with your eyes closed, let your attention go to sounds. Focus on the sounds you hear & let them come to you. This is called sound bathing.
- Shift your posture and/or your state. If you’re sitting, stand up or straighten your back out. If you’re standing, sit down & stand back up or take a few steps.
- Splash cool water on your face and pay attention to the sensations this creates (cool touch, feeling of water running off your face, feel of the towel patting your skin dry)
- Breath intentionally. Inhale with short quick breaths and exhale long and slow. There are many variations of breathing techniques to try here.
At the end of the day, be sure to recharge with plenty of sleep and refuel your body and brain with plenty of water, electrolytes, and appropriate macronutrients. Then, get up the next day and give what you have that day!
References
Huster, C. (2025). Mindful mornings: Starting the school day with DBT. Cincinnati Center for DBT. Retrieved from https://www.cincinnaticenterfordbt.com/mindful-mornings-starting-the-school-day-with-dbt/
N.I.H. (2022, June 15). How sleep affects your health. Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects
Young, A. M. B., Hopkins, W. G., & Smith, M. S. (2020). Cognitive fatigue: A review of the current literature and proposed future directions. Brain Sciences, 10(7), 450.