Why grief makes you tired?

Asked by Anonymous
Answered
04/29/2021

Grief is a complex and complicated emotion.  It is typically defined as a deep sorrow that the death of someone can cause.   There are many layers to grief.  Grief is actually made up of five stages: denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance.  Each person who experiences grief experiences it in their own way, and each person’s grief is unique to themselves.

Because grief can be so complicated and overwhelming, it can also cause people to become tired.  There is a spectrum of emotions that people experience when grieving that range from sadness to depression to anger to betrayal and many more.  The nature of experiencing so many different emotions in a short period of time can make a person feel tired.  And, in addition to the emotional weight of grief, there is a physical component as well.

Along with the range of emotions, grief can also have physical symptoms as well.  Some of those symptoms include headaches, sore muscles, chest pain, digestive problems, high blood pressure, nausea, and fatigue. There is no timeline for the grieving process, and as stated above, each person grieves in their own way and on their own timeline.  Grieving can be stressful, and people become stressed, additional cortisol is released into their bodies.  Too much cortisol can slow down digestion, cause weight gain, increase sugars, and curb functions essential in a fight or flight scenario.  All of these physical issues caused by stress and cortisol also make a person sluggish and tired.

Additionally, grief can make a person tired. Often, when someone is experiencing the depths of grief, they have difficulty sleeping because their mind is constantly racing with thoughts about the grief or the person they have just lost.  The stress, combined with lack of sleep, can also make a person tired and physically and emotionally exhausted.  The sense of loss of a person, the feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, along with possible increased isolation, adds to the level of stress, which can, in turn, exacerbate the exhaustion.

(LCSW)