What is fatigue?

I do not want you to involve in technical discussion elaborating “what is fatigue?”, as I am afraid that will make you fatigued by studying these indifferent details and we by writing. You often feel tiredness or fatigue, so it is over-ambitious to indulge you in the details and just a brief over view would be sufficient.

Our body is just like a machine. For a better performance a machine requires better maintenance, rest and timely overhaul. Same is the matter with our body. Our body also requires all these facilities. How a machine gets out of order? Usually there are three major reasons causing defect in a machine: -

1. Excessive use of machine.
2. Machine is kept idle for a long period.
3. Machine is utilized contrary to its specifications.

These factors make a machine rusty, and soon the machine will become useless. Similarly, it is absolutely necessary for human beings to exercise regularly in order to keep the body strong and healthy.

Excessive work tired us, so we reach home being exhausted and out of sorts. Our body is completely exhausted or at least we are not as fresh as we were in the morning when we left the home. Nevertheless, this fatigue is natural and rest for a night will help to get rid of it. This can be named, as temporary fatigue, elimination of which is comparatively easy.

If we sit idle for long hours even then we feel tiredness and nausea. The people who think that tiredness is only due to hard work are mistaken. As we discuss later, a human body never gets tired due to work rather non-utilization of its organs is one of the real causes of fatigue.

The third reason is wrong utilization. We may understand it with the help of an illustration. You may have noticed that the performance of a machine would be on the higher side if we give rest to the machine with rational intervals. On the contrary, if we use it day and night at the same speed, without giving it rest, it will be ruined at some point of time, much prior to its normal life.

The most important thing is that if we want that some parts of the machine would move while the others remain idle, malpractice is a must. You may review your daily utilization of your body organs in the light of the aforesaid illustration.

In ancient times men used to live in jungles and he had to rely on his body strength to get food. Terrors of beasts, thunderstorm, rain, and fear of hot and cool weather had made him energetic but with the passage of time human beings get civilized. Progress of science makes him lethargic. Just think of Air Conditioner, deep freezers, washing machines, and other electronic appliances. All these appliances are to facilitate us and restrain us to move enthusiastically and energetically.

Thanks to diversification of job humans have to wok in specific sphere of life. Today, the peasant does only farming and a factory worker does only labor. A clerk goes to office early in the morning to perform table work and come back home after sunset. He has to utilize his hands, mind and sight. A hawker wanders whole day in the street carrying a basket over his head and a housewife remained busy all the time in kitchen, cleaning home, washing cloths and taking care of children. The Almighty has given them the same organs and complexion but all of them could utilize only some organs of their body while others remain idle. For instance, a clerk just utilizes his hands, mind and eyesight. A Peasant utilizes those parts of body, which are necessary for farming. The utilization of organs of a hawker’s body is also limited. Housewives have to bend to accomplish their job, which cause them backache.

The arms of the blacksmith are large and strong because he constantly uses it. The legs of the hill coolies are large and powerful because they walk so hard. On the contrary, the arms, legs and the whole body of many students and businessmen are small and weak because they sit much of the time and do not utilize their arms and legs significantly. It is another misconception that educated and high profiled people should not involve in laborious work. This is a great mistake. Muscular work is dignified and honored. Almighty says in his Holly Book “Laborer is My friend”. Many Prophets earned their livings by doing labor.

The technique of classification of work, though helpful in social and economic development of human being, has indeed played a pivotal role in spoiling human health. The above illustration shows that human beings engage in a particular field have to overburden some parts of their body while the others remain idle. Let’s recall the illustration of a machine where we reached to the conclusion that if there is any inconsistency in the utilization of components of a machine, it is natural that the situation would worsen. This is the main reason of our tiredness. Interestingly, few scientists defined fatigue as a strength, which we could not discharge. This book is written to base this ideology.

The reasons of fatigue could either be mental or physical but we cannot draw a line between them because relationship of mind and body is very deep and inseparable. So, in this book, first we discuss physical fatigue at length and later we would try to understand mental fatigue.