Why Screens Make You So Tired

(And Why It’s Not All in Your Head)

is this you at the end of the day ?

Have you ever closed your laptop at the end of the day and felt like you’d just run a marathon — even though you barely left your chair?

Your body feels heavy.Your brain feels foggy.You promise yourself you’ll go for a walk… and instead you scroll.

Most people assume this is a motivation problem. Or a willpower problem. Or a “I’m just getting older” problem.

It isn’t.

It’s a body-in-a-screen-world problem.

The modern nervous system dilemma

Our lives now look like this:

• We wake up and check our phones

• We work on screens

• We relax on screens

• We connect on screens

• We fall asleep after scrolling

Mentally, we are “on” all day. Physically, we are almost completely still.

And that creates a strange biological mismatch.

Your nervous system is built for:

Stress → movement → recovery

But modern life gives us:

Stress → stillness → more stress

Your body stays revved, but never gets to discharge.

That’s where the exhaustion comes from.

What actually happens when you sit for too long

This isn’t just about stiff backs and sore necks.

When you sit for long stretches, three important things happen in the body:

1. Blood flow slows down Your hips and knees bend, which slightly kinks the blood vessels in your legs. Blood starts to pool. Your leg muscles stop doing their job of clearing sugar and fat out of the bloodstream. Blood pressure creeps up. Energy drops.

2. Breathing becomes shallow Sitting compresses the diaphragm. You start taking smaller, shallower breaths. Less oxygen reaches the brain. Less oxygen means more fatigue, worse concentration, and lower mood.

3. You lose touch with your body’s signals There’s a word for this: interoception — your ability to feel what your body needs. Hunger. Movement. Rest. Screens hijack that system. You stop noticing you need a break until you’re completely wiped out.

This is why people can feel burnt out even when their lives look “easy” from the outside.

Why exercise alone doesn’t fix it

Many people say:

“But I go to the gym.”“I walk every morning.”“I’ve got a standing desk.”

Those things help — but they don’t undo eight hours of stillness.

Research now shows that long, uninterrupted sitting is harmful even if you exercise.

It’s not just about how much you move.It’s about how often you move.

The surprising thing that actually works

In a series of studies, researchers looked at what happens when people simply break up their sitting.

Not workouts.Not sweating.Just gentle movement.

They found that taking five minutes of movement every 30–60 minutes:

• Lowered blood sugar

• Lowered blood pressure

• Improved mood

• Increased energy

• Improved focus

In one large real-world trial, over 20,000 people tried it. 80% stuck with it. Most said they felt better — and many said their work actually improved.

One woman with type-2 diabetes saw her blood pressure drop dramatically and was able to come off her medication — not by exercising harder, but by moving more often.

This is the part people find shocking.

Your body doesn’t just need exercise.It needs movement spread through the day.

Why this matters for stress, anxiety and burnout

When you’re stressed, your nervous system prepares you to move.

But when you don’t move — when you stay glued to a screen — that stress has nowhere to go.

So it turns into:

• Tension

• Fatigue

• Irritability

• Brain fog

• Low mood

• Burnout

Movement is how the nervous system completes the stress cycle.

Not mindfulness.Not pushing through.Not another coffee.

Movement.

How to start (without “adding another thing”)

This isn’t about becoming a fitness person.

It’s about weaving tiny moments of movement into the life you already have.

Try this:

• Walk while you’re on phone calls

• March in place during Zoom meetings

• Take a lap of the building instead of checking your phone

• Dance while the kettle boils

• Stretch while something loads

• Walk outside for two minutes between tasks

Think of it as resetting your nervous system, not exercising.

Your body will thank you for it.

The real takeaway

If you feel constantly tired, foggy, flat or overwhelmed, it doesn’t mean you’re broken.

It probably means your body has been trying to cope with a screen-based life that it was never designed for.

You don’t need to overhaul everything.

You just need to let your body move — little and often — so your nervous system can finally breathe.

And when your body feels safer, your mind usually follows.