Gone weak

Earlier today, I was at my dad's allotment, and he wanted a shed moving. He lifted one end with one hand without struggling. I figured therefore I could do that, as my dad and I have for years been about equal in physical strength (yes I'm younger, but he's always been more physical in his work and hobbies). I had a go and struggled to shift it at all using both hands.

Prior to this I'd been to the farm to buy two sacks of spuds. One for us and one for a friend. I usually lift them in but this time the farmer lifted them into the car for me. I thought nowt of it. I got home, went to carry the two sacks of spuds in. Always easy enough. 25kg is only about 4 stone. I genuinely struggled to get them up onto my shoulder.

All this on top of the fact that since May, both my shoulders have been done in for no apparent reason.

I have been stressed for months. Can mental tiredness manifest as physical tiredness too, or do I need to be getting to the gym do we think?

 

Hi Clue,
Yes i believe mental tiredness can be just as debilitating and even worse in some respects.....at least with physical tiredness you can rest and sleep it off whereas the mental side of things sleep doesn't seem to have the same effect and you can wake up feeling just as drained as when you went to sleep....
It's very frustrating when you think you can just keep on doing the things you've always done but then find they start to become not so easy....may be a bit of limbering up would come in useful as you are only young ish or maybe just getting into a different mind set and working out ways to attempt heavier jobs that once came easy to you and know your limits.....(says me who up until this year carted bags of compost etc around...with no problem but then had to go back into the garden center and ask for help with the bags into the car....a chap did offer in the first place but me being me said ....no thanks i'll be fine....

 

Stress can turn into something more serious if not dealt with quickly. Like depression. Depression will suck all the physical energy out of you because you mentally don't feel like doing anything anyway. The weird thing is exercise does help with mental tiredness and depression, I've found at least.

 

I had a period of extreme stress in the early 90s, I was in agony across my shoulders, I even went to the Drs as I was concerned it was the reoccurrence of a previous serious medical problem.

It is extremely debilitating, you do not get a "good" sleep, as your body is too tense, as you have recently changed your work, for the better, life is regaining its rhythm but those muscles have been tensed for a long time, an easy work out at the gym will probably help them regain some elasticity, but take it slow, if they have been tense for a long time you could damage them by over exerting,
Then hopefully life will regain its serene normality.

 

Mental tiredness can definitely have an impact on your physical strength. I'd give yourself a bit of relax and recovery time if you can, and plenty of sleep. I agree with the others that some gentle exercise is very beneficial, maybe even some yoga (that works wonders for me) But if it lasts and you can't shift it, I'd go and see your doc in case there's an underlying issue