You wake up, check your phone, reply to a few messages, decide what to wear, what to eat, whether you’ve got time for a walk, which route to take, what to listen to on the way. That’s all before 9am.
By the end of the day, even choosing what to have for dinner can feel weirdly difficult. You open the fridge, then close it. You check Deliveroo, then close that too. Nothing feels like the right choice, so you just… stall. That feeling is “decision fatigue”.
What is Decision Fatigue?
Decision fatigue happens when your brain gets tired from making too many decisions. You might feel exhausted when presented with making a lot of decisions, no matter how big or small. Think of your brain like a battery: with every choice you make, a little bit of that energy is used up. By the end of the day, even the simplest decisions, like which route to take home, can feel hard.
How many decisions do we actually make in a day?
Most estimates sit somewhere around 30,000 to 35,000 decisions a day, which sounds bonkers until you start paying attention to how often your brain is asking, “yes or no? this or that?”
What to eat, what to wear, what to click on, what to reply to, whether to engage or ignore something. Even food alone can rack up a couple of hundred decisions without you noticing.
Life used to come with far fewer options - its thought that we used to make around 2,500 decisions a day. Smaller wardrobes, less choice on meals, limited entertainment, fewer interruptions pulling your attention in different directions.
What Does Decision Fatigue Feel Like?
You might find yourself feeling overwhelmed by even the smallest choices, like picking what to have for dinner or deciding which TV show to watch. Instead of making thoughtful decisions, you might start to procrastinate, putting off things that usually wouldn’t take much thought.
It can also show up as mental exhaustion. You might feel irritable, drained, or like your brain is running on empty. That constant feeling of “I just can’t think anymore” is a classic sign. You may even find yourself making impulsive choices, like opting for fast food instead of cooking, or binge-watching Netflix rather than going for a walk. Decision fatigue can also be a symptom of burnout.
What’s happening in your brain when you make decisions
Most of your decision-making lives in the prefrontal cortex, that deals with planning, focus and self-control. Some decisions are quick and automatic, like habits you don’t really think about. Others take more effort, where you weigh things up, compare options, second-guess yourself a bit.
It’s that second type that drains when overloaded. It helps to think about it like a battery. Every decision takes a bit of charge. Some barely register, others take more. If you’re constantly switching between things, that drains it faster than you realise. By the time you get to the evening, you’re not operating at the same level you were in the morning.
You put things off, go for whatever feels easiest. You avoid making a choice altogether because even small decisions feel like effort. It’s why you can handle proper work during the day, then somehow feel stuck choosing what to eat for dinner. It’s not the difficulty of the decision, it’s that your brain battery has depleted.
The more decisions you stack into a day, the harder it becomes to keep making clear, thoughtful decisions later on. You don’t suddenly stop being capable, it just gets harder to access that same level of focus.
Why do we feel decision fatigue?
We’re making decisions constantly, often without even realising it. Obvious decisions are made whilst we’re working, but technology has now given us endless options in many other areas of our lives. We’ve gone from choosing between a handful of TV channels to scrolling through endless streaming services, from deciding what to eat at a local café to scrolling through hundreds of takeaway options. We’re faced with decisions about everything, all the time.
On top of that, we have limitless access to information. Between social media, emails, and Google, our brains are processing huge amounts of information every second, and all that input requires decision-making. This information overload adds to the mental load, forcing us to make more quick decisions, which may previously not have existed.
Of course, technology has made it easier to find answers to make more informed decisions. But sometimes, we can end up feeling overwhelmed, stuck in indecision, or making snap choices just to get things over with. The more information we take in, the more decisions we have to make, and this can quickly lead to decision overload. Our brains weren’t built to handle this constant stream of choices, which is why we often end up feeling mentally drained by the end of the day.
How to Beat Decision Fatigue and Mental Load
The good news is there are ways you can help ease the fatigue from making a huge amount of decisions.
- Prioritise the Big Stuff Focus on decisions that matter most. If you’ve got a few big tasks for the day, try to tackle them earlier when your brain is fresh.
- Set Routines When you know what’s coming next, you reduce the need to make decisions constantly. Establish habits for your mornings or bedtime, so you're not deciding every little thing.
- Limit Your Options We tend to think more choice equals more freedom, but often it’s the opposite. Narrowing down your options, whether it’s the apps you use or options for dinner, can reduce that overwhelming feeling.
- Create a Decision Bank Try writing lists of options for things that have a large number of options. For example, write dinner options on pieces of paper and then pick out of the bank when your lacking decision-making.
- Take Breaks Decision-making is exhausting! Take short, regular breaks throughout the day to recharge your mental battery. Even a five-minute walk can make a huge difference.
Decision fatigue is part of modern life, but by cutting down the number of choices we make daily and giving our minds some breathing space, we can feel more in control. Small changes - like setting routines, simplifying decisions, and taking breaks - can make a big difference to our mental load.
A lot of decision fatigue comes from constant input. Messages, notifications, content, options, all layered on top of each other from the moment you wake up. When you step away from that, even briefly, things start to feel quieter. There’s less to respond to, less to choose, less pulling at your attention.