Decision Fatigue Is Draining Caregivers — Here’s How to Get Your Energy Back (Ayurveda’s Medicine of Subtraction)

Caregiver — if you wake up tired before the day has even started, it’s not because you’re weak. It’s because you’re making hundreds of micro-decisions from morning to night.

In this video, I’ll walk you through: 

🌿 Why decision fatigue drains caregivers more than they realize 

🌿 How Ayurveda explains this exhaustion through Vata imbalance + loss of Ojas 

🌿 The surprising fix: the Medicine of Subtraction 

🌿 Three simple ways to simplify food, routines, and activities so your energy returns 

🌿 A practical “one-pot meal” hack to save decisions all week

If you’ve been feeling scattered, overwhelmed, or mentally exhausted — this is your reset.

CALL TO ACTION:

If you’re ready to restore your energy and find clarity again, book a free discovery call or schedule a full Ayurvedic Consultation. I’d love to guide you.

Book a free discovery call: https://handsonheartayurveda.janeapp.com/#/staff_member/1/treatment/12

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Ayurvedic Consultation: https://www.handsoncaregiving.com/ayurvedic-consultation

The Rooted Care Method: https://www.handsoncaregiving.com/the-rooted-care-method

Vedic Astrology session: https://www.handsoncaregiving.com/vedic-astrology-session

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Caregivers, tell me if that sounds familiar. You wake up already tired and before your day has even started, your mind is running. Did mom take her pills? Should I call the doctors now or before lunch? Should I do laundry today or go to the grocery store? By the time you sit down, you've already made 50 decisions.

that exhaustion that you feel before noon is not weakness. It's actually decision fatigue. I've seen it again and again in the hospital with family caregivers and even with myself when I was taking care of my father. We think that we are tired from doing too much but often we are tired from deciding too much.

I'm Jean-Francois a registered nurse and I'm Vedic health counselor, a yoga teacher and a Vedic astrologer.

I help caregivers who give so much of themselves. discover energy, balance and calm through Ayurveda and simple, realistic self-care. So in today's video, we will explore three things. Why decision fatigue drains caregivers more than they realize.

Number two, how Ayurveda explain this depletion through the lens of vata imbalance and loss of ojas and how to restore your energy using one very simple thing that one of my teacher taught me and that is called the medicine of subtraction.

So stay until the end because I will share with you a full hack that I use very often so you can save some decisions and make your life very simple. consider liking the video, subscribe to the videos or even share with other caregivers that need to hear that message.

All right, so why decision fatigue feels like an invisible weight? Well, caregiver life is a constant state of micro decision. What to say, when to visit, how to respond, what to prioritize. Each of these small choices seems minor, but the brain is actually treating them like work.

When you are making decisions from morning to night, your mental battery depletes. You start noticing things like feeling scattered or irritable, overthinking small choices or feeling paralyzed by indecision, losing motivation or joy. terms, that's decision fatigue.

In Ayurveda, it's the mind energy, or what we call prana, that's being pulled in too many directions. So when that happens day after day after day, your deeper reserve of immunity or your ojas begin to dry so you can't focus. Your sleep feel less restorative.

And your food doesn't nourish you the same way.

Jean-Francois Alleno (03:10)

All right, so let's see how Ayurveda sees decision fatigue. Ayurveda through the lens of two different things, Vata and Ojas. Vata, as you know, is that constitution that compound air and space.

And when life becomes unpredictable, too many tasks, too many thoughts, too many decisions, there's movement happening and the vata dosha rise in our body, rise in our mind and get out of balance. And that's when we start feeling restless, anxious, easily overwhelmed and you forget things.

too high for too long, then it's going to start draining Ojas Ojas is that well of energy, immunity that you have in your system, in your body, and that keeps your mood, your immunity, and your digestion stable, so everything goes out of whack.

when things go out of whack most of people tend to go and see what they can add i'm gonna add some supplement i'm gonna add something in my week i'm gonna go to that power yoga things i'm gonna get some vitality by doing more stuff and it's more and more and more

But what Ayurveda teaches us, it's something very different. Sometimes the true medicine is not by adding, it's by subtracting. All right, so let's talk about what is the medicine of subtraction. That idea, by the way, the medicine of subtractions really changed everything for me, the way I do stuff and the way I practice.

I

It's the opposite of what our culture wants. Our culture wants us to be more, wants to do more, wants to be the best, But actually today, what I invite you is to simplify. And when you simplify,

you will see how healing happened in your system because you created some space to rest and to reorganize. so let's be practical in here and let's see in which area we could apply that medicine of subtraction.

So let's start by simplifying decision. And because decision is not just about mental, it's also using your prana, using that vital force of energy that you have inside of you. Every time you ask yourself, what should I do? What should I wear? What should I eat? You are actually using a little bit of that vital energy inside of you. So in the next few days and for the entire week,

I will invite you to non-negotiable, have exactly the same breakfast every day. I eat the same breakfast every day for a week. Decisions made. Or, okay, this week I'm gonna wear this type of clothes. I will wake up in the morning, take a shower, put on my clothes. Done. Or even something like, okay, you know what? I'm used to calling my parents every day, depending on the time, depending when I have time, depending what I do.

Every day I'm going to call mom at 10 a.m. Done. See this kind of routine, this kind of rhythm, reduce friction. And when your body and your mind know exactly what's coming, your nervous system finally relaxes.

Another thing that you can do, simplify activities. We often try to heal by adding meditation, yoga, journaling, reading, which is good, but when your schedule is already overflowing, adding more good things, even good things can feel like pressure instead, subtract. Again, I'm invite you to look at the schedule and say like every day.

for the entire week. After lunch, I'm gonna lie down for 10 minutes and I'm gonna do nothing. And see, What does that create? That 10 minutes of nothingness after lunch every day. Let me know how it goes because I would love to hear from you. And the third thing is simplify food. When the mind is overstimulated,

Digestion's weaken So decision fatigue affect not only mental digestions, it will also affect your physical digestion. So simplify the food. Let's say for a week, I'm going to eat warm, grounding, easy to digest meal. Soup, stew, kichari. So you repeat that meal during the busy week. for lunch, I'm going to have a soup with rice. And for dinner, I'm going to have the same soup with toast.

Easy peasy, you don't even think And eat without distraction if you can. If you eat by yourself, we have a tendency sometimes to take the phone, look at TV, Maybe for next week, think about eating mindfully and not looking at your phone, not scrolling, and not looking at TV if possible.

As promised, I wanted to give you something very concrete that you can do. And what I do, and it's turned around the food, is that idea of cooking a one-pot meal. So choose something simple. Again, it could be a soup, it could be a stew, or even Kichari

start simple. Maybe for this week you can make a soup, and for two days you're going to eat that soup for lunch and dinner. So you repeat that several times during the week. Reduce your groceries so you don't have to think about groceries. You go, you buy one thing, and you're going to do the same thing every day. The cooking is done. You cook for one day, and maybe you have food for two days.

And you you give your digestion a break because It will eat the same thing and digest the same thing every single day. And that's how you will reset your system.

you don't have to do more to feel better. Sometimes the deepest healings come from subtraction, from simplifying, from saying no, from creating space for your body and your mind to reset. Because when you remove the clutter in your schedule, in your diet, in your thought, your life force, your Ojas your vitality can flow again.

So I want to leave you with one reflection. What's one thing that you can remove this week? One decision, one activity, one expectation that will make your day lighter. Write it in the comments below because I would love to know about it. Or even better, commit to it for seven days and see what's changed. So remember, energy doesn't come from

doing everything right, it's come from creating a rhythm, rest, and simplicity. So if you want more guidance on how to restore your energy through Ayurveda, book a free discovery call with me or a full Ayurvedic assessment. I would love to help you. And if you found this helpful, again, like the video, subscribe to have more videos coming your way every week.

and share it with people who need to have that message. I'm grateful to have you and I'm looking forward to talk to you in the next video. Bye.