Why Is It Harder to Make Healthy Choices When You're Tired or Stressed?
- Dr. Jessica Bacon
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 29
You had every intention of making dinner tonight. Well, that went out the window.
After a long day, you're exhausted and starving. Your spouse or one of the kids needs something. There's laundry on the couch. You forgot to pick up eggs on the way home. You open the refrigerator and stare inside, hoping something resembling dinner will magically appear. Nothing in there seems worth the effort. Your mind is overloaded, your energy is gone, and ordering a pizza sounds so much easier than finding something to make, chopping those vegetables, cooking the meal, and then cleaning everything up afterward.
How many times have you come home and that's been the story?
There's actually a reason healthy choices feel so much harder when you're tired or stressed. Your brain is trying to make life easier to match the way you feel.
The Chaos Cat Part of You: I'm Trying My Best Here
The Chaos Cat part of you really is trying to do its best while juggling real life. It wants things to flow and feel easy. When you made those healthy plans earlier, they didn't feel like extra work. They sounded completely doable. But by the end of a stressful day, something has changed. Whatever food is convenient feels easier than figuring out what to cook. The familiar routine requires less thought than taking the steps to do something different. The choice you've made a hundred times before feels like it takes less energy than the new healthy choice you're trying to start. Suddenly, the healthy choice you genuinely wanted to make feels like a task you don't have the energy to do.
That's where good intentions get derailed. You didn't stop caring about your goal. The Chaos Cat part of you making the decision at the end of the day simply isn't working with the same energy and mental bandwidth you had when you made the plan.
When your brain is tired, familiar and easy feels pretty darn good.
Wise Owl Wisdom: There's a Reason for That
This is where the Wise Owl part of you gets curious instead of critical. Your brain doesn't treat every decision equally. Familiar behaviors require less active thought because you've done them before. Your brain already has a familiar pattern to follow.
Newer behaviors feel like they ask more of you. You have to remember what you planned, consider your options, resist the urge to take the familiar response that feels easier, and then actually follow through with the new behavior.
Those processes rely heavily on something called executive function. Executive function is a collection of mental skills involved in planning, attention, working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. Research has found that sudden stress can impair aspects of executive function, particularly working memory and cognitive flexibility.¹ Being tired adds another layer. Sleep deprivation can alter activity in brain regions involved in evaluating food choices and increase the appeal of more rewarding foods.² Research has also found hunger and food cravings increase following poor sleep.³
What that means to you is that when you're exhausted and staring into the refrigerator, your brain isn't comparing the nutritional merits of grilled chicken and vegetables to takeout. Your brain is looking for the option that feels familiar, easy to make happen, and will take the least amount of energy. Your brain is trying to match the choice to the energy you have available in that moment. That's an important difference.
Instead of asking, "Why do I feel like I keep failing and can't make good choices?"
The Wise Owl part of you asks a much more useful question:
"How can I make the choice I want to make feel like it takes less effort?"
That's where your Happy Hound Habits come in.
Happy Hound Habits: Make the Healthy Choice Easier
The Happy Hound part of you doesn't need to make all your habits better now.
It just needs to make the next step feel easier to take.
Try one of these:
1. Reduce the number of decisions. Have a few easy meals or snacks pre-made that you can fall back on when you're tired.
2. Prepare before the hard moment. Fill your water bottle, wash fruit, or put your walking shoes next to the door where you'll see them.
3. Make the healthy option convenient. Put foods you want to eat where they're easy to see and grab.
4. Have a minimum version of your habit. Too tired for your regular walk? Take five minutes instead.
5. Go one at a time. You don't need to fix dinner, exercise, drink all your water, and get to bed early in the same 30 minutes. Do one thing, then move on to the next.
Look at these five options and choose one. That one step will make your healthy habit easier to repeat tomorrow.
Dr. B's Takeaway
Healthy choices don't happen only on perfect days. They happen when you're tired, when the phone is ringing, when you're trying to figure out what to eat for dinner, and while life keeps happening around you. That's why building healthy habits isn't just about knowing what you "should" do. It's about creating an environment where the choice you want to make feels like it doesn't require so much effort. Don't make yourself work harder to build a healthy habit, make the habit feel easier to do.
Share Your Win
Pick one of the Happy Hound Habits above and give it a try.
What can you do to make one healthy choice feel easier this week?
When you take that step, share your win with us. We'd love to hear about it.
Share Your Win Here
Related Reading
If you find yourself knowing exactly what you want to change but always waiting for the right time to begin, read Why Your Brain Loves to Wait: The Fresh Start Effect next.
Want a Little More Help?
If food decisions are where you tend to get stuck, the New Meal Ideas & Weekly Planner can help take some of the daily decision-making out of figuring out what to eat.
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