Brain health · Sanctum

The engine that won’t idle

Even when you are finally sitting down, you are not still. The leg jiggles, the hands need something to do, the mind is three thoughts ahead and will not stop. Rest does not feel like rest. Switching off feels like a setting everyone else seems to have and you do not.

This is restlessness, and it is not simply being fidgety or unable to relax. A brain that runs short on its own stimulation goes looking for more, so it keeps the body moving or the mind racing to top itself up. In adults the visible bouncing of childhood often turns inward, into an engine that hums under everything even when you look perfectly calm on the outside.

Because it can pass for anxiety, or for being driven and high-energy, the restlessness underneath gets missed. It is behind the trouble winding down at night, the need to always be busy, the discomfort of doing nothing, and the way stillness can feel almost unbearable rather than restful. People are often exhausted and wired at the very same time.

We treat restlessness as a signal, not a personality setting, because where it comes from shapes sleep, stress and a great deal else. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director