Dr. Martin Picard

Everyone has experienced this when you're really sick.

Motivation, right?

Zero.

My capacity to be the best human being that I am and to be kind.

A little diminished.

Just like I was just trying to fucking survive, you know?

And what we know in terms of biology and mitochondria and energy that happens when you're fighting something like this, the immune system costs a lot of energy.

So I think the best model interpretation we have of sickness behavior is what you were describing, the technical term, is you feel sick, right?

And you don't want to move.

The body, you feel cold, right?

Which then forces you to put covers or, you know, to dress, to avoid cold environments.

Yeah.

It hurts to move your body, like to contract muscles and like there's allodynia, right?

You become more sensitive to pain.

All of these things likely exist in service of conserving your precious energy budget.

And even not eating, right?

Like follow your appetite, yes.

And eating costs energy.

Nothing in biology is free.

Everything costs something.