Does anyone else feel like D&D can be mentally draining?

#1

New player here! I just started playing last month and while I already love it, I noticed that the day after a session I tend to get super mentally exhausted. I didn’t think it was about the D&D at first, until my friends decided to hold sessions 3 days in a row! I had to cancel the third one because the thought of playing made me want to cry. My brain was absolutely not up for it.

Now I find myself having to take a mental health day after our longer sessions :sweat:

Does anyone else have this problem? What can I do to try to reduce this feeling? I have so much fun with it and I don’t want to stop playing it.

#2

Hi there!
I’ve also struggled with this. Although it’s really fun I feel like D&D requires a lot of admin! And at times I’ve found it a bit overwhelming. The only thing I can suggest is maybe limiting yourself to one session a week? I hope you can keep playing in a way that lets you get the most enjoyment out of it! :blush:

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#3

I find it pretty tiring during the session. At least in my area, D&D players tend to have really long sessions (4-6 hours is common). With my current group we schedule a meal break in the middle and that helps.

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#4

Yeah our sessions get pretty long too. We once played from 2pm to 2am and by the end of it I was literally falling asleep :tired_face: I found that getting up and standing helps a bit, but it’s really hard to pay attention to a whole lot of different things at once. I read somewhere that taking notes, doodling, and/or knitting might help with the attention aspect, but people don’t really talk about the mental toll it takes.

#5

God, yes. My inattentive ass did not have the patience. I kept making my character die on purpose to get it over with…

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#6

You gotta take care of yourself. Roleplaying can be super intense, and often takes a lot of mental energy. You don’t have to stop playing because it makes you tired, but you should give yourself time to rest and recuperate.

For me, I have a game I play once a week, and sometimes we just hang out and chat or play a lighter-weight game. Roleplaying and the socialization that comes with it is very important for my mental health, but it only helps if I give myself time to rest between sessions.

Don’t play more often than is good for you. If your group insists on playing several days in a row, then you may need to find a different group, or work out a way to have your character sit out some sessions.

I would also advise talking with them about limiting the session length to something that doesn’t knock you out the next day.

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