The concept of alertness is associated with slowness.
Lethargic is one or that which experiences lethargy . This concept (lethargy), for its part, refers to rest , lack of activity , numbness , drowsiness or drowsiness .
For example: "The German team looked lethargic, slow and without explosion" , "The new film by the famous filmmaker was boring due to its lethargic pace" , "Economic activity has become lethargic: the government is concerned about the possible increase in layoffs" .
Lethargic as inactivity
The notion of lethargy is usually linked to the state that occurs due to the cessation of an activity . Suppose a rock band released four albums between 1980 and 1985 . Then, between that year and 1995 , he did not present any album, until he released a new production in 1996 . It can be said, therefore, that the group in question was dormant for a decade.
Lack of growth or expansion is also linked to lethargy. If a country's economy stops growing or grows at a very low level, it can be said to be sluggish. In this case, lethargy is capable of causing various types of social problems, since it can increase the unemployment rate and generate a drop in wages, to name two potential consequences.
A lethargic rhythm, on the other hand, is associated with slowness, parsimony or heaviness . A television critic may say that a series has a lethargic pace when all the sequences unfold slowly, without anything important happening for several minutes. The fact that the pace of the series is described as lethargic implies a negative assessment of the quality.
The alerted does not register changes or evidence a constancy.
Negative associations
All these negative associations that are made from the term lethargic lead us once again to the noun whose meaning it represents, that is, lethargy . We must not forget that one of its meanings is a state of fatigue, of deep and extensive drowsiness, which generally appears as a consequence of an illness .
For example, it is known that due to a deficiency of thyroid hormones, which are based on the tyrosine produced by the thyroid gland, the individual goes through stages of lethargy and that the rate of their metabolism decreases. In other words, since the hormones triiodothyronine and thyroxine are related to the balance of certain changes that the cells of our body experience at a biological and chemical level, an abnormality in their quantity can negatively affect our body .
Therefore, there are clear examples in biology of disorders that lead humans to a state in which their organs do not function as they should, do not perform adequately to preserve health, and the fact that they are represented with the The word lethargy explains that the notion of lethargic usually appears to describe situations or times in which some type of deficiency is appreciated.
Alerted animals depending on the time of year
The concept of torpor is also used to define the state of inactivity and drowsiness in which certain animals enter during certain periods of the year, when climatic conditions do not provide them with the necessary means for their development . In this case, unlike all those mentioned above, we can say that being lethargic brings benefits to the individual, since it protects them from inclement weather and lack of food, among other factors that could put their subsistence at risk.
Taking this meaning of lethargy as a reference, we could say that if someone is lethargic for a time but does so to reflect on the priorities of their life and make decisions that allow them to improve, then it is a productive and beneficial state, although From the outside it may seem like a mere and deliberate lack of activity.