As in 'mental overstraining' - only thing I can think of is 'under demanding'. Would ya'll agree or do you have better suggestions?
> facile
Not really, I don't think. The implication is, for example, that employment can be detrimental to a person's intellectual health owing to high levels of repetition and thus mental disengagement. Or one might speak of a very sedentary life watching hours of television a day as being this. 'Undemanding' or 'unchallenging' don't really reflect the negative effect.
Stultifying? Seems to me it refers to the mental effect only rather than couch potatoship.
I think "underextending" is it.
As a Materials Science graduate; I will just point out the oft missed distinction between "stress" and "strain".
"Stress" is what is applied to something.
"Strain" is what it does in consequence of the stress.
So you apply "stress" to a spring by attacing a weight.
It "strains" by extending.
This has two phases; elastic and inelastic. From the first; when the stress is removed the strain is entirely reversed. One you stress beyond the "elastic limit" inelastic strain occurs and the spring is permanently deformed. That is "overstressing".
> Stultifying
Pretty good!
> Underextending
Not bad either. Thanks.
If you want to connote the negative effect of undemanding activity, perhaps 'atrophying'? 'Hypnotic' also comes to mind but seems a bit narrow.