Take Stock, Set
Priorities, Take Care of Yourself
Feeling tired, zapped of energy?
You're not the Lone Ranger.
Doctors see it all the time. Women
with four kids, a full-time job, and they get up at 5 to get everybody ready
for the day. Their lives are very hectic, they only get four hours of sleep.
They expect their bodies to do more than is realistic for one person. Fatigue
has many origins. For women, heavy menstrual cycles may cause anemia. An
underactive thyroid also causes fatigue. A cold, sinus infection, or virus can
drag you out, even for three or four weeks. But all too often, you're not
taking care of yourself. It's as simple, and as difficult, as that. The first
thing I ask is, “What time do you go to bed? When do you wake up? What's your
day like?”. As trite as it may sound, you need to sleep more, eat healthy, take
care of yourself (commonsense things). It's not a medical problem, it's a
lifestyle issue.
Look
at Your Options
First step, take stock of your
life. If you can't juggle it all, get some perspective. Decide whether you're
putting yourself under unnecessary stress. Some people can successfully carve
out a year or two to achieve a goal. But others push themselves to meet
unrealistic demands that are not really necessary. Assess your priorities, rank
their importance, then make some decisions. Maybe a therapist can help. Maybe
you need to look for help with childcare or financial problems. Maybe you need
to make better spending decisions so you're not stressed financially. Some
people buy a truck first, then figure out how pay for it. You do have
options. If you're a young woman with young children, trying to finish school,
trying to work, you don't have somebody to take care of the kids, can't afford
to stop working, and are working a low-pay job, you're not actually trying to
do something extravagant. They are wonderful goals, but you may need more time
to do it. You may need to take fewer classes during the semester.
Tame
Anxiety, Depression
For many people, especially women
in their 30s and 40s, severe anxiety and depression are leading causes of
fatigue. Anxiety puts your body into overdrive and wears down the immune
system. Some people even have medical symptoms like chest pain, racing heart,
heart palpitations because their bodies are in overdrive. They're getting shots
of adrenaline all the time. Depression sets up a vicious cycle. A lot of people
don't see a doctor until they're really, really sick, because they don't want
to take care of themselves, can't concentrate, can't get pleasure. They become
completely withdrawn, sometimes suicidal, unable to help themselves. An
imbalance of hormone levels could be causing these mood disturbances.
Antidepressants, psychotherapy, meditation, or yoga can help reduce stress and
restore emotional balance. Different things work for different people.
Exercise
-- It's Soul-Satisfying
Exercise is a great stress-relief
aide, even if you're too tired for it. If you're feeling overwhelmed, tired for
whatever reason, exercise might be the last thing you feel like doing. But
moderate amounts of exercise can actually help your mood and stamina. You will
have more energy and require less sleep. Exercise will make you more tired at
night, and you will fall into a deeper sleep, get better rest. Despite your
busy life, push yourself to do this one extra thing. You just have to get
yourself going. It does make a difference. It's worthwhile adding on
that one extra thing. It can make a big difference, not just in fatigue, but in
your overall outlook, and can act as a very good stress reliever.
Get
Plenty of Protein
Even if you're trying to eat right,
you may be doing it wrong. Diet is important. Fruits and vegetables fill you up with fewer calories. But
they won't give you the long-lasting energy that you get from proteins and
complex, starchy carbohydrates like whole-grain breads, pasta, rice, and beans.
A diet that is very heavy in sugars (too many sweets, junk food, cookies) is
going to give you surges in energy, but you're also going to have a sudden drop
in energy. For energy, you need a diet that is better balanced, higher in
protein, higher in complex carbohydrates, but low in sugars and, of course,
fats.
Log
Those Z's
Yawn, it's the old saw. If you're
not getting enough sleep, nothing else will work. You can't ask your body to
work on three to four hours a night and not have some physical complaint. Your
body can just take so much. You absolutely need those seven to eight hours of Z's
every night. And it needs to be good rest. You need to feel better when you
wake up. Many people suffer from sleep apnea and don't realize it. If you
snore, if you have ever woken up gasping for air, if you wake up feeling not
well rested, if you're so tired you fall asleep behind the steering wheel,
those are all signs that your airway is getting blocked during sleep. You're
not getting full REM sleep that you need to feel rested. Unfortunately, people
take it as normal. They say, “I'm a bad sleeper.” For the rest of us, caffeine
can be a big problem. It's easy to sip eight or nine cups of coffee through the
day, just to get the buzz you once got on two or three cups. If there's also
Mountain Dew or tea at night, you're likely to have trouble sleeping. Drinking
two or three cups a day is OK, but very large amounts from multiple sources (tea,
iced tea, soft drinks), all that counts as caffeine. Drink too much, and you
get into trouble. Good "sleep hygiene" is essential: That means going
to bed and waking up at the same time, not drinking a lot of caffeine or
alcohol (it also disturbs sleep). Also, don't use the bed for much more than
sleep. No eating, watching TV, or reading in bed.
When
Should You Worry?
If fatigue has lasted more than a
month and your lifestyle is in fairly good shape, then see a primary care doctor.
…
If blood sugars are chronically high, a sign of diabetes, you
will feel chronically tired.
…
Hypothyroidism (Obese, slow heart rate, slow thyroid)
…
Cancer will also make you feel rundown. That's good reason to
get routine screening mammograms and other screening tests.
…
Fibromyalgia, lupus, and other autoimmune diseases also have
fatigue as a symptom.
…
Chronic fatigue syndrome is more than it may sound. The term
is really misused. Many people think that if they're always tired, they have
chronic fatigue. People who truly have it are completely debilitated, they are
up and functioning only about two hours a day, just can't move otherwise,
severely fatigued.