Some of the more obvious reasons for fatigue and low energy are poor sleep, high stress, and intense activity. But what about hormone deficiencies, anemia, vitamin and mineral deficiency and infections? All of these are possibilities and may be working in combination together. Instead of reaching for the caffeine and OTC energy booster, it is best to determine why the fatigue is happening in the first place.
It’s hard to appreciate how important energy is until low energy and fatigue sets in. Sometimes the reasons are obvious, like poor sleep, high stress or overexertion. While those are an important place to start, it is often the subtle causes that are the most frustrating and misunderstood. Hormone imbalances, anemia, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and infections are just a few common culprits. It requires digging deeper and understanding what the body needs in order to restore normal energy levels.
If it were as easy as sleep more, stress less and eat and move appropriately, then fatigue wouldn’t be one of the most common issues affecting individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Caffeine tends to be a new staple and life cannot go on without it. Or sleep aids are a must otherwise there is no chance for any resemblance of a decent night’s sleep. The Wellness Way Approach works to uncover the sometimes hidden variables affecting one’s ability to restore and maintain normal energy levels. Don’t let the morning be a point of contention and succumb to the need for the afternoon nap any longer.
Mayo Clinic defines fatigue as follows:
it’s [fatigue, or unrelenting exhaustion is] a nearly constant state of weariness that develops over time and reduces your energy, motivation and concentration. Fatigue at this level impacts your emotional and psychological well-being, too.
As people in a fast-paced, modern world, we’ve all felt this in our bones. What’s frustrating, though, is that we often don’t know the reasons for our fatigue—we don’t know why we just want to sleep more. Why a night of sleep isn’t enough when morning comes.
Seeing as how so many people suffer from the same situation, it stands to reason that there’s common underlying reasons for fatigue. They’re things that show up in our lives often enough and clearly enough for us all to be able to find them. With the proper tools, it’s almost as easy to overcome them.
Do any of us know someone who isn’t stressed? Let’s add another aspect to this question: stress isn’t just mental. If you’ve been involved with chiropractic for any length of time, you’re probably aware of the three T’s. Toxins, thoughts, and trauma. When looked at with stress in mind as a reason for fatigue, we can look at the three T’s like this: chemical, mental, and physical.
When people hear the word “stress,” they normally think of the mental kind. This is understandable, as it’s something a lot of people are feeling more and more of these days. Our thoughts most definitely affect our mental health and physical state.
Physical traumas can lead to stress in the body. That stress can be anywhere—from the joints, to systemic, to muscular or skeletal. It can cause inflammation, be broken bones, organ dysfunction, or strained muscles. Anything that makes your body work harder than it should need to.
Chemical stress cause immune responses due to environment and food allergies. They can also come from household cleaners, personal beauty products, and several other things we use on a daily basis and don’t really think about. The toll stress takes on your mind and body makes it easy to see why your stress is one of the reasons for your fatigue.
Let’s be honest. Water can get a bad rap. There’s nothing really there to catch our entertainment-craving brains. So, a lot of us reach for something more interesting to satisfy our thirst.
Unfortunately, not all drinks are created equal, and while you might /think/ you’re staving off this source of your low energy, you may actually be making it worse.
Dehydration is one of the reasons for fatigue that most of us are a bit more aware of. The problem comes when we call things like coffee or alcohol “hydrating” when, in fact, they’re the opposite. Other obstacles to fixing dehydration comes from the mistakes many of us don’t know we’re making, and when our water /itself/ is unhealthy and toxic.
Check out these infusion recipes to stave off this reason for fatigue.
These days, there’s a new diet every other week, it feels like. Someone on Twitter found /the/ secret to a movie star body. Someone on Instagram is jacked and has a new meal plan everyone /must/ try.
The problem is, everyone’s body reacts differently to different things. This is where things like food allergies come in. Food allergies that cause inflammation and irritability and constipation. And—wouldn’t you know it—are some more reasons for fatigue.
Inflammation is your body’s immune system kicking into gear and having a noticeable problem with something you ate. It can show itself as swelling, muscle- and headaches, pain in your joints, and other discomforts. Inflammation can also be hidden—you may not even know it’s there until it’s gone or it causes a bigger problem like a chronic disorder.
There are some foods that are naturally inflammatory and that we at the Wellness Way suggest you stay away from as a matter of principle—dairy, gluten, and sugar among them. This is why none of the recipes we post use these ingredients.
When your body launches the immune response of inflammation, it is quite literally waging a war with invading toxins, meaning it needs to supply more energy and effort toward fighting them off than normal, leaving you with decreased energy levels—one more of the reasons for fatigue.
.
Everybody likes to be seen as having their life together. An easy way to do that is gym selfies and work out regimens and “gains”.
When you work out, you are pushing your body past where you think it can go. You are making it work harder than it wants to. It goes back to the physical stress—you’re making it work harder than normal, so it has to take longer than normal to bounce back. That’s not bad if you work up to it or give your body breaks to heal itself. What happens if you don’t, and push it past what it can handle every day without giving it a chance to rest and recuperate? Your body will give out on you, and demand that rest.
Did you know that exercising also changes your hormone balance? If you exercise too much it can be detrimental to the things your hormones control.
Flip side of the coin, here. If over-exercising stresses your body out too much, under-exercising doesn’t challenge your body enough. When we exercise and move around–especially when we cross our midline–we build neuron pathways. Our brain also has to wake up enough to tell our body to move as it gets the blood and oxygen flowing. Our lymph systems can carry out the toxins and trash that may be bogging our minds and bodies down. And let’s talk about the endorphins released! What about the fresh air and sunshine on a walk? There are so many benefits to the right kind of exercise.
Not to mention all the other benefits exercising gives you.2
Exercising helps connect those neural pathways, clears toxins, and brings more oxygen to your cells as it builds your body up. Then under-exercising could possibly be a reason for fatigue. Moreover, it’s one of the reasons for fatigue you can easily combat.
How many ads for medications or drugs have you seen that listed fatigue or possible fatigue as one of the side effects? Because we hear it so often, it’s very easy to become deaf to it. Check your medication’s side effects to see if that could be one of the reasons for your fatigue.
Things like statin drugs, antihistamines, blood pressure medication, diuretics, and anti-depressants are common culprits.
Why does an anti-depressant a reason for your fatigue? Here at the Wellness Way, we compare the body to a fine-tuned Swiss watch. It is perfectly calibrated with all the pieces in place. If you force a piece work differently than it’s meant to, it will affect all parts of the body, not just that one.
To find out more possible reasons for your fatigue, check out this article, or watch this video about chronic fatigue.
To recalibrate your Swiss watch and get it ticking the right way again, schedule a visit to your local Wellness Way clinic.
The Wellness Way Approach begins with Inflammation. Inflammation plays a significant role in all health challenges but the causes of inflammation varies from person to person. Investigation begins with assessing the 3 T’s- Traumas, Toxins and Thoughts.
Choose from our network of doctors and practitioners who are thinking and acting differently to deliver life-changing restorative care.
