Constant fatigue reduces the capacity to work and quality of life. Dr Galland-Decker et al. report in the British Medical Journal that a fifth of the population suffers from fatigue, with several different causes.

Feeling spent all the time can be the early sign of a grave health problem. However, the good news is that early diagnosis and treatment can reverse some of these disorders and prevent others from progressing. Unfortunately, many people do not seek medical help for fear of being labelled as lazy or fussy.

Are you always feeling tired?

Do you feel tired on most days, even after a good night’s rest, and never think that you’re functioning at your best? Don’t shrug it off. Review your lifestyle and see if you can tweak it to get more rest and better nutrition. Some fixes are easy, some not, but they’re worth trying before visiting your doctor. Lifestyle factors often underlying perpetual fatigue:

• An improper or restrictive diet
• Caffeine overload
• Inadequate sleep.

If you’ve tried all the lifestyle fixes and you’re still tired all the time, respect the warning your body’s giving you. Diseases first showing up as fatigue can progress to a dangerous stage if ignored. Here’s list of top reasons that could be behind your feeling always tired.

Top reasons why you feel might be feeling constantly tired

1. Thyroid Deficiency

Thyroid deficiency, more common in women, usually results from an autoimmunity disorder. Reduced production of the thyroid hormones manifests as tiredness and excessive sleepiness.

Other signs are constipation, slow heartbeat, unexpected weight gain, and hoarseness. Women often have heavy periods.

Your doctor will diagnose thyroid deficiency [hypothyroidism] by measuring the thyroid hormone levels in the blood, by a blood test. It is simple to treat, requiring a dose of thyroid hormone every morning.

2. Diabetes

It’s not usual, but sometimes the first sign of diabetes is constant tiredness. Lack of energy, increased hunger and thirst, and an increased frequency of urination are the common signs of this disease.

Diabetes, if not controlled early, damages the heart, kidneys, nervous system, and other organs. Diagnosis is by urine and blood tests for glucose. Treatment doesn’t always mean drugs or injections; dietary and lifestyle changes can control diabetes for many years.

3. Anaemia

Haemoglobin in the red blood cells carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. A reduced amount of this vital molecule is called anaemia.

Anaemia can be because of:

• Low production [deficiency of iron, folic acid, vitamin B12; blood cancers; genetic defects, and several other reasons].
• Increased blood loss or destruction of the red blood cells [heavy periods, accidents and injuries with blood loss, hemolytic diseases].

Your doctor can often diagnose anaemia at a glance, but finding the cause needs laboratory investigations and diligence. The common causes of anaemia are nutritional and are straightforward to treat.

4. Mineral and Vitamin Deficiencies

Minerals like iron, magnesium, potassium, and others are vital for our body’s smooth running. They’re part of several enzyme systems, electrolyte balances, and metabolic pathways essential to our life processes. Vitamins also act on or facilitate several of the processes in our body.

Deficiencies of these crucial micronutrients cause tiredness and lethargy. They can be diagnosed by distinct clinical features apart from fatigue and confirmed by laboratory tests.

Most deficiencies are treated by altering the diet and providing oral supplements for a while. Some deficiencies [like vitamin B12] need a course of injections.

5. Heart Disease

A heart attack is dramatic and unmissable, but heart disease can be slow and sneaky, too. The heart gradually loses its capacity to pump blood efficiently, and fatigue is one of the early manifestations.

If you could easily climb up three flights to work but are now struggling and breathless, schedule an appointment with your doctor. Heart disease is one of the most frequent causes of sudden death.

6. Sleep Apnea

It’s pretty common, but not well known. Breathing slows or stops for a while during sleep, and blood oxygen levels drop.

Sleep apnea reduces the quality of sleep. Though you sleep enough, you don’t feel rested in the morning. Noisy breathing and snoring during sleep is a sign of partially blocked airways. Once your doctor suspects sleep apnea, a sleep study will establish the diagnosis.

Treatment is by a device used at night while you sleep. Called a CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure] machine, it keeps your airways open during sleep.

Obesity and smoking both contribute to this condition; you can help yourself by eliminating them. Sometimes, surgery is needed to clear airway obstruction.

7. Stress and depression

Mental health issues like stress, depression, and anxiety, etc. can leave you emotionally and physically tired. Apart from the direct effect, they also reduce the duration and quality of sleep, further contributing to tiredness.

Do you have difficulty sleeping at night and waking up in the morning? Do small tasks scare you? Are you finding it hard to concentrate on your work? These are common among people with depression. A mental health professional can help you.

8. Shift work sleep disorder

Do you work the night shift at your workplace? Or do your work hours change every week?

Working during the night, or at different times from time to time, is associated with poor sleep, appetite, and energy. Research has shown that those who work in clockwise shifts do better than those who function in anti-clockwise shifts. (Read more about the effects of shift work » Shift-proof your slumber)

9. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome [CFS]

CFS is also called myalgic encephalomyelitis. This is a condition lasting months, and we don’t yet know the cause.

The important manifestation is feeling sick after any physical effort. Other symptoms are tiredness, headache, sore throat, and joint pains. Fatigue persists even after sleeping well.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a physical, bodily disorder, not a psychiatric or psychological one. Initially, it needs evaluation by a specialist in internal medicine.

Treatment is unsatisfactory and depends on the manifestations each individual has.

10. Restless Legs Syndrome

This is a condition of strange feelings in the legs when resting, relieved by movement. Sometimes, it manifests as aches and deep pain. Sufferers have to keep moving their legs or getting up to walk.

People suffering from this condition often have difficulty sleeping for years. Fatigue during the day is a frequent accompaniment.

11. Food Intolerance

Many people have low-grade allergies to food, called food intolerance. These don’t trigger dramatic reactions such as breathing difficulties, circulatory failure, etc., but cause long-term symptoms. Food intolerance often shows up as bloating, tiredness, anaemia, and digestive disturbances.

Once you realise food is causing your problem, you’ll have to work to identify the foods that cause your symptoms. Food and symptom diaries, elimination diets, and laboratory tests help in this. Changing your food habits to avoid the offending foods will usually see you regain your energy and enthusiasm.

12. Overweight or Obesity

Putting on weight puts a strain on your heart, skeleton, and muscles. The body has to work harder for usual things like walking to work and household tasks.

Constant fatigue and low energy levels often accompany obesity.

Other reasons for always feeling tired

Almost any disease that persists for a long time will drain you. While the illnesses listed below cause fatigue, it is rare for that to be the first manifestation.

• Cancer
• Mononucleosis
• AIDS
• Allergic rhinitis

Plan of action

Try the lifestyle fixes first.

Get enough sleep. Balance and regularise your meals. Drink plenty of liquids; dehydration often leads to feelings of tiredness.

Get some exercise. This sounds counterintuitive since you are already feeling so tired. But exercise improves your mood and confidence, and enhances the working of your heart, lungs, and muscles.

Losing weight, if you are overweight, is a good idea. It’ll not only give you a sense of purpose and achievement, but will also reduce the strain on your heart, bones, and joints.

If you’re still not feeling rested and energetic, make a medical appointment. As Drs Eccles and Davies point out, the “red flags” pointing to dangerous diseases will be looked for first. Further process will look for the cause of your fatigue and attempt to correct it.

Conclusion

The normal you should be healthy, enthusiastic, and whole. Your ability to live and enjoy your best life must be unrestricted.

Tiredness after a hard day’s work is normal; always feeling tired is a warning. If lifestyle modifications aren’t doing the trick, don’t wait too long to get medical help.

The post Always Feeling Tired? It Could Be an Underlying Condition appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

When I don’t eat well, I don’t sleep well. Why is it that we feel so poorly when we don’t get a good night’s sleep? The answer lies in our hormones. Our bodies need to work properly, and the best way to hormonal health is through our food. Whole foods! Foods left in their original form like fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds and ancient grains. This is because processed food in and of itself can cause stress.

Two faced cortisol

Have you ever been late for a flight at the airport? Many of us have had that harrowing experience rushing into the airport, dashing to the check-in counter, and then eyeing the long line at security. All the while constantly looking at our watch and wondering how we can possibly get to our plane on time. You have to figure out how to get on that plane, and fast. Think of the extra energy your body seems to find. It’s commonly referred to as “fight or flight” mode (pun intended). Where does it come from? It’s a so-called stress hormone called cortisol. It makes us more aware and more alert.  It cranks up energy fast.  It helps us perform at higher levels —important for professional athletes. But there’s a downside—stress is not helpful for sleep.

Let’s look at another example. If I cut my hand, the injured area would turn red, swell, and feel warm. It’s the body’s natural response to heal. Like the airport scenario, cortisol is added to the equation to help regulate my injury. Why is cortisol involved in both situations? Stress! Our bodies will respond with cortisol whether you’re late for a flight, cut yourself or—you guessed it—eat a poor diet. Stress is stress. Our body doesn’t know the difference between one stress and another. Each time, our brain’s natural response is to flood our bodies with cortisol.

High cortisol levels and a good night’s sleep are simply not good bed companions. Constant stress creates abnormally high cortisol levels that can cause us to “burn out” and crash. We have trouble fighting off being sick. It reduces our glucose metabolism during sleep and fails to break down our food into energy. Neither I, as a professional athlete, nor anyone else, can be successful if we don’t recover from our daily activities with proper sleep.  A first step to balance cortisol levels and recover during sleep is to eat well.

High cortisol levels and a good night’s sleep are simply not good bed companions

Let our bodies do the work

After a restful night’s sleep, I wake up feeling rejuvenated and strong.  Why? It’s because I gave my body a chance to repair itself. I allowed Growth Hormone (GH) to do its job. It repairs and strengthens our bodies at night during a phase called “deep sleep”. But getting into “deep sleep” is no piece of cake (yes, another pun). We have trouble getting into a deep sleep if we have eaten sugar.

I have trouble sleeping if I have high stress. To avoid stress, I eat foods low or absent in sugar. Sugar is quick energy, and our bodies have a desire to use it immediately. But the body has something in there called insulin that sucks up sugar.  More sugar means more insulin.  High insulin mean lower GH levels, and when you have low GH levels it can’t do its normal repair work. Lower GH levels mean we typically wake up groggy and tired.  And it’s often a product of unhealthy foods. A tired brain is a sloppy brain. That’s why at night we don’t crave a vegetable. We want a cookie. We want sugar.  Our sleep deprived brain resorts to primitive instincts. It wants energy now! That’s why we instinctively reach for comfort foods that are high in refined sugar and unhealthy fat. Poor food choices can cause a rather unhealthy sleep cycle.

Whole foods to the rescue

First and foremost, eating whole foods isn’t about one or two specific foods. Yes, foods like tart cherry juice and kava tea can help you sleep. But that’s using a band-aid when you need a more significant treatment. In other words, you need to eat whole foods throughout the day. Whole foods will keep you energised all day and naturally encourage sleep as night approaches. Eat whole foods rich in fibre. High fibre foods like Savi seeds or almonds help dull the effect of the sugar we already have in our diet.

Secondly, healthy fats are important. They help keep energy levels up during the day. Shawn Stevenson, the author of Sleep Smarter, compares our metabolic system to a fire. Eating simple carbohydrates is like putting strands of paper on the fire. It will quickly turn bright, but it will then burn out equally fast. It cannot sustain the fire. However, eating healthy fats is like throwing a wooden log into the mix. The fire will burn for a very long time. Healthy fats are also healthy for our immune system. Eat avocados, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, flax and hemp seed, olive and coconut oil. They all make for a healthy immune system that can help us recover quickly during sleep.

Eating healthy fats is like throwing a wooden log into the mix. The fire will burn for a very long time

Thirdly, supplement your healthy fats with protein. There was a study in 2008 where healthy men were fed a high fat/protein diet and a low fat/protein diet. (High fat/protein meant 1% carbs, 61% fat, 38% protein. Low fat/protein meant 72% carbs, 12.5% fat, and 15.5% protein.) The diet with higher fat and protein content increased all stages of deep sleep. The second diet did just the opposite; sleep quality was decreased. The following are great examples of meals with a combination of healthy fats and protein:

• Grains with Legumes – Sample Meal: Lentils and rice
• Nuts with Legumes – Sample Meal: Black bean and cashew salad
• Legumes with Seeds – Sample Meal: Lentil Dal and sunflower seeds
• Grains with Dairy – Sample Meal: Goats cheese and rice pasta

I may be small but I pack a punch

It’s time to start talking about some little guys that can really be game changers in the sleep world: Micronutrients. These little guys are the building blocks of healthy hormones and can give you some serious ZZZs. They include minerals, vitamins, enzymes, trace minerals, and phytonutrients. A former doctor of the United States Navy Seals found that emphasising the importance of micronutrients drastically improved his soldiers’ sleep quality. His name is Kirk Parsley and, as a new doctor to the Seals team, he had many soldiers coming to him complaining of sleep problems. They were taking medications so they could sleep. He began by taking blood samples from his soldiers and found shocking results. Physically, they appeared to be in peak physical condition. But Dr. Parsley said that “metabolically, they looked like crap.” The tests came back with low testosterone, low growth hormones, low insulin sensitivity, and high inflammatory markers. He realised his soldiers were lacking proper micronutrients. In addition to promoting the importance of whole foods, he came up with a drink consisting mainly of vitamin D, magnesium and tryptophan. His nutrition plan worked.  The majority of his soldiers no longer needed sleeping pills.

Final thought

All athletes get the same professional advice about eating and sleeping, and the average person might think they’d adhere to the rigid rules. But rules are meant to be broken, even by athletes who should know better. I know some who spend time in the middle of the night eating pizzas. Some have the occasional extra beer. We, too, struggle with always putting the right foods in our bodies. Eating correctly is constantly changing and a lot depends on what’s right for each individual. However, through my career I’ve learned that a good night’s sleep starts as soon as I get up in the morning. Fuelling my body to aid in sleep shouldn’t be limited to a certain meal or snack. It’s a routine. My advice is don’t get overwhelmed and start drastically changing your diet. Change isn’t overnight. Good nutrition habits take time; even for those whose careers depend on it. Improving sleep patterns through nutrition is not about perfection. It’s about being aware.

The post How poor sleep quality affects your life (and what you can do about it) appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.