Fatigue is the most common factor impacting our performance in our lives. Many people are walking around, driving, going to work and living their lives in a permanent state of fatigue. Sometimes people are tired for unexplained health reasons, but often there are very typical reasons for fatigue which include lack of regular sleep, poor diet, and not getting enough exercise. Fatigue can be very frustrating and even disabling due to feeling as if you cannot get things done or enjoy your downtime. Fatigue manifest itself in 3 forms: mental (feels like depression), physical (suddenly everything we do becomes a physical challenge), or a combo of the two. Let’s fight this!
Why You Feel Exhausted Even On Your Best Days?
Before we get into the meat of getting recharged, let’s address the fact that sometimes medical issues will play an important role in your energy levels. These can drag you down no matter how well you do on any given day.
If you are suffering from unexplained exhaustion, it’s important that you seek medical answers first. Go to your doctor and ask him/her to give you a complete blood work-up to check all your vitamin and hormone levels, plus test you for common diseases that cause exhaustion like sleep apnea. Alternatively, you may be taking medication for an illness and one of the side effects is tiredness. If you feel tired after taking the medication for two weeks, ask your doctor if there are alternatives.
The following conditions can easily be tested for and acknowledged by your primary care doctor through typical blood tests.
Anemia
This medical condition is characterized by paleness, fatigue, racing heart, and sometimes even upper left quadrant abdominal pain. If a person has anemia their red blood cell count (known as hemoglobin) is too low. If hemoglobin gets too low, it can cause severe fatigue and other problems as well. For men, hemoglobin levels less than 13.5 grams per 100 ml and for women, hemoglobin less than 12.0 grams per 100 ml is too low.
Other Vitamin Deficiencies
Besides low iron, if you are short on vitamins D3 or B12 you may feel severely fatigued and even anxious, which can cause you to lose sleep — thus making you feel even more tired all day long. Even though you can buy D3 and B12 (with folate) to help with this issue, it is still best to get a blood test to rule out anything serious before starting with treatment.
Thyroid Dysfunction
Whether you’re hypothyroid (slow) or hyperthyroid (fast), you will suffer from fatigue. Having said that, hypothyroidism tends to cause you to feel tired, sluggish, and even depressed, while hyperthyroidism tends to make people feel anxious, restless, irritable and then contribute to fatigue due to lack of sleep. If you are feeling tired even if you have bursts of energy, ask your doctor to test your thyroid levels to be on the safe side.
Diabetes
One of the biggest first indications of diabetes is fatigue. Even though most people think diabetes only affects overweight people, many people who appear healthy still wind up with type II diabetes.
If you already know you have diabetes since birth and are often tired, talk to your doctor about this. Today, even older people are being diagnosed with type I diabetes, so the old rules don’t fit anymore. You can feel fatigued whether your blood sugar is high or low; if it’s off you will feel the effects. That’s why it’s so important to talk to your doctor to try to manage your disease through medication, diet, exercise, and regular sleep.
Depression and Anxiety
While there can be underlying causes of depression and anxiety such as anemia and other vitamin and mineral deficiencies, sometimes people have these conditions for other or even unknown reasons. If you’ve checked everything and nothing shows up, talk to a professional about whether you suffer from depression or anxiety (or both). Anxiety causes fatigue by preventing a good night’s rest, and depression sometimes has the effect of making you want to sleep away your problems regardless of how much sleep you get.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Another illness that can cause fatigue is CFS. It’s right in the name. There could be many causes for CFS that we don’t know yet. But it is a real medical condition that is often characterized by fever, body aches, and protracted exhaustion. This condition sometimes occurs after you think you’re recovered from another viral infection. It’s very difficult to diagnose and is only given after a complete work-up to discount other possibilities. But, it is a real illness that can be managed and treated.
Sleep Apnea
An almost epidemic problem today, sleep apnea is caused by either an obstruction due to the way you sleep, or because the brain isn’t signaling your muscles to breathe properly even if your airway isn’t blocked (known as central sleep apnea). Both types of apnea are very dangerous and can lead to sudden death while sleeping. However, most often what it leads to is a low quality of life due to experiencing non-restorative sleep.
To diagnose this issue, you’ll be sent to a sleep center overnight to do a sleep study. There are many ways to get help with this problem. Even if no one has mentioned that you snore, this is a great test to get to ensure that you are sleeping well.
Medications
If you have any type of illness where you’ve been given medications, they may be causing your problems. They might make you tired, or they may make it hard for you to sleep — thus causing daytime fatigue. Sometimes you still must take the medication, but often there are other options that you can use so that you can find a medication that doesn’t cause you as many problems. Other times, there are additional medications that you can take to combat the problem if it’s interfering with your ability to live your life fully.
In Addition, most medications when taken do create specific vitamin deficiencies, yes labs do not disclose this fact, however it is a reality.
So, now that we have talked about potential medical issues that cause fatigue, we can move on to talk about other issues that may cause fatigue and how you can overcome it. After all, the entire point is to find ways to recharge your body and take control of your life. Whether that is via medical intervention or something else is less important than doing something to make a difference.
How Mental Exhaustion Affects Your Body
Everyone thinks it’s normal for someone to be tired if they work out in a field all day or stand on their feet all day. But, people who have a desk job or spend a lot of your time on mental tasks are often surprised and shocked that they are still exhausted.
Mental exhaustion can affect your entire body in negative ways. Not only are people with mental exhaustion tired, they also often suffer from body aches as if they have worked out all day long. Overusing your mind is just as bad for you as overusing yourself physically.
For example, many people who suffer from mental exhaustion, in addition to being tired most of the time, may start to get sick more often, have a lot of headaches, experience back pain, muscle aches and more. Plus, mental exhaustion can affect your ability to get a good night’s sleep which can just make all the above worse.
Take note of the symptoms that are caused by mental exhaustion. If you have more than a few of these and have been burning the wick at both ends, consider mental exhaustion a potential culprit.
Constant sleepiness
• Frequent headaches
• Hallucinations
• Impaired decision making
• Inability to concentrate and focus
• Irritability
• Loss of appetite
• Memory problems
• Moodiness
• Muscle weakness
• Poor coordination
• Poor judgement
• Reduced immunity
• Slow reflexes
• Sore or aching muscles
• Unexplained dizziness
• Unmotivated
When people are mentally exhausted, their body tries to get them to take a break and rest in every way it can. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to the signs of mental exhaustion. Thankfully, there are ways to combat and overcome mental exhaustion, which we will discuss next.
How to Overcome Mental Exhaustion
Suffering from mental exhaustion is not a fun experience. It can sneak up on you. You may think you’re doing wonderfully well and then one day you realize you’re not. Therefore, let’s go through some steps to overcome mental exhaustion but also learn how to prevent it in the first place. After all, prevention is the best medicine of all.
• Track How You Spend Your Time — If you don’t know how much you’re really doing, it can be easy to just keep going 24/7 and never take a break. Take some time to track what you’re doing daily for about a week. You can use your smartphone to track your activities or you can go old school and carry around a small notebook to record your activities in.
• Drop Activities That Don’t Produce Real Results — When you look at the activities you did while tracking, note the things that aren’t really producing results, or that are busy work, or that are completely unnecessary. For example, do you go to a lot of meetings? Do you have to? Do you spend a lot of time trying to help a relative, friend, or someone else without results? Let go of anything that you can either just stop doing or outsource. Or if you must keep doing it, find a way to put limits on it.
• Put Everything in Your Calendar — One reason people get overscheduled doing too much and become mentally exhausted is that they think they’re magic. They think they can do 48 hours of work in 24 hours. But, if you started putting everything on your calendar properly, you would see that you just can’t. First, schedule the must-dos. Then add in family time, date night, friend time, and “me” time to your day. Don’t add anything to your schedule that will reduce these important things.
• Get a Good Night’s Sleep — Don’t forget how important sleep is. Most adults should seek to get between six and nine hours a night. It largely depends on your genetics how much sleep feels right for you. Work with what you know you need. If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, address that issue so that you fall asleep fast and your sleeping time is productive. To help get used to this process, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day for at least 30 days. You can start with the least time and work your way up to find out which amount of time works best for you to make you feel rested each day.
• Exercise Every Day — Schedule in exercise time each day. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise. It can be as simple as a brisk walk. You also don’t need to schedule in an entire hour. Look at your schedule so that you can determine if you have 10 minutes to walk six times a day, or three 20-minute walks a day. You can also separate that out into different types of exercise. The important thing is to get up out of a chair and move as much as you can.
• Eat Right — Enough cannot be stated about eating the right type of food for your body. What you eat often depends on what you need. Ask your doctor to test your blood levels for vitamins and then eat the things you need to avoid deficiencies. Try eating smaller meals throughout the day which will give you a break, boost your energy, and help you stay more focused.
- Stay Hydrated — It can be very easy to get dehydrated. Most adults should drink between eight and ten 8-ounce glasses of water each day to stay hydrated. If you exercise strenuously you’ll need more. Tea, coffee, soda, and sugary drinks (even fake sugar) are all dehydrating and don’t do the same thing as clean, filtered water will. Take the challenge and commit to drinking enough water for 30 days, and you’ll see a huge difference.
- Take Regular Breaks — When you are doing mental tasks, it’s hard to want to take a break sometimes because there are times when the time is just flying by as you work, and you just don’t notice. But, it’s imperative that you take regular breaks. Since the brain works in 90-minute cycles, one way to accomplish breaks is to set up five- to ten-minute breaks every 115 minutes. Set a timer if you must. Get up and stretch, go for a fast walk, grab a snack, drink some water, and you’ll come back refreshed.
Rest Your Eyes — Many people who are using their brains all day tend to sit in front of a computer. Computer monitors are very bad for your eyes. You can install software such as f.lux (https://justgetflux.com) to help lessen the strain, but getting away from the monitor on your regular breaks is going to help too.
• Understand That It’s OK to Do Nothing — A lot of smart, busy people tend to be uncomfortable with downtime. They feel as if they’re slackers. But, even if you have a mentally exhausting job as compared to a physically exhausting one, everyone needs to get away sometime. Schedule your yearly vacations and do something. Even if you just stay home and look at local sites, that’s okay — everyone needs downtime and everyone needs time to do nothing.
If you are currently mentally exhausted due to a project of some kind, and if it’s possible, take a sick day on a Friday or Monday, or take two vacation days: one on a Friday and one on a Monday. Spend that time resting, doing nothing, eating right, drinking water, and just getting yourself back. Then start fresh when you go back to work or school.
Activities That Raise Your Physical and Mental Energy Levels
There are many activities that you can do to help raise your energy level, whether you need more mental energy or physical energy. Your mental and physical energy are so intertwined that when you do something to help one you’re automatically helping the other. Here are some effective activities to try.
• Develop a Daily Meditation Practice — Meditation is an important way to help reduce mental stress so that you can focus better. Not only that; you’ll also learn to be more mindful of everything you do, which will help you avoid exhaustion in the first place, most of the time.
• Move Your Body Every Single Day — Moving is something that is so important that even if you have a physical job, you should still find a way to get in more moving in an intentional way. Even if it’s just a few brisk ten-minute walks, it’s a way to clear your mind and get your blood flowing. Anytime you feel a slump coming on, take a fast walk.
• Keep a Gratitude Journal — Another way to stay energetic, both mentally and physically, is to be a positive person. Not everyone is positive naturally, but you can start to trick your mind into being that way by keeping a gratitude journal. Each night before bed, write down three things you’re grateful for. That will make it the last thing you think of each night. You can make this even more effective if you use a journal that is also a coloring book. Coloring will soothe your mind and relax you.
• Find Your Energy Music — Everyone has positive, uplifting music that they really enjoy and that makes them feel upbeat. However, some of it can also make you unproductive, so it’s important to try out different types of music for different activities. If you think a song you sing to might not be the right one for work, it may very well be just the ticket for your ride home in the car.
• Play a Game — Games and puzzles are great ways to have some downtime but are also good for your mind. Do at least one type of puzzle each day (such as a crossword puzzle) to help keep your brain thinking and to get your mind off other things that are pressuring you and sucking your energy. Sometimes it’s fun to play a game with another person too, such as a silly fast card game like Uno just to break the pace.
• Start a Yoga Practice — One of the best exercises for both mind and body is yoga. There are all types of yoga that you can get involved in. If you’re a member of Amazon Prime, you can get free videos for beginners to get started. Alternatively, you can join a class, which is a great way to feel more connected to the world at the same time.
• Drink Water and Eat Chocolate — Sometimes, it’s impossible to take time out to do anything mentioned. If that’s the case, a fast way to improve your energy is to drink water so that you’re hydrated and eat a small serving of real, low-sugar chocolate. If you cannot eat chocolate, another alternative is a crunchy apple.
It might seem like these activities will take away from the time you need to spend on things you need to do. But the truth is, the more productive you are, the easier everything will be. Productivity doesn’t mean that you need to take more time doing something. It means that you need to focus closely on what’s at hand, and not what’s to come. By taking breaks with these activities, you can help yourself become far more productive and reduce mental and physical exhaustion exponentially.
Revitalizing Foods to Boost Your Energy All Day
One of the best ways to treat any type of exhaustion, beside hydration, is by eating the right type of food so that you can keep your energy balanced all day long. One thing to understand about food is that it’s all just different nutrients.
When you think of food as nutrients, you realize very fast that some things we put into our mouths aren’t really food. It’s more like a toy, a distraction, or a leisure activity — an unhealthy one at that. For example, coffee and donuts are not nutrients. Therefore, they are a horrible choice for anyone who is suffering from or trying to prevent mental and physical exhaustion.
So, understanding that, let’s look at some revitalizing foods that you can easily incorporate into your life to help you boost your energy all day. Remember that if you are on a special diet, you can just substitute the ideas so that they fit your way of eating. The important factor is to consider nutrients that give energy.
• Brown Rice — If you normally eat white rice, switch out all your rice to brown rice, or even different colors of wild rice. Rice that has a color and is not processed will be richer in manganese, which is a mineral that helps your body process energy from both carbs and fats better. A good way to cook brown rice is to boil it in salted water just like you do noodles for 20 minutes, drain, then set aside with a lid on for at least 10 more minutes until ready to serve.
• Sweet Potatoes — This is an excellent lunch idea because sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals. Loaded with vitamin A and C, if you eat a sweet potato for lunch you’ll be much less likely to suffer from the midday slump. They are super-easy to cook in the microwave or bake ahead. You can eat them hot or cold too.
• Bananas — A banana is almost the perfect food. It has plenty of sugar and fiber to slow the digestion of the sugar. You can eat them alone, or you can spread with seed butter like hemp or sunflower seeds to add a protein kick to make it last even longer.
• Apples — This is another naturally fast food. If you buy organic apples you can just wash them off and start eating them as they are. Due to the high fiber in apples, the sugar processes slowly — making them a perfect snack to help you study harder or get over the midday slump at work. If you normally start falling asleep around 3 pm, try grabbing a small apple around 2:30 and you may find that you don’t get tired at all.
• Oranges — You know that an orange is high in vitamin C, and of course the hit of sugar will help perk you up too. But the smell of the citrus as you take out the time to peel the fruit will also wake you up and give you both a mental and physical boost of energy that can’t be beaten. Always eat your oranges rather than juice them for best results.
• Spinach — Everyone knows that spinach is a superfood, but due to its high iron content that is easily digestible by the human body, adding just one cup of spinach to other dishes or smoothies that you eat throughout the day can make a huge difference in your energy levels. Popeye had the right idea, after all. Tip: Adding citrus and a small amount of fruit-based fat like coconut oil or olive oil to your spinach can help your body process the vitamins.
Eggs — For some people who need more iron and B vitamins but don’t want to eat anything that is sugary even if it’s a fruit, a boiled egg is the answer. The worries about too much cholesterol isn’t a problem for most people and falling asleep or getting overwhelmed due to studying or work can be avoided by adding a boiled egg to your snack options.
• Water — While water isn’t a food, it needs to be mentioned. If you’re not drinking eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water each day, look to that as your first reason for exhaustion. Most people are walking around dehydrated and don’t even know it. Remember that water is life and the first choice for beverages should always be water.
Adding these foods to your day can make all the difference in the world to your energy levels. When you feel better, you will automatically feel more energetic. In addition to adding these foods to your daily diet, eliminate all processed food. Some people also see good results from eliminating dairy from their diets as it can be a cause of congestion, skin issues, and stomach issues for many adults.
How to Improve Your Energy by Staying Hydrated
During this blog, hydration has been mentioned several times but that is because it’s so important. By some estimates, about 75 percent of the population is chronically dehydrated. So many people either drink too little water, or they drink other beverages for thirst instead of water.
This is not good, because water affects every organ and function in your body. Whether you get headaches, suffer from sinus problems, dry skin, brittle nails, frizzy hair or something else, it may all be traced to not drinking enough water. No matter what you’ve heard, nothing is better for hydration than drinking regular unadulterated filtered water.
But, since even mild dehydration can cause fatigue, here are some tips to ensure that you get enough water in every single day. If at any part of the day water tastes “funny” to you even though it’s fresh filtered water, try brushing your teeth because you’re likely just tasting your breath instead of your water. Yes, it’s true.
• Keep Water Handy — Instead of thinking that you must guzzle water, just have it handy. Keep a container of water with you always and sip it whenever you’re thirsty or hungry between meals. Due to the fact that most of us ignore our thirst signals, sometimes the body will signal hunger even when it’s not meal time to try to get moisture into your body.
• Drink Water Before, During and After Working Out — When you work out, you need a little extra water to replace what you lose over your basic needs. Simply drink about four ounces of water before your workout and have some to sip occasionally during your workout, and then drink another four ounces after your workout.
• Add Fruit to Your Water — If you want a change of pace, put a pitcher of water in your fridge with different types of fruit and even herbs. For example, sliced oranges and mint are good together. So are lemon and strawberry. Cucumber also makes water taste fresh and delicious and gives it a little extra something as a change of pace without adding unhealthy sugars.
• Avoid Other Beverages — Even if you enjoy coffee, coke, tea and so forth, none of these are hydrating. Make it a rule that you can only enjoy something else once you drink your mandated amount of water depending on your weight. If you must have your morning coffee, add an extra few ounces of water to your day since it’s so dehydrating.
• Start and End Your Day with Fruit-Infused Water — You can even heat it up as a pick-me-up or relaxing beverage in the evening. Just choose your fruit wisely. Try mint and orange in the morning, and berries and chamomile in the evening.
• Drink Water with All Your Meals — Water needs to be the beverage of choice with meals. Some experts on digestion believe you should drink your water before and after your meal and not with it, so that your digestive juices are strong enough to digest your food. Test it out to see if it makes a difference for you.
Like most things, enough is the best, but too much is not good. Be aware of people trying to tell you to drink too much water. To calculate your needs, simply take your weight in pounds, divide by two, and then drink that many ounces of water all throughout the day. Do not guzzle water or drink water too fast, as drinking too much too fast can be very dangerous and unhealthy. Instead, make water drinking part of your daily life to enjoy all throughout the day.
Go Shopping!
Shopping will boost your energy level and mood, nothing like a new perfume of cologne to pump you up in the morning and break the association between fatigue and the usual wardrobe and smell we wear on a daily basis. New color shirts or blouses will brighten your day and give you energy. Daring with new colors will also trigger compliments at the work place. Overtime fatigue becomes overtime associated with smell and color, breaking that association will make you feel brand new and boost your energy level.
Recharging your body and overcoming fatigue so that you can get your life back is one of the most important ways you can improve the quality of your life. There is no reason you need to be exhausted and tired all the time. If it’s not a medical condition (and even if it is), you have a lot more control over how you feel each day than you think. It might be as simple as getting enough sleep and drinking enough water. Don’t delay, so that you can get your life back!
Stay strong!
