Tired All Day Every Day?
1 in 5 people feel unusually tired and 1 in 10 have something called “prolonged fatigue” – according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Do you engage in any of the following activities?
Staying up past midnight
Drink too much alcohol in one sitting
Eat excessive amounts of junk food
Drink a lot of caffeine to offset tiredness?
You may be experiencing the early signs of exhaustion – fatigue.
Fatigue is not uncommon, usually because it is easy to self-diagnose and most of us are convinced we experience some form of it at least once a day. The question is – is fatigue something I should be concerned about?
That depends.
Are you tired all day?
Are you tired every day?
Have you recently felt like you just had mental fog, can’t think or react quickly enough? If this is the case, then fatigue is definitely something you should no longer wear as a badge of honour, and something to look at as a situation to rid your body of.
Disclaimer: On this website we look at data from multiple medical resources in order to provide information. Always seek a professional for individual advice pertaining to your exact circumstances.
What Is Fatigue?
Fatigue is another word for tiredness, and tiredness is what we should think of when we hear fatigue in everyday usage. It is a sign of various types of exhaustion or burnout from everyday living. Burnout can be seen when you notice reduced energy low (relative to normal) physical or mental performance and an overall lack of motivation.
Let’s breakdown the aforementioned types of tiredness and their causes:
Physical:
Weak red blood cells (Anaemia) – affects 24.8% of the world’s population, diabetes, glandular fever, cancer
Physical activity
Psychological:
Depression – 7.6% of people aged 12+ experience depression over any 2 week period,
stress,
anxiety,
boredom
Physiological:
Pregnancy, breast-feeding, lack of sleep
Medical Problems Arising From Or Causing Fatigue
There is actually a cause and effect debate when it comes to fatigue. This is because some of the symptoms which are seen as signs of fatigue also appear as causes. It is a chicken and egg situation in many cases, luckily as fatigue is not something generally seen as life threatening it is not so serious that one cannot remedy the issues before they develop into more serious causes for concern.
With that being said, below is a list of the issues that arise from prolonged fatigue, some are purely psychological such as developing an alcohol addiction – but due to the seriousness of addiction is important to tackle such issues as early as possible.
- Post-exertional malaise – feeling overly tired after using a lot of willpower or physical strength for a time
- Impaired memory or concentration – lack of ability to focus due to inadequate rest periods
- Unrefreshing sleep – sleeping for short periods of time, disrupting REM sleep the core part of the sleep cycle
- Muscle pain – Arousing for no known reason, or prolonged as a result of physical exertion
- Pain without swelling, tender cervical or axillary lymph nodes, sore throat, and headache
- Mental Health (psychiatric): depression; anxiety; drug abuse; alcohol abuse; eating disorders (for example; bulimia; anorexia); grief and bereavement
Sleep Problems:
Sleep apnoea: the point at which breathing stutters/stops for a short period. Linked to snoring, gasping for air, restlessness and poor quality sleep;
Insomnia: the inability to sleep for the required length of time.
Work shift changes; extra night hours at “work”, narcolepsy;
Fatigue Prevention
Better Sleep
Non-invasive methods are always the first line of defence when it comes to healing he body and restoring it to its natural functional ability. This is why one should pay attention to their bodies sleep cycle and monitor the body’s natural ability to recover post physical exertion.
Prevent Insomnia
Medicine.net suggests getting out of bed if you do not fall asleep within 20 to 30 minutes, and returning a short while later to try again. They say do not attempt to “increase wakefulness” by watching TV or any other stimulating activity.
Bedroom Conditions
Adjust the conditions in your bedroom to facilitate comfortable sleeping, on working days. This will be important so that takes the mental load off of you, in terms of sticking to a sleeping pattern. You can do this by using a ambient sound device that will help you to get to sleep faster, using specialised blankets, or even an air purifier to enable more comfortable sleep.
Food
Diet plays a much bigger role in achieving sleep than most of us realise.
Not eating after a set time (Most healthcare professionals recommend not eating after 8pm if you intend to sleep by 11pm. So you can adjust this to “finish your last meal 3 hours before sleep”)
Closing
Sleep problems are very common but the key is to identify the reason for your lack of proper sleep. Fatigue is just another symptom of poor quality sleep, although it can be caused by severe burnout, over-exertion or other mental health issues.
Knowing is the first step to understanding and then fixing the problem. It is best to seek professional help so you can change the factors in your environment and your habits to facilitate all around better energy and state of mind, before letting lack of sleep develop into more serious issues.
