Elene N. Gage
Renewing your energy is possible, once you learn to combat common causes of fatigue.
Culprit: A Vitamin or Mineral Deficiency
Having low levels of iron or vitamin D or B12 can make you feel tired,
anxious, and weak, says Irene Park, a nurse practitioner in New York
City. Many experts believe that a significant percentage of the U.S.
population is deficient in vitamin D. “And lower levels of vitamin D can
cause muscle weakness and pain,” says Keenan. Also, if you’re a woman
of reproductive age, you’re statistically at greater risk for
iron-deficiency anemia.
- More From Real Simple:
How to Make Positive Changes in Your Life
What to Say in Awkward Social Situations
5 Mistakes Everyone Should Make
The only way to tell if you’re low in any vitamin or mineral is to
see your doctor for a blood test. Meanwhile, to bolster your body’s
stores, consider taking a multivitamin with at least 100 percent of your
daily requirement of vitamins and minerals. (Experts generally advise
that healthy adults also supplement with 1,000 to 2,000 international
units of vitamin D daily.)
Culprit: The Blues
Research has indicated that people with depression may be four times
more likely than the nondepressed to experience unexplained fatigue.
Aerobic exercise—specifically, 30 minutes or more three to five days a
week—is effective at treating mild to moderate depression, and may
minimize the sleepiness associated with it. If that doesn’t help,
however, speak to your doctor, who may recommend talk therapy or a
mood-boosting medication, like a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor
(SSRI). If your depression and related fatigue seem to strike more
frequently in winter, you could have seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Treatment for SAD may include using a special light box, says Marla
Wald, a psychiatrist at Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North
Carolina. But venturing outside for about 20 minutes a day can provide
similar benefits, she says.
Culprit: Your Adrenal Glands
They’re responsible for secreting the fight-or-flight hormones
adrenaline and cortisol, which surge as a response to stress—whether the
prehistoric-days type, like being chased by a tiger, or the modern-day
version, like financial worries or your mother-in-law. But when you’re
feeling stressed all the time, those glands may become overworked and
can tire out—a condition commonly called adrenal fatigue, says Keenan.
The inability to secrete enough cortisol during the day can cause energy
dips, then spikes at night that can interfere with restful sleep.
To give your adrenal glands a chance to recharge, Keenan recommends
meditation, which she thinks of as parking the body in neutral.
“Meditation has the effect of slowing down the production of cortisol
for a while,” she says. Try sitting quietly and clearing your mind for
at least five minutes a day. Vitamins B5 and C have also been shown to
support adrenal function, says Jacob Teitelbaum, the Kona, Hawaii–based
medical director of the
Fibromyalgia
& Fatigue Centers and the author of From Fatigued to Fantastic!
($17, amazon.com). He recommends getting at least 50 milligrams of B5
and 500 milligrams of C daily. Other stress-reduction techniques work
well, too. “Exercise is particularly effective,” says Park.
Culprit: What You Drink and Eat
Caffeine can be a lifesaver on sleepy mornings, but too much may be
problematic, since it can act as a diuretic. “And dehydration can cause
fatigue,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian in New York City.
Aim for at least eight cups of fluids a day, more if you eat a lot of
high-fiber foods, which absorb water.
Food sensitivities and their side effects can also bring on fatigue. “Lactose intolerance, for example, can cause
diarrhea,
which can result in dehydration,” says Taub-Dix. Teitelbaum notes that a
diet high in processed foods can aggravate food sensitivities and lead
to fatigue (one such sensitivity is the inability to metabolize gluten,
which is found in many processed foods). An internist or a registered
dietitian can determine if you have a food intolerance.
Culprit: A Stealth Sickness
When nothing else seems to be at the root of your fatigue, consider
seeing a doctor. Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome commonly
cause intense tiredness, in addition to poor sleep quality, brain fog,
and/or muscle pain. (Hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid, often
occurs with the disorders.) Much is not understood about fibromyalgia
and chronic fatigue syndrome, but doctors estimate that up to 14 million
Americans suffer from one or the other. And women are more likely than
men to experience them. “There’s usually a genetic predisposition,” says
Kent Holtorf, a Los Angeles thyroidologist and the founder of the
National Academy of Hypothyroidism.
Some doctors surmise that fibromyalgia is a result of abnormalities
in the central nervous system and that chronic fatigue syndrome is
linked to infection. Other experts think both conditions are a result of
a dysfunction of the hypothalamus and the pituitary and adrenal glands.
Most standard blood tests fail to identify the disorders, so the
conditions are typically diagnosed through a physical exam and a
detailed medical history. Standard treatment may include an SSRI or a
muscle relaxant.
Another disorder that may be to blame: obstructive sleep apnea. A
person who suffers from it experiences repeated pauses in her breathing
while sleeping, often because she has narrow airways in her nose, mouth,
or throat (some telltale clues: loud snoring or gasping for breath
while sleeping). If your doctor suspects sleep apnea, he will send you
to a sleep clinic for an overnight evaluation. Treatment may be as
simple as changing your sleeping position or wearing an oral appliance,
or as complex as sleeping in a mask attached to a C-PAP (continuous
positive airway pressure) machine. In extreme cases, surgery may be
necessary.
Sleep Statistics
In 2008 the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set out to learn just what determines how much sleep Americans get. The lowdown from the survey’s 403,981 respondents follows.
- Women are more likely than men to get an insufficient amount of
sleep. The results were 12.4 percent of women surveyed versus 9.9
percent of men.
- Work helps you sleep. People who are employed get more rest than
those who aren’t. But retirees get more sleep than either of those
groups. (Only 9.5 percent of retired respondents reported not getting
enough z’s.)
- More education = more sleep. People with a college degree snooze more than those without a high school diploma or a GED.
- Married and single people sleep roughly the same amount. But being
divorced, widowed, or separated increases your likelihood of
insufficient sleep.
- Where you live affects your sleep. West Virginia has the highest
rate of sleeplessness—more than 19 percent of respondents. For more
sufficient sleep, head to North Dakota, where only 7.4 percent reported
inadequate sleep.
- The good news? The older you grow, the more likely you are to get
enough sleep. People over the age of 65 reported the lowest percentage
of insufficient sleep.
