What does that mean?
Feeling tired is a common complaint. It is not the same thing as the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Fatigue is an overwhelming and oppressing force that weighs a person down. Chronic Fatigue intrudes on every aspect of a life. Somebody with this problem is unable to function.
Being tired is a mild intermittent symptom. Many people write it off as a normal variant in life. “Everybody gets tired.” “You just need to take some time out and engage in a short nap and you’re ready to go again.” If this is the case with you, then go ahead and take your nap and ignore the following.
For those who do not recover their energy from a mid-day snooze, it is important to consider other strategies. But first, what is so bad about being a little tired now and then? The answer is that the body is trying to alert you to a problem with the onset and persistence of any symptom. What is a nuisance in the beginning becomes a steep cliff later.
It’s not just that you feel tired. Your body and its component parts are also tired. This is not an optimal state of function. Reduced energy reflects deficiencies down to the cellular level. Such imbalances affect susceptibility to illness. This includes reduced resistance to infectious diseases. It can be a sign of the deteriorative process that accompanies life. After years of living with this symptom, cellular and organ malfunction insidiously develop. All of these effects are considered “toxicity.”
First, visit your doctor and make sure you do not have some identifiable and treatable medical condition. A complete medical history and thorough physical examination is the next step. Blood testing may reveal many minor problems that could become major if left untended. Depending on the results of the preceding, other studies (like a sleep study) may be ordered.
Assuming the findings are normal, there are many possibilities of causes of tiredness that can be explored. A common thread is the various psychological problems (like depression) associated with neurotransmitter imbalances. Often, the only way to really know that this is your problem is therapeutic trials of medicines. But this is important because chemical imbalances of any kind cause bodily harm. This is true whether the problem exists in the brain or in the thyroid.
For many people, prescription drugs prove to be a great solution. But there can be disturbing side effects from these remedies. These undesirable consequences may take a long time to appear. And they can creep up on you.
Medicines are not the only way to treat neuro-chemical insufficiency (I cannot say the same is true for thyroid inadequacy.). Brain chemical activity is amenable to exercise, nutritional supplements, dietary changes, lifestyle habits, and other influences. These interventions require consistent effort but do not present the side effects of medicines.
“Toxicity” also involves buildup of various poisons in the cells and in the blood. The byproducts of living are the production of many harmful chemicals. From breathing to waste production, our bodies produce substances that cause harm. We have metabolic mechanisms to rid ourselves of these materials. Unfortunately, this process is inefficient and incomplete. The resultant load of oxidative particles and waste increase our susceptibility to illness. They also promote the aging process.
It seems that many people live their lives by an unconscious philosophy: “I am healthy today; therefore, I will probably be healthy tomorrow.” This assumption is disproven by the facts in 100% of cases. How far in the future ‘tomorrow” will be for a given individual is impossible to predict.
The lesson is that it takes a lot of work to maintain good health and vigor. There are many things we should all be doing to allay and delay the inevitable in our lives. Warning signs like feeling tired should waken one to action.
Diet is critically important. High saturated fat intake leads to many illnesses. Fat tastes good. In times of famine, it has survival implications because it is stored energy. Over many years of ingestion, this macronutrient contributes significantly to unnecessary morbidity and premature mortality.
High quantities of carbohydrates make people feel tired directly and indirectly. This is true for both simple (sugar) and complex (pasta, bread, etc.) carbohydrates. Moderation is the key. I cannot give a formula for what is best for you. Precise advice comes from experimenting on our own diets and noting results.
Vitamin and mineral supplements help almost everyone improve energy. These have been discussed in previous blogs. Antioxidant supplements reduce free-radical loads. These include Vitamin C, bioflavonoids, lutein, CoEnzyme-Q-10, lycopene, selenium, and others. There are so many, it becomes difficult to recommend. Some, like selenium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E can be toxic if taken in too high a dose. For these concerns, the amount in a typical daily vitamin is safe.
Stretching increases energy. Not being stretched drains energy.
Constipation also drains energy. Increased intestinal transit time (with the stool spending more time in contact with the intestinal lining) exhausts energy reserves. Humans should have at least one good bowel movement a day.
I have successfully prescribed a medicine to lower the concentration of toxins in the body. Cholestyramine is a [prescription] powder originally formulated to lower blood cholesterol levels. It was the primary treatment for elevated LDL Cholesterol before the discovery of the “Statin” medicines. It increases excretion of cholesterol.
This drug also lowers the levels of toxins in the blood. Many of my tired and fatigued patients felt much better taking this substance. It works inside the intestines and has very few side effects. Many people found they had to ingest it only periodically to have benefit.
Another energy-giver are massage sandals. These sandals are made with little rounded rubber nubbins pointing upward. They may feel uncomfortable when you first start to walk in them.
Reducing toxicity using dietary cleansing is popular and often successful. One common method is fasting. There are a variety of methods included in this category. I cannot vouch for most of them, and some may be dangerous. Moderation is an important guide. You could get dehydrated or hypoglycemic while not eating for too long. Having an 18 hour daily fast seems innocuous. Do not exercise while fasting. Fluid intake could be important even while fasting.
There are many “cleansing diets” being promoted. I have little experience with these varying approaches. Some may certainly cause harm. Be wary. One that I have recommended is call the “Macrobiotic Cleanse.”
This consists of 10 days of only brown rice and boiled greens. Theoretically, you should feel great at the end of this period. I have known some people to find this method useful. Personally, I just experienced boredom when I tried it. The talking point is that there are abundant ideas to reduce toxicity. Probably, many are only useful for a small percentage of people.
After the 10 days, add a new food every 2 to 3 days and note any problems. It should be a simple food, like corn or milk. Do not add a complex food, like pizza. If you have a reaction to something, this could be causing you problems and you need to retest it.
It is difficult to assess recommendations you may find on the internet. This is especially true when the source is questionable. There is a lot of hype without substantiation.
A focus of my approach to health has been nutritional supplements. True, there is not good science to justify this course. But if taken wisely, they cause no harm. My personal experience over 41 years as a physician treating people with fatigue makes me comfortable with this recommendation. See my blog, “Micronutrients to Enhance Health and Resist COVID-19,” for more on my rationale for using supplements.
Unfortunately, many people have problems that are not amenable to the solutions offered by science. If this is you, vitamin and mineral supplements could be the answer. You should see improvement within a couple of weeks.
Attaining and maintaining good health and vigor over a long lifetime a labor of love. There is so much to know. So much is not known. One of my goals is to teach my insights and experience to help those I can.
Health and Spirit by Dr. Jack Zoldan 