We have all been there, running to bring the kids to baseball and girl scouts, up all night with a colicky newborn, or putting in 60 hours a week at work to make that deadline. Sometimes a pot of coffee, although it seems to help for the moment, is worse than you think. Exhaustion, also known as fatigue, is described on Web Md as “a feeling of tiredness or exhaustion or a need to rest because of lack of energy or strength. Fatigue may result from overwork, poor sleep, worry, boredom, or lack of exercise. It is a symptom that may be caused by illness, medicine, or medical treatment such as chemotherapy. Anxiety or depression can also cause fatigue.”
Whatever your lifestyle, whatever your medical condition, getting up and getting active may have a greater chance of reducing your fatigue than coffee. According to the NYTIMES,” When a person is sapped by fatigue, the last thing he or she wants to do is exercise. But new research shows that regular, low-intensity exercise may help boost energy levels in people suffering from fatigue. It is one of the most common health symptoms and can be a sign of a variety of medical problems. However, about one in four people suffer from general fatigue not associated with a serious medical condition.” If you are sick and tried of being sick and tired, do something different today, and make today the first day of the rest of your life.
Here are six tips to try to help you fight fatigue:
1) Get your yearly physical. First make sure a medical condition is not the underlying cause.
2) Get up and get out. Go for a stroll, or hit the gym, even when you do not want to. Try and start a new routine 3 to 4 times per week of easy aerobic exercising to start. Work your way into a more structured plan when you are felling better.
3) Put down the soda and coffee and drink more water. Your body is 80percent water, and dehydration can cause fatigue. Keep fluids in you all day long. Replenishing your body’s fluids may help drastically.
4) Get plenty of rest. This may mean asking for help at work, or with the children or the chores. Do not feel like you are incapable, get it in your head that this is temporary, and you just need a little more help to regroup. Asking for help and being strong enough to admit you are not superwoman/ or superman may add a lot of energy to your days!
5) Make a new game plan. As hard as this is to hear, something may not be working. Give yourself a time out and try to reconfigure your daily activities. Maybe you are doing too much; maybe you can move your schedule around. Make today the first day of the rest of your life, and let your game plan speak volumes. Carry around a notebook. Getting your agenda out of your head and on to paper will make your tasks easier to see, easier to share and diminished unwanted anxiety. Break down your month, your week, and your days as much as you can. Assign older children chores that they would be capable, and try a carpool schedule with a neighbor. When things are on paper, you make problem solving easier, and can regroup more often.
6) Embrace the nap. As much as the go getter sees the nap as wasteful, there may come a point where a nap needs to be taken. If you are feeling feverish, exhausted, physically unable to continue daily routines, a nap and rest may help you regroup before you get sick. Try it, you may enjoy it.