Have you noticed you're tired, but you shouldn't be? You had a
good night's sleep, but you could take a nap right now. You have
activities you would love to do but you would rather stay home and just
vegetate.
Some people think it is normal for adults to be tired. I don't agree. Look at a child - he's never tired. What's the difference between a child and you? A chronic feeling of fatigue is a definite sign that something is amiss it is not 'just a sign of age'. The fact that you are tired means something. You need to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and do some detective work to figure out what is causing your fatigue.
Does Your Body Run Out Of Gas?
Science tells us that the human body is designed to last 120 years. The headlines recently showed a French woman dying at 122 years of age. Many of my patients say they would not prefer to live that long, feeling the way they feel right now. They key to the aging process and please accept the fact that you are going to age is the quality, not the quantity of your life. If you are presently suffering from fatigue, the quality of your life is also suffering.
Interrupted Sleep
There are common causes for short-term tiredness. Perhaps your mattress is uncomfortable, or the temperature in your bedroom is too extreme, hot or cold, for you to sleep well. Noise, such as from a TV in another room in the house, may be distracting. These problems can easily be remedied. If your neighborhood is noisy at night, perhaps a comfortable set of earplugs would help you get the rest your body needs. Sometimes the constant drone from a fan helps. If you use caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine late in the day, or watch TV into the wee hours, try changing your habits for a while and see if your sleep improves. You may have to dig around a little bit to spot the cause. However, if after making changes you suspect that you may have an underlying health condition, a visit to your health care practitioner is the proper course of action.
Physical Illness
Quite often when you are sick your body will feel tired since it is using its energy reserves to help heal itself. This is normal, and getting extra rest in order to recover from any illness is essential. The more serious the illness the more time you will need to rest and recover.
Overweight or Underweight
The body of an overweight person is much more susceptible to tiredness, as it has to work a lot harder to accomplish regular, daily activities. The strain on the heart is tremendous, and in the United States, obesity is fast approaching cigarette smoking in its position as the number one preventable cause of death.
Conversely, an underweight person may simply not have enough muscle strength to perform everyday tasks without becoming tired. In addition, many underweight people have a reduced caloric intake, which is another way of saying they are not putting enough fuel into their body. They may not be eating enough or not eating good quality food. Consult a chart to discover your ideal weight range for your height and age, and have that general range as a target for yourself. Your ideal weight should include your ability to enjoy a full active life. You should have the energy to work and to play every day.
Lack of Regular Exercise
in today's computer/television/electronic world, we tend to do a lot less physical activity. This leads to muscle atrophy, a condition whereby the muscles in the body fall into disuse and become slack and fatty instead of firm and lean, as they should be. The body literally becomes 'out of shape' - with fat deposits bulging out in unwanted places, such as the hips, waist, thighs, and abdomen. Here is a good example of how we justify the aging process. Muscle tone changes as we age, not because we age but because we don't continue exercising. There's one of the differences between children and adults. Exercise. The less you exercise, the more out of shape you become, and the more tired you feel. Daily, patients come to me asking for the magical pill, the magical diet or program so that they can look like they did years before, and feel like they did years ago. I hate to say it because it sounds too simple, but the magic is in exercise. Diet or no, the body needs exercise. Exercise is one of those ignored anti-aging techniques. You can name your own exercise. The ideal exercise for you is the one that you will continue to do long after your resolve has worn thin. It should become a habit, a part of your life style.
Some people think it is normal for adults to be tired. I don't agree. Look at a child - he's never tired. What's the difference between a child and you? A chronic feeling of fatigue is a definite sign that something is amiss it is not 'just a sign of age'. The fact that you are tired means something. You need to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and do some detective work to figure out what is causing your fatigue.
Does Your Body Run Out Of Gas?
Science tells us that the human body is designed to last 120 years. The headlines recently showed a French woman dying at 122 years of age. Many of my patients say they would not prefer to live that long, feeling the way they feel right now. They key to the aging process and please accept the fact that you are going to age is the quality, not the quantity of your life. If you are presently suffering from fatigue, the quality of your life is also suffering.
Interrupted Sleep
There are common causes for short-term tiredness. Perhaps your mattress is uncomfortable, or the temperature in your bedroom is too extreme, hot or cold, for you to sleep well. Noise, such as from a TV in another room in the house, may be distracting. These problems can easily be remedied. If your neighborhood is noisy at night, perhaps a comfortable set of earplugs would help you get the rest your body needs. Sometimes the constant drone from a fan helps. If you use caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine late in the day, or watch TV into the wee hours, try changing your habits for a while and see if your sleep improves. You may have to dig around a little bit to spot the cause. However, if after making changes you suspect that you may have an underlying health condition, a visit to your health care practitioner is the proper course of action.
Physical Illness
Quite often when you are sick your body will feel tired since it is using its energy reserves to help heal itself. This is normal, and getting extra rest in order to recover from any illness is essential. The more serious the illness the more time you will need to rest and recover.
Overweight or Underweight
The body of an overweight person is much more susceptible to tiredness, as it has to work a lot harder to accomplish regular, daily activities. The strain on the heart is tremendous, and in the United States, obesity is fast approaching cigarette smoking in its position as the number one preventable cause of death.
Conversely, an underweight person may simply not have enough muscle strength to perform everyday tasks without becoming tired. In addition, many underweight people have a reduced caloric intake, which is another way of saying they are not putting enough fuel into their body. They may not be eating enough or not eating good quality food. Consult a chart to discover your ideal weight range for your height and age, and have that general range as a target for yourself. Your ideal weight should include your ability to enjoy a full active life. You should have the energy to work and to play every day.
Lack of Regular Exercise
in today's computer/television/electronic world, we tend to do a lot less physical activity. This leads to muscle atrophy, a condition whereby the muscles in the body fall into disuse and become slack and fatty instead of firm and lean, as they should be. The body literally becomes 'out of shape' - with fat deposits bulging out in unwanted places, such as the hips, waist, thighs, and abdomen. Here is a good example of how we justify the aging process. Muscle tone changes as we age, not because we age but because we don't continue exercising. There's one of the differences between children and adults. Exercise. The less you exercise, the more out of shape you become, and the more tired you feel. Daily, patients come to me asking for the magical pill, the magical diet or program so that they can look like they did years before, and feel like they did years ago. I hate to say it because it sounds too simple, but the magic is in exercise. Diet or no, the body needs exercise. Exercise is one of those ignored anti-aging techniques. You can name your own exercise. The ideal exercise for you is the one that you will continue to do long after your resolve has worn thin. It should become a habit, a part of your life style.
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