Plus, 3 things you can do to get your energy back.
When you feel like this, let’s be honest, life is a challenge. Why? Because everything feels so much harder to do. It’s hard to feel motivated.
Your focus is on getting through the day, you feel you have too much to do. The enjoyment has gone out of life.
You are not alone here, I was saddened to see the statistic (YouGov, 2022) that 13% of people in the UK feel tired all the time. That’s approximately, a staggering 6 million people.
Unexplained tiredness is one of the most common reasons people visit their GP and it is really important that you talk to your doctor to investigate what could be causing this and get support.
If, as was initially the case for me, that no specific reason could be found, in this blog , I will share with you the top 3 reasons why you could be feeling tired all the time and importantly, what you can do about it.
Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
3 reasons you may be feeling tired
Let’s face it, modern life is busy, so it’s no wonder you feel tired, but it can be really frustrating if your GP shrugs this off as “just life”.
To overcome that constantly wading through treacle feeling, you need to be able to pinpoint what’s causing it. These are the 3 most common causes of fatigue that I see in my clinic:
1. Not getting enough sleep
It seems pretty obvious, I know, not sleeping well causes fatigue. Sleep is a complicated subject, but you may feel that your sleep is OK, but are you getting 7 – 9 hours sleep? Research has shown that adults need 7 – 9 hours sleep over a 24 hour period. To be effective, it doesn’t need to all be in one block, so dozing in front of the TV counts!
30% of adults have admitted that they get less than 6 hours sleep a night, so this could well be a potential cause to your feeling tired all the time.
2. That ‘I feel stressed feeling’
Stress can drain our energy reserves really quickly, as our body is alert to a perceived danger and is ready to fight or run away and both need energy.
Thankfully for most of us, the stress we face at work or in our home life means that we don’t need to fight or run away, but our body’s response is the same and it is tiring.
If we find ourselves stressed a lot of the time, this can lead to that feeling of being tired all the time as our stress hormones move out of balance.
Sadly stress has an impact on our entire body that can cause problems with our digestion and hormones that leads to further tiredness.
3. Tummy troubles
Tummy and digestive issues can be caused by a variety of reasons:
Eating food your body doesn’t like but you do, like gluten or dairy, which can cause IBS like symptoms and can lead to your body not absorbing the nutrients from your food.
Regularly eating ready meals or take aways. Why? Some of these are high in sugar and salt and may not have the vitamins and minerals your body needs to produce energy.
Stress. Yes, it is raising its head again. When we are stressed and our body is in fight or flight mode, the energy we need to digest our food is diverted to prepare our body to react to the stress – run away or fight.
The common factor here is that your body isn’t either getting the nutrients you need, or your body isn’t able to absorb the nutrients your body needs to make energy. This can lead to tiredness over a prolonged period.
3 things you can do right now to boost your energy
There is a lot you can do to help you to start to start to feel more energised again. Here are my top 3 tips that could make a real difference to you over time:
Relax when you are eating
Sounds easy, but with life being so busy, sometimes it can feel like a challenge for many. However it’s one of the best ways to help you to absorb the nutrients from your food.
What you can do is:
Take some deeper breaths before eating to signal to your body that you are relaxed.
Take time over your meal, chew your food and enjoy the taste. Why not follow our European friends, example and enjoy your food and the experience of eating.
2. Practice a relaxation technique.
Helping your body to relax and feel less stressed is one of the best ways that could help you to overcome fatigue.
There are lots of options nowadays and you can take your pick from yoga, tai chi, meditation or mindfulness practices, amongst many. You don’t need to physically go to a class either, if you are short on time, there are plenty of meditation and mindfulness apps available or practices on You Tube.
You can check out my mindfulness practice on You Tube here.
Sometimes slowing down can be as simple as a quick breathing technique. You can find a selection of breathing techniques on my blog The One Simple thing You can Change for Increased Energy.
3. Try some Botanical support
I think herbs really are our sometimes-forgotten friends! I believe they can help us with so many challenges with our lives if we pick the right one or what is often best, the right combination.
There’s been so much research undertaken on herbs over the last few years to discover how they may be able to help to support digestion, relieve stress, anxiety and fatigue and overcome sleep difficulties.
There’s lots to choose from. Lemon balm, passion flower and valerian can help the body to feel calmer and have been shown in studies to help with sleep.
Ashwaganda has been shown in some studies to help the body to manage stress, reduce anxiety and help with sleep.
Culinary herbs like ginger and cinnamon may be able to help with digestion, although they may need to be taken as a therapeutic dose to see the effects.
There’s lots of possibilities out there.
Taking the first step for change …
I hope this blog has inspired you to make some changes to your lifestyle, which may help you to feel more energised.
Simple changes like eating more slowly and chewing your food properly are things that your mother probably told you to do when you were younger and with good reason too. They can make a difference over time. It’s good to slow down too, as I find the old adage, less haste more speed is often true for me!
Give it a go and let me know how you get on.
Your top 5 take aways
1. Feeling tired all the time is one of the main reasons Britons contact their GP
2. Not getting between 7 – 9 hours sleep over a 24 hour period can contribute to feelings of tiredness.
3. Digestive troubles can lead to feelings of tiredness as the body is not absorbing nutrients properly, eating slowly and chewing your food properly and supportive digestive herbs could help with this.
4. Stress is a major contributor to feeling tired. Relaxation techniques can help to put that stressed out feeling at bay and help you to look at life differently.
5. Herbs like lemon balm and ashwaganda may be able to help you to feel calmer and help with your sleep, so you could feel less tired.
Are you thinking, but I need some support to help make the right choices for me?
Then I am here to help. I use herbal medicine, nutritional recommendations and meditation practices to help clients improve their energy levels.
As someone who has recovered from debilitating fatigue using this approach, I am uniquely placed to help you to make the right choices and changes that match your lifestyle and circumstances.
I help people on a one to one basis and through a group programme.
If you’d like to discuss how working together could help you to feel more energised again, I offer a free 30 minute discovery call for us to chat about the help you are looking for and how I may be able to help you to feel like you again. Get in touch here to book a call.
This blog is intended for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing unexplained fatigue, you should always consult your GP to rule out any other underlying health conditions and seek their advice.
You should always consult your doctor or other healthcare professional before making any diet or lifestyle changes to ensure they are right for you.