Fatigue: Everything You Need To Know
Fatigue is when you feel overtired or exhausted, lack energy, and have a strong feeling of sleepiness. It is a common symptom for many changes in lifestyle and many other reasons. The severity of this symptom ranges from mild to serious.
Feeling tired, with low energy, and a strong desire to sleep that interferes with normal daily activities. Fatigue can have causes that are unrelated to an underlying disease. Examples include lack of sleep, strenuous exertion, jet lag, a heavy meal, or aging
There are two major types of fatigue: physical and mental fatigue:
- A person suffering from muscle fatigue may have physical difficulties doing the things they usually do, such as climbing stairs. Symptoms include muscle weakness and the diagnosis may involve performing a strength test.
- Mental fatigue can make it harder for a person to concentrate and stay focused. They may also feel drowsy or have difficulty staying awake while working.
What Causes Fatigue?
Fatigue causes are mainly divided into 3 categories:
- Lifestyle factors: Not taking adequate nutritious food, taking certain medications, emotional stress, lack of sleep, lack of physical activities, boredom, consuming alcohol regularly, drug addiction
- Physical or medical health conditions: Physical or medical health conditions: Malaria, tuberculosis, infectious mononucleosis, cytomegalovirus, HIV, flu, hepatitis, anemia, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, massive blood loss, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, kidney disease, pregnancy, thyroid conditions.
- Mental health issues: Anxiety, depression, and seasonal affective disorder.
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Symptoms of Fatigue
Fatigue can effects in various ways, including:
- Physical Tiredness: Persistent feeling of exhaustion or weakness, even after adequate rest.
- Mental Fatigue: Difficulty concentrating, memory problems, and decreased cognitive function.
- Reduced Motivation: Lack of energy or enthusiasm to engage in daily activities or tasks.
- Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or feeling unrested after sleep.
- Muscle Aches: Generalized muscle soreness or discomfort without physical exertion.
- Irritability: Increased sensitivity or emotional instability.
- Decreased Performance: Lowered efficiency or productivity in daily tasks or work.
If fatigue persists despite adequate rest and lifestyle adjustments, it's important to consult a healthcare professional to identify and address any underlying causes.
Diagnosis
To diagnose the underlying cause of fatigue, your doctor or licensed health care professional will ask you several questions related to your symptoms.
You can better help your healthcare professional diagnose the underlying cause of fatigue by providing complete answers to these questions:
- Describe fatigue. Is it constant or intermittent? Is it mild, moderate, or severe? Does it happen with or after certain activities or events, such as stress, exercise, or just before menstruation?
- How long have you had fatigue?
- Ask about other symptoms, such as a cough, digestive problems, rashes, or other concerns
Strategies for Managing Fatigue
- If the cause is a medical condition, treating the condition will often resolve the tiredness. For example, if you have anemia, iron supplements can treat this and the tiredness resolves as your blood count improves.
- Even supplementing iron levels in a low range of normal is believed to help with fatigue.
- If you are found to have hypothyroidism, a pill to replace the missing thyroid hormone is usually very effective and you will find that you have more energy.
- If the cause is a side effect of the medication, switch to something that works better for you.
- If you are found to have failure of fatigue syndrome, you may be referred to a chronic fatigue specialist for help through psychological therapy, gradual exercise therapy, or medications.
- If you have anxiety or depression, this can be relieved with talk therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), medication, or several other possible treatments.
- It may seem strange, but physical exercise can actually be very effective in treating fatigue. Any moderate exercise, like walking, swimming, or biking, can help you feel less tired. Regular workouts are a great way to stay healthy.
- If you don't get a good night's sleep, it's tempting to try to "make up" by taking naps during the day when possible. This really won't help; in fact, it can get your body clock out of sync, so you may end up sleeping less well at night.
- There are many ways you can try to improve your sleep if you have insomnia and this, in turn, can improve your tiredness.
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When to See a Doctor?
When fatigue continues for a week or more, then immediately consult a doctor or seek a medical emergency. In some cases, fatigue is caused by serious physical or medical health conditions along with any of the following:
Home Remedies
Effective home remedies to relieve itchy skin encompass a variety of methods, including:
- Drink more fluids to stay hydrated
- Healthy eating habits
- Exercise regularly
- Get enough sleep
- Avoid stress
- Avoid work or social schedule that is stressful
- Do relaxing activities, such as yoga, meditation
- Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
- Consume less caffeine
These lifestyle changes may help you reduce fatigue. It is also important to consult your doctors to make recommendations for any medical health conditions.
