Dr. Geni Abraham » Dr. Geni Abraham

Fatigue

It is a feeling of exhaustion that is unrelated to physical exertion and has no obvious explanation. It is more than just feeling sleepy. It is a lack of energy that is persistent.

An evaluation with your doctor is needed to see if you have been sleeping well, eating well, not over working or over exercising and yet have extreme fatigue.

Causes

Some correctable causes include insomnia, thyroid dysfunction, sleep apnea, nutritional deficiencies, depression to name a few.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a whole different entity that can be discussed separately.

Prevention

The best way to prevent fatigue is to lead a healthy lifestyle consisting of good whole foods-based nutrition, regular exercise, stress management and proper sleep. Minimize exposure to environmental toxins and support our bodies ability to detoxify with the proper nutrition.

Management

The key is producing energy in our body. Anything that stands in the way needs to be corrected so our bodies can do what it is designed to do and is capable of doing.

Lifesyle Medicine

Nutrition : Important to get adequate calories, whole foods, variety of foods, adequate macronutrients and micronutrients. Sometimes fatigue may be due to an inherent inability to efficiently remove environmental toxins. The detox focused diet that makes sure that you are leveraging foods that has the best detoxification capacity is important.

Exercise : Movement begets energy. It is important to exercise so that energy levels increase but over-exercise leading to exhaustion should be avoided. Adequate hydration is important as well.

Sleep : Important to get adequate hours of sleep.

Stress : Chronic stress is one of the biggest drivers of fatigue. The persistent elevated cortisol and the subsequent underproduction of cortisol because the need is no longer being met can lead to fatigue. Learning to manage our stress by improving our response to situations can go a long way to preventing and managing our fatigue. There are supplements that may be helpful as well.

Correctable Causes

Thyroid : If your thyroid is under functioning then this can be fixed by your doctor.

Sleep Apnea : Identify first. If present can be helped by weight loss where applicable, CPAP machine while sleeping or an oral device while sleeping

Depression : Speak to your doctor, seek counselling, seek help and support system

Nutritional deficiencies like B12, vitamin D can also promote fatigue which can be checked by your doctor and corrected

Anemia : Identify the reason for the anemia and then treat as required.