When
I was in my twenties, my accelerator was all the way to the floor, but I wasn’t
picking up any speed. I achieved everything I set out to do, but I wrecked
myself doing it. I was tired all the time, and because of the fatigue, I was
working harder than I had to, to get the results I was getting.
Feeling
tired every now and then is a normal part of the highs and lows of life. If
you’re always tired, even if you have enough energy to do what you want,
something’s up. Up to 40% of teens feel tired more than they should, and
researchers have labeled adult fatigue as an epidemic.
So,
what’s going on there? It could be a lot of things. Your mitochondria, parts of
the cells that make energy, respond to everything in your environment — what
you eat, what you smear on your skin, how you exercise, what’s in your water…
everything. When something’s off, your mitochondria feel it first, and they
make less energy. Next thing you know, you’re wiped out. And maybe fat, like I
was.
There
are a lot of things that could contribute to sleepy mitochondria and feeling
sleepy yourself. Here are some things to explore.
You have a condition you
don’t realize you have
Lots
of chronic diseases can build up to wipe you out at some point, and we all know
an acute illness like the flu will definitely take you down for a few days.
Whether it’s an autoimmune
condition, a lingering virus, a physiological defect, or not
enough thyroid hormone,
when certain body systems are compromised, you feel it.
When
you have a disease or condition, your body is constantly working to either
repair low-level damage it’s causing, or it’s working to heal the condition
entirely. Both of these things make you experience a range of fatigue, from an
afternoon slump to an inability to get out of bed.
It’s
tempting to reach for caffeine, sugar, wonder supplements, and other methods of
perking up. That’s just bandaging the situation. If fatigue is part of your
day-to-day, it’s best to get a complete workup by a functional medicine doctor.
There are exceptions, but typically, conventional docs will treat symptoms, while
functional docs are more likely to dig deep and look for the root cause.
A
full workup by a functional medicine doctor will also rule out underlying
conditions. While you’re at it, cleaning up your
diet and lifestyle is always a good idea.
You have one or more Food Intolerances
It
is estimated that anywhere between 4 and 60% of the population, depending on
who you ask, has an undetected food allergy. (It’s hard to measure, because if
you can’t detect it, you can’t count it.)
If
you don’t know you have a problem with a food, there’s a good chance you’re
subjecting your body to exposure after exposure. Consider a common trigger food
— dairy protein (in contrast, dairy fat – ie butter or ghee – is usually
non-reactive.) If you eat like a typical American, you might expose yourself to
dairy protein all day almost every day of the week. You might make a yogurt
smoothie for breakfast, a sandwich with cheese for lunch, and a casserole with
a cream base for dinner. That’s a lot of opportunity for low-level reactions
that wear on you over time.
Scientists
have linked food allergy and chronic fatigue syndrome. Celiac
disease (allergy to gluten, a protein in wheat and several other grains) has a
specific tie to chronic fatigue syndrome.
Researchers
also found that in children, fatigue from an allergy can show up as
irritability. Kids
don’t always recognize when they need to rest, plus they get serious FOMO when
they have to go to bed and the adults get to stay awake. So if junior is cranky
all the time, consider food allergy testing or at the very least, keeping a
detailed food and behavior journal.
Here’s
what you can do right now:
Schedule
testing with a functional medicine doctor. Functional medicine
doctors deal with food and nutrition more than conventional doctors do.
Eliminate
the most common foods that cause problems. Here’s what to ditch
first:
·
Wheat and other gluten grains
·
Soy
·
Dairy
·
Eggs (they are a superfood unless you are allergic)
You
might be fully aware that you don’t go to bed early enough, and that’s easy
enough to take care of. You might work shifts so you’re unable to keep a
regular sleep schedule, in which case you have to work with what sleep time you
have. You might have insomnia, and you don’t sleep more than a few hours per
night. You might have sleep apnea, in which case you think you’re sleeping, but
your body isn’t getting any actual rest.
Do
you know how well you sleep, though? Sometimes you’re sleeping long enough, but
not hard enough. If you feel like you’re doing everything right but you still
feel exhausted, it’s time to gather some data.
You’re eating too many
carbs
Somewhere
along the way, you may have learned that carbs are a source of energy. That’s
true to a point, but there’s more to it than that.
When
you ingest carbs, your mouth and small intestine break them down into sugars
that go into your bloodstream. Whatever your body doesn’t use immediately goes
through further processing in the liver, and turns into glycogen. Glycogen gets
stored in the muscles and liver for later use. Once your muscles and liver are
at capacity, any additional glucose gets converted to storage mode, aka body
fat.
This
happens fairly quickly. Once your excess carbs get stored as fat, your blood
sugar registers as low and your body signals that you’re out of fuel. You feel
hungry again, and you likely want more carbs.
A better way to avoid
this roller coaster: burn fat for fuel
When
blood sugar levels are low, triglycerides (fats) jump into the Krebs cycle to
be converted into ATP (energy molecules).
If
your body detects high levels of acetyl co-A, a byproduct of burning fat, the
acetyl CoA starts creating ketones, an even better fuel source.
Getting
from the low glucose phase to the ketone phase is rough — so rough that it’s
been nicknamed “keto flu.” But
once you’re in the fat-burning zone, you experience things like:
·
Sustained energy without crashes
·
Lower cravings
·
Mental clarity
·
Stable moods
If
you go lower carb and higher fat, make sure you keep at it for three weeks or
more. The shift can take a few days to two weeks.
Chronic
stress wears on your adrenal glands over time. When your adrenals work
overtime, you develop adrenal fatigue, or adrenal burnout. When that happens,
your cortisol doesn’t know when to drop and when to climb, and you might
experience things like:
·
Fatigue
·
Insomnia
·
Anxiety
·
Depression
·
Weight gain (especially around the
middle)
·
Autoimmune disorders
There
are adrenal fatigue tests you can get from your doctor. Be aware, though, most
conventional doctors do not recognize adrenal fatigue as a legitimate
condition. If they’re willing to play ball, they might send you to the lab for
a one-time blood cortisol test, when you can get more accurate information from
a salivary or urine cortisol measurement at various times in a day. Go to a
functional medicine doctor to get the right tests.
It’s
easy to fall into thinking that feeling tired all the time is a normal part of
life, a normal part of parenting, a normal part of working, a normal part of
getting older. It’s not. It is your birthright to have more than enough energy
to handle whatever life brings your way. It’s up to you to figure out how to
support your biology so it will always deliver more than you think you need.
