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Talking about fatigue in the singular is not entirely correct – doctors and psychologists think so. The causes and types of this condition can be different. To cope with chronic fatigue, you need to correctly recognize its type. Sometimes this requires an examination and tests. In other cases, you can figure it out on your own. Check out our list.
Tiredness is our price to pay for freedom, explains psychologist Alain Ehrenberg in The Tiredness of Being Yourself. We try to do a million things, torn between work, phone calls, emails, family chores and other responsibilities. We drive ourselves.
Fatigue is a kind of defensive reaction, the body’s way of protecting us from a crazy life. It does not allow us to take on a pile of new cases. So fatigue can also be viewed in a positive context.
Fatigue has many faces, so it must be analyzed from the point of view of psychology, medicine and sociology.
1. Occupational fatigue
“It’s not the person who works the hardest who gets the most tired,” explains sociologist Marc Loriol, author of Time to Get Tired. The feeling of fatigue from work is influenced by interest in it, its meaningfulness, recognition of your merits, encouragement from superiors, and other factors.
Someone thinks that you need to give all the best for the approval of colleagues, boss or clients, and when no one appreciates the efforts, you don’t want to take the initiative once again.
The other is inspired by the very result of the work, and he does not mind working even harder and better just for the sake of it.
If your work lacks variety, you are more likely to suffer from negative emotions that are perceived as fatigue. And if all your tasks cannot be completed due to lack of funds and time, the overpowering feeling of powerlessness can exacerbate the feeling of exhaustion.
How to win
Not ready to change jobs? Then you can try to find meaning where there is none, or become something like a happy Sisyphus.
Colleagues or boss do not express emotions about your work? Start the conversation first. Emphasize your role, for example, in closing a major deal. Or explain why you don’t have enough time or resources for certain tasks. Perhaps the management does not mind giving you an assistant.
2. Emotional fatigue
Summer is coming to an end, there is less and less sunlight, many are returning from vacations and hardly joining the working rhythm. “Autumn is a traditional time of fatigue: lack of vitamins, sunlight, cold – all this has a bad effect on a person. Emotional fatigue also sets in: you don’t feel up to par, you don’t have time for anything, you are dissatisfied with yourself and the world, you think that you won’t succeed, gradually sink into a blues. And the list of planned cases is growing, exacerbating this condition, ”psychologist Violana Gerito describes emotional fatigue.
How to win
Patience and endurance have limits. It is necessary to accumulate not fatigue, but positive emotions. First, try to realize that you have taken on too much. Think about what tasks can be carried over to the next month or reassigned. You will not feel that you are obliged to do it, which means that there will be no feeling of guilt for not having time to do something.
Don’t ask too much of yourself and don’t set the bar too high.
Let there be no perfect order at home, let you have already missed three classes with an instructor and have not gone on a diet. Be kind to yourself during this difficult time. But even if you’re tired beyond measure, resist the urge to lie under the covers. Loneliness only increases emotional fatigue. Socialize and go out into the world to overcome nervous tension.
3. Hormonal fatigue
“A few days before the end of the cycle, some women feel specific fatigue,” explains gynecologist-endocrinologist Claire Briquet. “Usually it’s caused by an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, two female hormones. This failure causes irritability and loss of energy. During menstruation, the drastic drop in hormones causes another type of fatigue: disgust for everything.
In addition, heavy bleeding leads to physical fatigue due to lack of iron, and pain in the lower abdomen weakens the nervous system. In later life, the decline in estrogen levels also provokes fatigue, which seems insurmountable.
How to win
If you recognize these symptoms or find that fatigue is related to a particular period of your cycle, discuss it with your doctor. Perhaps he will prescribe tests and prescribe hormonal drugs.
4. Food fatigue
“Food can also make you feel low,” adds nutritionist Jacques Fricke. – After a meal, fast carbohydrates (cookies, white bread, sweets) raise blood sugar levels and force the pancreas to produce large doses of insulin to lower its level. This leads to a response of hypoglycemia – a decrease in blood sugar levels – accompanied by a feeling of lethargy.
Another critical period is three or four hours after a meal if it was oily and heavy. Such food is digested slowly and requires a lot of energy. In addition, a large amount of fat in the blood increases the load on the liver. In the long term, an unbalanced diet leads to beriberi and a lack of magnesium, which are felt as nervous exhaustion.
How to win
Eat 3-4 times a day. In the morning, eat slow carbohydrates (bran bread, fruit, oatmeal). They give the body a boost of energy. Load up on protein and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Try not to snack every hour and do not swallow food on the go. And of course, drink water to help your body flush out toxins and toxins.
5. Physical fatigue
“If you feel muscle fatigue after a whole day on your feet or fall over exhausted just after playing basketball with your son for 15 minutes, these are alarming symptoms,” says Stefan Kashua, author of Is Sports Good for Health?
The body is signaling that your fitness is far from optimal
“Regular exercise without exhausting stress will help you feel better. They increase stamina and stimulate the release of endorphins, ”the specialist emphasizes.
How to win
The simplest of the recovery workouts are walking, cycling, swimming. To get the most out of them, you need to enter the rhythm gradually. If there was no sport in your life for a long time, it makes sense to start with regular walks at a fast pace.
6. Fatigue due to improper sleep
“In order to recover, the brain needs full (about an hour and a half) deep and REM sleep phases,” explains Stefan Kashua. – The deep sleep phase is necessary to process the information received during the day and organize it. When this phase is disturbed, memory capacity is reduced, it becomes difficult for you to focus on anything.
The paradoxical phase (aka the dream phase) helps to cope with fatigue and restore strength. If a person is deprived of it, he will end his days in a clinic for the mentally ill.
Noise, uncomfortable bed and other little things cause micro-awakenings
As a result, one phase is replaced by another imperceptibly for you and the cycle does not end. As a result, you wake up feeling tired. This condition is well known to young mothers who get up several times a night to the newborn.
How to win
If you have a small child, then fatigue due to lack of sleep will have to come to terms for a while. In all other cases, action must be taken. Treat your partner’s snoring, improve the soundproofing of walls and windows, change your mattress to a more comfortable one. Make sure that nothing disturbs your full sleep.