“After lunch I wanted to sleep, I didn’t even think about sex”: why we become lazy, sleepy and how to fix it

Marina Shumilova – fitness trainer, has been training for three years. In 2016, after giving birth, she lost weight from 73 to 51 kilograms. This is a dream, Marina thought, but she felt neither satisfaction, nor happiness, nor harmony. She constantly felt tired, hated waking up in the morning, irritated over little things.

Once the girls decided to donate blood. And she was horrified. She wrote a column on why you need to study your body like any science. And we also learned the opinion of an expert.

After school from a small town, I moved to Yekaterinburg to study. And first of all, we, first-year students, were sent to a collective farm, where I, an eternally starving provincial, had a break at the table food. As a result – plus 10 kilograms. It was a tragedy. First year, new acquaintances, and I am huge. What I didn’t do with myself, what diets I just didn’t sit on. It got to the ridiculous: all day on cucumbers, in the evening – 1,5 hours of treadmill, and in the morning I got up on the scales and cried – nothing helped.  

I started losing weight only when I met my future husband – it’s harmony, endorphins. Then she stopped eating meat and began to plan a pregnancy. For the first time in my life, I passed hormones and received a verdict from the doctor – “you are practically infertile.” What did this mean for a girl at the age of 29, next to whom there was a beloved man? She didn’t say anything to anyone, she just prayed and cried. A month later, I held a test with two strips in my hand. Miracle? That this is really a miracle, I realized much later, when I found out in what state my health was …

During pregnancy, I gained 20 kilograms, which I got rid of after three months. She moved in a semi-faint state, constantly tired, crying, without sleep, food, all in acne and always nervous. I also wondered why the child was constantly crying.

Of course, I was convinced that all mothers of newborn babies feel this way, which is normal.

The quality of the body then was terrible, the buttocks hung, the back was crooked, the stomach fell out. I began to work hard, and at one of the trainings, a girl instructor suggested stretching in them. I got so involved that I decided to go through the training myself and became a fitness yoga instructor.

And now, it seems, everything is fine – I am athletic, I do what I love, I train, but I have no strength, there is not enough energy. At the time, it seemed normal to me that I:

• I find it hard to fall asleep and hard to wake up.

• After dinner I want to sleep again.

• I get up in a sad mood and quickly pour my coffee. 

• I am irritated, angry with my daughter, blaming everything on “fatigue.”

• I depend on some products (sweet, starchy foods). I thought that the mood would rise if I eat a chocolate bar, a bun. 

• I don’t want to play sports. I thought there was not enough “motivation”

• I don’t want sex, I didn’t even think about it.

• I go to a beautician, and the effect is enough for a week.

• I sit down to meditate and fall asleep

Do you recognize yourself? I don’t know how it came to pass, but I went to the clinic and had a blood test. And she was horrified. It turned out that I have a total protein deficiency, as a result – no immunity, no enzymes to digest food, no collagen (hence wrinkles and dry skin).

Libido left me for a long time, I did not understand “why people have sex”, because only hints remained from the hormonal system.

From the deficiency of vitamin D and minerals, there were constantly cold extremities, irritability, bruises under the eyes and permanent fatigue. I have been restoring for two years, and not everything has been decided yet.

I understood: you need to study your body more painstakingly than any other science. Some of them cannot go to the laboratory for years and pass tests, but they have visited all the psychologists. I started talking about my discovery on Instagram. Women began to write to me, it turns out that many still could not reach the clinic, check-up their body. Once a girl turned to – an athlete, mother of three children. I was dieting, running and exercising every day. Complained about her knees.

She passed a blood test – it turned out that ferritin (a protein in which iron is stored in the tissues of the body. Approx. Healthy Food Near Me) at a minimum – 4, but it should be 70. Simply put, the cells lack iron, they do not receive oxygen. And in this case, the muscles do not grow, the strength is barely enough to get out of bed, to come to work on enthusiasm. Any unnecessary movements are stressful and annoying. You don’t even need to talk about falling hair, dry skin and brittle nails. And this deficiency leads to other diseases. How did it all start? With sore knees.

I realized that only you yourself are interested in your health. We’ll have to understand, delve into and learn to live well. Each person should know what proteins, fats, carbohydrates are, calculate the norms for himself personally. Once a year, take blood tests and know your level of iron, vitamin D, B12, B9, total protein. Don’t wait when you get sick.

Now I wake up at 5 am without an alarm clock, without the desire to cheer myself up with something. At 6 o’clock I am already running, by 9 I have time to do almost everything planned. There is enough energy for the whole day, there is no desire to lie down. The quality of the skin has improved, the body responds quickly to physical activity, and the muscles grow where necessary.

And why didn’t I know before that it was possible to live like this?

Doctor’s opinion

In the clinical guidelines for the examination of healthy people, there are no tests for total protein, sex hormones, and for the content of vitamins and minerals. According to indications and complaints, they are prescribed in the hospital. But, according to Alexander Galperin, the medical director of the New Hospital, the patient should check-up the body regularly:

– A lot depends on age and gender. And if there are hereditary factors, then they will largely affect the set of examinations. They are prescribed by a doctor, but, in any case, patients must undergo screening, now there are all the possibilities for this. This is an attempt to identify a disease or preexisting condition in apparently healthy people, says the doctor. – This also includes a general blood test with the determination of ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). It can be done every two years or according to indications. Thus, it is possible to identify an inflammatory, autoimmune or oncological disease, diagnose conditions such as anemia or polycythemia, thrombocytopenia or thrombocytosis, leukopenia or leukocytosis.

According to Halperin, screening also includes continuous monitoring of body mass index, blood pressure and ECG (once a year), general urinalysis (every two years and according to indications), FGS and colonoscopy (at least once every 45-50 years , and then – according to indications). Mammography for women should be done once every two years at 40-49 years, after 50 – once a year. And from the age of 21 every year – an ultrasound of the mammary glands and a cytological smear. Check Helicabacter Ig A every five years to rule out gastritis, check glucose every two years.

If you are also ready to talk about the peculiarities of your profession, unusual cases at work, discoveries, write to nnizamova@Healthy Food Near Me. If necessary, we guarantee anonymity.