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The term “fatigue” we usually call the state of severe fatigue, when there is no desire to get out of bed and do anything. However, this concept is also applicable in medicine – this is a physiological or pathological condition in which muscle strength decreases, motor activity sharply decreases or almost completely stops. A person feels constant drowsiness, even if he slept well, and gets tired very quickly.
Of course, this is also normal if you did not sleep for several nights, closing the next project, preparing for a session, or doing repairs. But if the loss of strength is not associated with overwork, does not go away after a good rest, and complaints last more than 6 months, it’s time to worry. You may have something called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
Usually, a sharp decline in strength in adults is formed after severe psycho-emotional overload, against the background of a constant lack of vitamins, nutrients, and constant hard physical labor. In addition, such complaints may occur if there are problems with the nervous system, you have suffered a serious infectious disease (for example, a severe coronavirus). Such complaints are possible with lesions of the thyroid gland, against the background of a weakened immune system.
Causes of loss of strength in adults
There are both physiological breakdown caused by certain external influences, and pathological.
Physiological decline. If we mean a breakdown due to physiological processes, then most often the reason lies in overwork – both of the physical body and our psyche. Everything has its own resource and margin of safety, and not always the body can cope with the loads that have fallen on it – shocks, constant worries, pressure at work. By the way, white-collar workers are the most vulnerable, as are successful people, where responsibility for others and extreme concentration are needed. Often, a complete breakdown in an adult may be preceded by certain triggers, some circumstances against the background of experiencing mental trauma or stress. This, for example, is a party with an excess of alcohol, cigarettes, which have become the last straw in the suffering of the body. Taking certain medications (tranquilizers, antidepressants) can lead to a breakdown, especially if we drink them without medical supervision or without following the prescribed regimen.
If, against the background of hard work or moral overload, we also eat poorly, do not get the necessary vitamins, freeze on the street or do not get enough sleep, often wake up at night – the body fails.
What else can lead to a breakdown or worsen its course?
Staying in a stuffy office, where there is little oxygen, constantly sitting at the table, lack of ordinary drinking water, which provokes dehydration. Plus, office workers suffer from a banal lack of sunlight and vitamin D, and women after 40 also suffer from pre-menopausal hormonal imbalance. All this in combination or several factors individually deplete our body and soul, provoking a breakdown.
The condition gradually returns to normal after a full rest, change of scenery, physiotherapy.
We can roughly determine when we felt a physiological breakdown and how long it lasts.
Pathological decline. If we are talking about pathological fatigue with a sharp decline in strength, then these may be external manifestations of serious health problems. It is important to check if there is a sluggish infection in the body, poisoning with any products or fungal pathologies.
In addition, a breakdown can be a kind of “beacon” of anemia with iron deficiency, heart problems, especially chronic ones, as well as kidney and liver pathologies.
Endocrine disorders, a sharp inhibition of metabolism, blood problems, tumors and head injuries, vascular lesions with atherosclerosis, bleeding, and rheumatism can lead to a breakdown.
With a pathological decline in strength, a person, as a rule, cannot determine what caused it and at what point it began. The state of impotence – both from the side of the body, and from the side of the psyche in this case begins in the morning and lasts all day, gradually the manifestations become more difficult, any cold, lack of sleep or stress increase the feeling of a breakdown. Sometimes a person literally cannot get out of bed and needs specialized help.
Symptoms of low energy in adults
Most often, what we call a breakdown, including muscle weakness, can begin at the same time as a cold or other infections or illnesses. But with all this, headache, general weakness, depressive thoughts and general weakness do not go away for 3-4 weeks or longer, it can be observed up to six months. Against the background of a breakdown, we feel physically overwhelmed and morally exhausted, constantly tired. There is a desire to relax, just starting to do something, there is no desire to work.
Also, against the background of a breakdown, cognitive function may be impaired – memory suffers, including for simple events, faces and numbers, perception is disturbed, it becomes very difficult to concentrate on important tasks, muscle tone is weakened, which leads to difficulty in movement. Muscle aches or pain in the joints may be noted. In addition, patients have a number of other complaints – the heart beats often (tachycardia), the mucous membranes of the eyes can dry out, which leads to vision problems. Some suffer from fluctuations in temperature – from low to high, dizziness and headache attacks are typical, excruciating phobias may occur (especially the fear of death or serious illness).
Additional manifestations during a breakdown largely depend on the condition that caused the problem.
What to do with a breakdown in adults at home
If you feel a breakdown after hard physical labor, overwork, serious nervous strain, shock or breakdown, the most correct thing to do is to give yourself time to rest, and, moreover, a full one, sometimes with a change of scenery, with a stay in a sanatorium. It is imperative to establish a night’s sleep, as well as put in order the entire regime of the day, including the time of work and rest.
If the breakdown is quite pronounced, it is worth delegating your duties that require emotional and mental stress, adding fortified foods to the diet, especially fruits and vegetables. Can help in returning to a normal state of walking and being in nature, meditation.
If the breakdown is pathological, you need to consult a doctor – a neurologist or therapist. Of course, it is imperative to treat those conditions that provoke the problem. Plus, you may need drugs that help restore energy levels – vitamins of the B complex, drugs with a stimulating effect – Enerion, Stimol, Mildronate. Physiotherapy courses, massage sessions, physiotherapy exercises can help.
Popular questions and answers
Answered popular questions about loss of strength therapist, cardiologist Natalya Gavrilyuk.