Constant fatigue and sleepiness, lack of energy - these symptoms can have many different causes. Sometimes they are trivial, but sometimes they require the intervention of a doctor. Therefore, when you feel that your energy level is zero, and each day is a struggle for survival - check what could be causing it. Sometimes it's just the result of late nights or temporary stress. However, if this condition continues, it may indicate a serious illness.
Lack of energywe all feel from time to time. Usually, we attribute it to a poor diet, low activity, spending evenings in front of the TV or a stressful lifestyle. And we try to fight with another coffee or energy.
Meanwhile, while the occasional feeling of lack of energy is nothing strange - because everyone may have a bad day from time to time - the feeling of constant fatigue should already arouse anxiety and make you see a doctor.
Lack of energy can have many reasons, including both banal lack of sleep and more serious reasons, including iron deficiency that can lead to anemia, or a number of diseases that require specialist treatment.
Lack of anergy and autoimmune diseases
The underlying cause of malaise, weakness and constant fatigue may be the developing autoimmune disease. Particularly fatigue, which persists after a night of rest, is a symptom of this.
Autoimmune diseases are those in which the body attacks its own tissues. They include, among others Hashimoto's disease, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjögren's syndrome and many more. Their common denominator is that the immune system ceases to distinguish foreign antigens from its own.
It leads to a situation where it destroys he althy tissues of a specific organ (this is the case with Hashimoto's, when thyroid cells are damaged) or acts multiorgan (e.g. in Sjögren's syndrome). Apart from the fact that the mere killing of your own tissues weakens the body, it also consumes a lot of energy that a person could spend in other way, e.g. on additional mental or physical work.
No wonder that people struggling with autoimmune diseases feel lethargic, apathetic and have no strength for anything. Very often with these conditionsthere is also pain and weakness in the muscles and a depressed mood, which leads to a general malaise.
When does chronic inflammation cause a lack of energy?
Chronic inflammation is also a factor that may cause us to have little energy during the day, and every activity will be a heavy burden for us. One-off and temporary inflammation is not a bad thing, because it allows you to get rid of, for example, bacteria or viruses that attack us.
However, when it becomes chronic, it causes the body to become weaker. This type of condition occurs due to many factors. One of them is obesity. The adipose tissue of overweight people produces pro-inflammatory hormones, which contribute to internal inflammation.
Another cause is an improper diet, such as eating fats that contain a large amount of pro-inflammatory trans acids or eating excess carbohydrates that cause high levels of glucose in the blood. Also, exposure to constant contact with toxic substances makes our body unable to cope with the excess of free radicals and is unable to remove toxins on time, which translates into a general weakening of the body.
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Constant fatigue may be a symptom of anemia
Anemia is a disease in which there is a decrease in hemoglobin concentration, a decrease in the level of erythrocytes and the hematocrit index below the generally accepted norm. It is usually caused by iron deficiency or vitamin B12 deficiency, as well as by bone marrow wasting.
The main symptoms of anemia are: poor exercise tolerance, general malaise, palpitations. These symptoms are a consequence of hypoxia and poor nutrition of cells, and thus their worse functioning and even dying. The feeling of weakness is related to a greater strain on the heart, which tries to make up for the shortage and pumps more blood to reach all cells.
People with anemia often get short of breath and get tired faster. They are also sleepy and don't feel like taking on new challenges. What factors contribute to the development of anemia? First of all, a deficient iron diet, vegan diets devoid of the main source of vitamin B12, i.e. meat, as well as excessive menstruation in women.
Another factor contributing to anemia are problems with the absorption of iron from the digestive system, or difficulties with the absorption of vitamin B12 caused by: improper pH in the stomach, taking medications that inhibit the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, damaged gastric mucosa.
Teamchronic fatigue - how to recognize it?
If we have been struggling with apathy and weakness for a long time and we have performed extensive diagnostics, excluding the underlying disease, and we do not have extraordinary stressful situations in everyday life, it means that we may suffer from something called chronic syndrome fatigue. To confirm that we have it, we must meet several criteria:
- O For at least 6 months we must feel very tired constantly or with some breaks. It does not disappear after a night's rest and significantly affects the deterioration of existence (both in the professional and private sphere),
- we have to exclude all other diseases that could cause weakness, including mental illnesses and disorders,
Besides, we must be accompanied by at least 4 out of 8 symptoms:
- enlarged lymph nodes in the armpits or around the neck
- sore throat
- joint pain that is migrating and not accompanied by swelling or redness
- memory and concentration disorders
- very high sleepiness or vice versa - struggling with insomnia
- muscle pain
- non-localized headaches
- very much tired after such physical exertion, which was not a problem in the past.
To this day, it is not known what can cause chronic fatigue syndrome. It is suspected that viral infections, especially EBV infection, Coxsackie virus infection, measles, rubella and impairment of cellular immune mechanisms may contribute to this. Treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome includes drug therapy, psychological care, and rehabilitation to strengthen weakened muscles.
Seasonal affective disease or winter fatigue
If you feel tired mainly in the fall / winter season and it subsides with the arrival of spring, it means that you may be suffering from seasonal affective disorder. Its main symptoms are: decrease in energy, decreased motivation to perform ordinary activities, slowing down.
It is usually accompanied by: sadness, decreased libido, increased feeling of anxiety, greater than usual irritability. What factors cause seasonal affective disorder? First of all, it is caused by the lack of sunlight and staying in closed rooms for a long time, which lead to disturbance of the circadian rhythm.
In order to recognize this type of disease, for 3 consecutive years we must observe the appearance of the above-mentioned symptoms in the same period of the calendar year, which last for at least 2 weeks. Iffor example, in November we will always observe a low mood, a desire to cry, when every smallest activity will be an enormous effort for us, then we can be almost sure that seasonal affective disorder affects us.