Tired All The Time
13th Aug 2021
Do you feel exhausted, weary, lacking energy, and not functioning at your best? You could be suffering from TATT syndrome - tired all the time. With a busy life or with nothing much going on in your life, you can feel tired and drained.
Tired-all-the-time syndrome can cause health and well-being issues such as tension in the body, headaches, aches and pain, digestive disturbances, lack of concentration, inability to switch off your mind-chatter, and poor-quality sleep.
You may be able to remedy some reasons for generally feeling tired, such as late nights, long work hours, night-time noise or boredom. But if tiredness goes on for a long time, and you can't remedy it, it can begin to interfere in your life and make you ill.
It's easy to resort to caffeine, alcohol or pep-me-up pills, but you may simply need a couple of healthy changes in your lifestyle to boost your energy levels and feel great.
Using two categories, psychological and physical, can help you clarify the possible reasons for your tiredness and deal with them effectively.
Psychological reasons: With so many challenges to face these days, it's not unusual to feel stressed, anxious, depressed and emotional, which can all cause weariness and exhaustion.
Negative events such as job loss, relationship break-ups and bereavements, as well as positive events such as job promotion, moving house or getting married, can all be demanding on you.
Physical reasons: Tiredness can result from iron deficiency (anaemia), an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), coeliac disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and a few more issues. It may be none of these, but if your tiredness persists over weeks, do get a medical check-up.
Other reasons can be sleep apnoea, being overweight or underweight, side effects of medications, and something people don't often think about - carbon monoxide poisoning. Install a carbon monoxide detector in your room or home. They don't cost much.
Anti-TATT action: Strategies to help soothe stress and boost energy levels include breathing well, relaxing, mindfulness and meditation, healthy nutrition, reducing stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol and smoking, exercise, walking in nature, and staying hydrated. There is lots of information about all these in journals, books, magazines, the internet. Do some research and have a go. Even one or two, such as better breathing and healthy nutrition will help you.
Also, however difficult you find this during gloomy times, socialise with other people who make you feel good about yourself. Stay away from people who drag you down. As much as you'd like to help another person feel better, focus on uplifting yourself first. You will be more help to them when you feel better about yourself.
Importantly, if none of these strategies works for you, do consult your doctor.
Copyright © 2021 Brenda Martin