"I'm cool - I'm tired." How to get out of the cycle and stop feeling tired and unhappy

Every person is familiar with the feeling of fatigue and lack of energy, especially during periods of bad weather or outbreaks of viral infections. Normally, this problem is solved with proper rest and sleep. But when such a condition drags on and significantly reduces the quality of life, this is a signal that it is time to think about the health of the nervous system.

Fatigue is a functional state of the body with a significant decrease in energy, performance and motivation, which affects both the physical and mental well-being of a person. Typically, persistent fatigue is a symptom and not a separate condition. In most cases, it is caused by a combination of lifestyle, health and social problems.

Constantly feeling tired can cause a variety of physical, mental and emotional symptoms:

• Headache, dizziness
• Decreased immunity, frequent infectious diseases
• Lack of feeling of proper rest after sleep in the morning
• Muscle weakness, body aches
• Tinnitus
• Slow reaction, problems with coordination
• Constant lethargy, inertia, apathy, laziness, lack of motivation
• Deterioration of thinking processes: decreased attention, concentration and intelligence, which means deterioration in educational and work activities
• Loss of appetite
• Problems with short-term and long-term memory
• Exacerbation of allergic reactions
• Enlarged lymph nodes
• Vision problems

Symptoms tend to worsen after exercise.

Clinically significant is a feeling of fatigue with accompanying symptoms for two or more weeks.

Certain symptoms may predominate depending on the type of fatigue. There are two of them:

Physical fatigue: Normally, muscle fatigue gradually accumulates during physical activity and goes away after rest. Pathological cases are associated with lack or insufficient sleep and health problems. It becomes difficult for a person to perform ordinary physical activities that he could easily cope with before. For example, a patient who previously visited the gym regularly and with pleasure completely gives up training due to lack of strength. The problem can also affect completely routine tasks: climbing the stairs to the second floor, walking to the nearest store. A mandatory symptom will be muscle weakness.

Mental fatigue: it is difficult for the patient to maintain not only physical, but also mental activity. Memory, concentration, and learning ability are impaired. Eternal fatigue and drowsiness prevent you from doing even light mental work. This condition affects the driver’s reaction and attention. According to statistics, sleepy people behind the wheel get into car accidents three times more often than others. This is comparable to the risks associated with being intoxicated.

It happens that a person sleeps enough every day, eats normally and leads an orderly lifestyle, but constant weakness and fatigue do not go away. Feeling exhausted can make it impossible to manage even necessary daily activities. This means that the condition requires professional diagnosis and possibly treatment.

Proper food is a remedy against fatigue

A healthy and proper breakfast will help you cope with fatigue and recharge your energy for the day.

Feeling drowsy an hour after eating a bowl of pasta. Catch brain fog due to insufficient fluid intake. Eating only sweets, chips and processed foods and sinking into constant fatigue and drowsiness on the verge of depression. Six strategies will help you break the vicious circle:

1. Have breakfast every day. People who eat in the morning feel better mentally and physically. Eating oatmeal for breakfast is associated with decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
2. Eat every three hours to maintain blood sugar levels. When it sharply decreases, weakness and fatigue sets in. Choose healthy snacks - vegetables, fruits, nuts, eggs, sugar-free yogurt, cottage cheese, low-fat cheese.
3. Consume up to 25-30 g of fiber daily, as it helps to slowly saturate the body with energy, which helps get rid of constant fatigue.
4. Nourish the brain with omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in nuts, flaxseed oil, and fatty fish. Acids prevent carbohydrates from being stored as fat and are used to replenish glycogen stores in muscles - energy.
5. Hydrate cells with adequate fluid intake to thin the blood and nourish the body. If the urine is dark, then fluid intake should be increased.
6. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and limit your intake to 200-300 ml per day, which is equivalent to 2-3 cups of coffee. Excess caffeine reduces the quality of sleep and causes a constant feeling of fatigue. Drink green tea instead of coffee, which increases energy levels without adversely affecting the heart.

Start your morning with vigor! Add the juice of one lemon, two drops of mint essential oil and a spoonful of honey to a glass of water.

Five reasons for this

The following factors contribute to a decrease in vitality at this time.

Long-term lack of daylight and sun . With a lack of ultraviolet radiation in the body, vitamin D is poorly produced, which is involved in all biochemical processes and controls most systems: nervous, endocrine, musculoskeletal. And short daylight hours negatively affect mental state. Therefore, many people feel blues at this time.

Lack of vitamins . After winter, almost everyone has one. After all, the main source of “live” vitamins – seasonal vegetables and fruits – are not yet ripe, and glossy imported ones have little benefit.

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Most often in winter we sit within four walls. A couple of days a month spent at the skating rink or skiing do not count. And without regular and sufficient physical activity, the body weakens. Oxygen starvation . By spending a lot of time indoors, often stuffy and poorly ventilated, as well as using heating devices that absorb oxygen, we increase the risk of chronic hypoxia, in which the entire body malfunctions: the brain works worse, blood circulation is weaker, and endogenous (internal) production of vitamins limps.

Exacerbation of chronic diseases . Most of them make themselves felt precisely in the cold season. And weather-dependent people have a doubly hard time against the backdrop of snowstorms, rains and winds.

However, constant fatigue cannot be considered the norm. It is imperative to deal with it, since this is how severe depression, hypofunction of the thyroid gland, multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus and even cancer sometimes manifest themselves. If you suddenly experience sudden weight loss, night sweats, muscle weakness, loss of previously significant interests and reluctance to communicate even with friends, it is better to have your health checked comprehensively (by a neurologist, endocrinologist, psychiatrist and oncologist).

Treating chronic fatigue with healing sleep

Daytime sleepiness, headache, fatigue, lack of attention may indicate poor rest at night.

Fatigue throughout the day can be eliminated by purchasing a new mattress. The spine bends excessively on a mattress that does not provide orthopedic support, breathing becomes shallow, the brain receives less oxygen and the nervous system becomes agitated. In the morning, a person suffers from an excess of stress hormones and adrenaline: irritability, cravings for sweets, apathy.

The right orthopedic mattress, selected according to the person’s age, height and weight, taking into account posture and health problems, will force the skeletal muscles to work and relax the large back muscles, which are usually compressed and overloaded. Blood will flow freely through the arteries and veins, the lower back will take a neutral position, and the pain will go away.

• For people with back pain, it is important to choose an anatomical mattress, but with good orthopedic support for the spine.
• Physically active people with a large body weight should not use a harder mattress in order to preserve the functioning of the spine.
• If you are slouched, you need to choose a medium-hard mattress with anatomical filling.
• A soft mattress is recommended for pain in the joints and muscles, and intervertebral hernias.

The first signs of emotional burnout

Interacting with others is both responsible, hard work and great joy. Therefore, the inability to cope with the emerging moral fatigue from communicating with friends and colleagues can lead to general irritation. This means that at the first signs of emotional burnout, it is important to immediately begin actions aimed at restoring mental strength. Otherwise, the resulting condition will begin to affect colleagues and loved ones, which will cause them to respond with irritation. As a result, the situation will only become more complicated.

It is important to note that the process does not stop there. If urgent measures are not taken, a mentally tired person begins to suffer from a decrease in the overall level of awareness. A person does not understand what is happening to him: all positive emotions from the surrounding society disappear, and they are replaced by either disgust or complete indifference.

He constantly gets tired of people.

Psychological relief - a remedy against fatigue

Sadness, anger, anxiety, fear - emotions leave a heavy mark on your overall health and well-being. Correct work on emotions helps overcome burnout.

1. Just add water. Freshen up, wash your face - this is the advice psychologists give, recommending water therapy against fatigue and to increase energy.
2. Charge yourself with your own reflection or compliment. A fleeting glance in the mirror provides a boost of energy, like a compliment from the opposite sex.
3. To throw out emotions so as not to allow your own endurance to be completely exhausted. Allow yourself to discuss fears, anger, the cause of stress and disappointment.
4. Turn on your favorite music, which, according to psychologists, distracts from the feeling of fatigue.
5. Let go of the grudge. By maintaining resentment, the body reacts with chronic stress, increases heart rate and blood pressure, suppresses the immune system, and reduces strength. By practicing forgiveness of offenders, you can regain full control of your body’s reactions and control stress.
6. Master belly breathing. In a state of stress, shallow breathing through the chest predominates, which reduces the supply of oxygen to the brain and causes physical and mental exhaustion. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing with a rounded belly is a visual reminder that it is time to breathe and relax.
7. Do some cleaning. Stop shuffling stacks of papers and searching through an overcrowded closet—clutter leaves you feeling out of control in your life. Cleaning is the achievement of a small but significant goal, which tones you up.
8. Do something good. Acts of altruism channel happiness directly into the brain, increasing life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of control, physical health and mood.

When should you see a doctor?

If you have eliminated the most common causes of fatigue in your lifestyle (lack of rest, poor diet, stress), but have not seen any results and your fatigue continues for two weeks or more, you need to consult a doctor.

Here are 4 more good reasons to visit a doctor:

• You cannot explain the reasons for your fatigue;
• Your body temperature is higher than normal;
• You have trouble sleeping;
• You think you are depressed.

What questions, tests and tests can help determine the cause of fatigue?

In order to find out the cause of fatigue, you need to evaluate your lifestyle, the environment at work, the presence of concomitant diseases, and your psychological state.

Questions that can help in identifying the factors of fatigue

• How many hours do you sleep? When do you fall asleep, what time do you wake up?
• Do you wake up rested or tired?
• How many times do you wake up during sleep?
• Do you exercise regularly?
• Is your level of fatigue constant throughout the day?
• What changes have occurred in your life: in relationships, at work, at school, in your living conditions?
• How do you eat? How much do you drink coffee, eat sugar, or overeat?
• When do you feel most tired during the day?
• Is there a pattern to when fatigue occurs (time of day or time of year, such as holidays)?
• What is your emotional state? Are you happy/unhappy, satisfied/disappointed?
• What else bothers you besides fatigue? Fever, nausea, vomiting, stool upset, muscle pain, cough, thirst, appetite, weight loss or gain?

What tests need (can) be taken?

• General blood analysis;
• Blood chemistry;
• Blood test for hormones (for example, thyroid hormones (TSH, T3, T4));
• Pregnancy test, HIV test;
• FOGK;
• ECG;
• CT (if necessary)

Final diagnosis

Definitive diagnosis depends on identifying the underlying cause of fatigue; this is determined by evaluating the history, physical examination, and relevant test results.

How to get rid of stress? Choose your relaxation technique

The reaction to stress determines the relaxation method that is most suitable for the person.

1. Do you tend to get angry, worried or excited? Try relaxation techniques that allow the mind to cool down, such as meditation, deep breathing, or guided visualization - imagining yourself in a pleasant, relaxing place, reproducing sounds, smells, tactile sensations.
2. Do you tend to become tired, withdrawn and sleepy? The body will respond to relaxation that stimulates and energizes the nervous system, such as rhythmic exercises - dancing, running, walking. You can simply use a rubber expander for your hand, rotate your head, or toss a tennis ball.
3. Do you tend to feel anxious on the inside and become sluggish on the outside? You need to identify relaxation techniques that reset the nervous system, such as walking and power yoga.

Restorative rest is a remedy against fatigue

Energy, mood, productivity, and memory depend on a night's rest, because almost a quarter of Russian adults sleep little and have little knowledge of sleep hygiene:

1. Reduce time spent at the computer or in front of the TV after 8 pm. Bright screen light can make it difficult to fall asleep because it suppresses the production of melatonin, the hormone that tells the brain it's nighttime. Turn off the Internet an hour before your expected bedtime, better read.
2. Hide the alarm clock when falling asleep, stop monitoring how much time you spend in bed, as this causes anxiety. Conscious insomnia causes the brain to remain awake and impairs deep, restorative sleep.
3. Reduce temperature. The bedroom should be comfortably cool to match your core body temperature, which drops at night. The ideal temperature is 20-23 degrees.
4. Avoid alcohol, which depresses the nervous system, which controls the body's response to internal and external stimuli. Alcohol may have a sedative effect, but will cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. Alcohol disrupts the natural 24-hour biorhythm and increases blood pressure at night, when a person is usually relaxed and calm.
5. Add physical activity. Aerobic exercise increases the duration of the deep sleep phase and reduces the number of awakenings. Strength training increases immunity, increases resistance to stress, which is important in modern life, helps you relax better and fall asleep faster.
6. Put off worries until tomorrow. Throughout the day, keep a record of all stressors, take a minute to find explanations and solutions for them, and develop action plans. As soon as your head touches the pillow, you will know that all problems have been thought through for a long time, and this will help you relax faster.

Use the 15-minute rule for good sleep: if you haven’t been able to fall asleep within a quarter of an hour, you should do something relaxing - read, listen to meditative music, knit, but just don’t turn on the Internet! If you feel drowsy, immediately return to bed.

How to find the strength to live. How to find the strength to work

Well, how to live on if you have no strength and don’t want anything? How to live if there is no energy?

1. Let's first stop scolding ourselves for being so tired. After all, the fact that we blame and scold ourselves in this situation only aggravates it. And takes away the remaining energy. Therefore, the first thing is to calm down, ACCEPT that things are exactly like this for me now. Tell yourself: this is temporary.
2. The second step is important: lower the bar in your affairs . Therefore, for now let’s put aside all our desires to “be the best.” In addition, aside - the desire to jump higher than everyone else, to do better. Therefore, it is now important for us to leave some kind of minimum according to the principle “NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT”.

How to find the strength to live and work