Tired of being tired? Here are three things you'd like to know

Do you sometimes ask yourself “Why do I feel so tired all the time?” Do you find the idea of having to wake up in the morning and getting ready for work daunting? Do you sometimes feel that you are so tired you have no energy to sleep? Or have you found yourself struggling to focus and be interested in meetings during the daytime?

If your answer to any of the above questions is ‘yes’, you certainly need to rethink your assumption that you are tired because your day is demanding and it is simply the body’s response. Of course, feeling tired proportional to your physical exertion or mental focus is natural and normal. However, if you feel that ‘you need to fight tiredness’, that's a clear indication that ‘you suffer from the condition, fatigue’.

Fatigue in a nutshell occurs simply because ‘the body is unable to rest rhythmically and recover quickly’. Before fatigue becomes chronic or even when you know you are suffering from ‘chronic fatigue’ there are three simple ways to assess the severity of your fatigue.

Firstly, you may naturally be prone to quick exhaustion and poor recovery, often noticed in individuals of Vata personality. To find out if you have a Vata mind/body type, take an Ayurvedic constitutional test or see an Ayurvedic practitioner. Besides taking a constitutional analysis it will be helpful to measure your body’s ability to adapt to stress using heart rate variation analysis. This is an excellent indicator to find out how your nervous system and hormonal systems adapt to stress.

Secondly, you may be eating foods that might give you initial bursts of energy followed by an energy crash. Refined carbohydrates and sugars are the most notorious of foods that contribute to fatigue. Although eliminating these can improve your fatigue, it may not stay stabilise as most fatigue triggered by food comes from ‘wrong food combinations’. There are no lists of wrong combinations that fit everyone. Depending on your digestive type called ‘agni’ in Ayurveda, certain combinations may worsen your fatigue than others. For some individuals, combining high protein with dairy can be bad whilst for others combining protein with carbs can be bad. To understand the deeper causes of fatigue triggered by wrong food combinations, see an Ayurvedic practitioner specialised in nutrition.

Finally, your fatigue could be a result of exposure to an electro-magnetic field due to excessive use of electronics and electrical equipment. For instance, a television set or mobile phone close to where you sleep can negatively influence hormonal balance and turn the biological clock upside down by producing more cortisol (stress hormones) in the night instead of melatonin (sleep aiding hormones).

Besides, avoiding exposure to electro magnetic field, you can do a number of self-practices to negate the impact of electro magnetic field. For instance applying warm sesame oil by massaging the oil on the soles of the feet, legs, arms, neck, face and scalp and then having a warm shower or bath can relieve fatigue.