Lifestyle

How To Fight Fatigue and Get Your Energy Back

February 10, 2022

Fatigue is only vaguely defined, and we all feel fatigued from time to time. But chances are if you're here, you may be dealing with chronic fatigue.

Chronic fatigue is a brutal mix of constantly feeling weak with no energy or motivation. This kind of unrelenting exhaustion is a nearly constant state of weariness that reduces energy and motivation, even sapping your ability to concentrate. Fatigue with this consistency impacts your psychological and emotional well-being.

Unlike temporary or circumstantial fatigue, what makes chronic fatigue so tough is that these feelings don’t typically go away with sleep and rest.

It's not clear how many people experience chronic fatigue in the United States given its varied definitions and symptoms. Researchers estimate somewhere between seven and 45 percent of adults are fatigued frequently.

Fatigue is challenging to study because most people don’t even know something is "wrong." Getting older means your body changes, work or family stresses mean less sleep, and many people just assume that feeling fatigued is part of life.

But chronic fatigue is not normal and could signify a much larger problem.

What Causes Fatigue?

You can usually trace fatigue to poor habits and an unhealthy lifestyle; however, it can also result from underlying mental illness or medical conditions. Here are a few of the most common causes of fatigue.

Lifestyle Factors

A variety of lifestyle factors can contribute to diminished energy levels. Making the right changes and reversing bad habits can help you get your energy back.

Lifestyle factors contributing to low energy can include:

Frequent alcohol, caffeine, or drug use
Too much or not enough physical activity
Poor sleep habits, poor quality of sleep, or sleep disorders like insomnia
A poor diet
Being overweight or obese

Mental Health Issues

Mental health issues can take a toll on your physical and mental wellbeing, and this means your energy levels too. Some examples include:

Depression
Anxiety
Stress
Bipolar disorder
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Medical Conditions

Sometimes, chronic fatigue can indicate an underlying health condition, and some medications can also contribute to fatigue as a side effect. This is especially common with sleeping disorders like sleep apnea, which is prevalent in the U.S.

Some medical conditions that may cause fatigue and low energy are:

Diabetes
Lupus
Heart disease
Emphysema
Overactive/underactive thyroid
Anemia
Cancer
Kidney disease
Concussion
Coronavirus
Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
Multiple sclerosis

How Can You Boost Your Energy Levels?

The best way to handle fatigue is to treat the underlying cause. However, it may be difficult to determine precisely why you experience fatigue—in that case, making the following lifestyle changes is a good first step to boost energy levels and begin to rule out other causes.

Eat a Healthier Diet

Food = energy. If you're feeling consistently fatigued, one of the first places you should examine is your fridge.

A diet including lots of salty, sugary, fatty, carb-heavy, processed foods (unfortunately, the standard American diet) can sap your energy and leave you feeling less than 100%.

Replacing these with nutrient-rich foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and complex carbs, nuts, and lean protein is generally healthier and can naturally boost your energy levels.

For particulars, consider including more iron in your diet, as iron deficiencies are commonly linked to fatigue. The Mediterranean diet provides plenty of iron and other key nutrients, and it's rich in fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 to combat inflammation, which is another culprit of fatigue. Following a Mediterranean diet can help support energy levels, combat symptoms of fatigue, lower your risk of heart disease, improve sleep, support healthier blood sugar levels and metabolism, and even help you lose weight.

Incorporating more healthy snacks full of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins can help support your energy, too — skip the Frosted Flakes and grab a bowl of steel-cut oats.

Get More Exercise

You might think that getting more exercise is counterproductive, burning energy instead of creating energy. But regular exercise is a top way to boost energy levels. Physical activity can help improve energy levels in as little as six weeks.

Getting regular exercise will increase heart and cardiovascular strength and get blood pumping throughout your body. When this happens, your blood transports more oxygen to peripheral tissues and muscles, allowing the cells in these tissues to function more efficiently and boost energy production, according to research.

Another benefit of exercise is that your brain releases endorphins. These are natural mood enhancers that can physically increase feelings of energy and improve mental health.

The benefits of exercise are both short-term and long-term.

Drink More Water

Water is a fundamental requirement of life, yet many people simply don’t drink enough. Nearly 60 percent of your body is water. Your brain and heart are 73 percent water; your muscles and kidneys are 79 percent water; and your lungs are 83 percent water.

You need water!

Being even slightly dehydrated chronically can deeply affect these organs. To help these essentials function, you should be drinking at least 100 ounces of water every day, or about 1.5 gallons (think milk jugs) daily.

Cut Back on Caffeine

One of the primary fixes for fatigue is caffeine, and it makes a lot of sense why. Caffeine can give you a temporary energy boost, help reduce feelings of tiredness, and even give you a boost in the bedroom.

The problem with caffeine is that it can disrupt your sleep-wake cycle by inhibiting adenosine receptors. Your body uses adenosine to signal that it's time to sleep. When caffeine blocks these receptors, your body can’t get to sleep, let alone progress through critical sleep cycles properly. Even if you fall asleep, you may not enter key restful sleep cycles, and you may wake up throughout the night.

Limit your caffeine intake to less than 400 milligrams a day (about 2-3 cups of brewed coffee), try to avoid caffeine later in the day, and be mindful of added sugar or other sweeteners that are generally just plain awful for your health.

Drop the Bad Habits

Alcohol and tobacco are two of the spices in life that many people enjoy. But as you probably know, these substances aren't great for your health and energy.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that affects your body similarly to a sedative. After a few drinks, your brain starts to lose its ability to communicate well, and your muscles begin to relax. You feel drowsy and may fall asleep quickly. While that might sound like a good thing for fatigue, alcohol can disrupt sleep cycles, resulting in low-quality sleep and significantly reducing the total time you spend in the important rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.

Smoking is terrible for you in countless ways, so add fatigue to the long list of reasons to quit. Harmful chemicals in tobacco products, including carbon monoxide, reduce the amount of oxygen available. Limited oxygen supply means that your organs won’t be getting enough to function correctly. With your organs weakened and only performing essential tasks, you may feel lethargic and tired much faster.

Lower Your Stress

Stress can have severe and far-reaching consequences on your overall health.

Cortisol is the primary stress hormone in the body, and you naturally release it when you start feeling anxious or stressed out. As your cortisol levels rise, so too does inflammation throughout your body.

Your immune system uses inflammation as a weapon against external threats like viruses or bacteria. When your organs detect inflammation, they also switch to essential functions only. The oxygen and cellular energy that your body would otherwise use to create energy are now being refocused to ward off threats.

Cardio exercise is one effective method for lowering cortisol levels. Using relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation are other options that can help you control stress and limit inflammation or swelling.

Certain foods like ginger, garlic, and honey are high in antioxidants that may limit the damage done by inflammation too. A mixture of these three ingredients might be the morning shot you never knew you needed.

The Takeaway

Identifying poor decisions and making a few lifestyle changes should be the first step in restoring your energy levels and combatting fatigue. If lifestyle improvements don't have an impact on your chronic fatigue, it may be time to talk to a doctor to assess underlying medical conditions.

The most important thing you can do to combat chronic fatigue may be to focus on improving your sleep. Each of the lifestyle changes above should help improve the quality of your sleep and health, crucial to quality energy.