Boosting Your Energy
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Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing in
this world is certain but death and taxes. But
surely fatigue should be added to that list.
After all, who has not felt dog-tired, sometimes
for long stretches, at one time or another?
Often fatigue is to be expected: You’re
recovering from the flu, or, like too many Americans,
you haven’t been getting enough sleep lately.
Maybe, like so many people, you’re simply
trying to do too much, and the resulting stress—a
major contributor to fatigue—is wearing
you down.
But in some cases, fatigue is a sign that something
is amiss and should be brought to the attention
of your doctor. For example, fatigue is one of
the main symptoms of a number of conditions,
including depression, congestive heart failure,
anemia, hypothyroidism, and diabetes, all of
which require medical attention. Often fatigue
subsides when these conditions are treated.
Fatigue, like death and taxes, may indeed be
an inescapable part of life. But that doesn’t
mean you have to take it lying down. This special
health report provides you with the latest information
about fatigue and offers strategies to help you
regain the physical and mental energy you need
to enjoy life to its fullest.
This Special Health Report was prepared in consultation
with David M. Dawson, M.D. Professor of Neurology,
Harvard Medical School and Anthony L. Komaroff,
M.D. Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
50 pages. (updated: 2005)
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Table of Contents:
- Energy and fatigue
- Changing views
of fatigue
- How common is fatigue?
- Food and energy
- Signs of fatigue
- Muscle fatigue
- Central (brain)
fatigue
- The influence of
your biological rhythms
- Your biological
clock
- Melatonin and other
brain chemicals
- Aging and energy
- Circadian changes
- Physical changes
- What causes fatigue?
- Stress
- Depression and
anxiety
- Overwork
- Menopause
- Sleep difficulties
- Medications
- Alcohol
- Inactivity
- Nutritional factors
- Caring for a family
member
- Chronic fatigue
syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Other medical conditions
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- When to see a doctor
- Describing your
symptoms
- Medical evaluation
- Making a diagnosis
- Boosting your natural
energy
- Control stress
- Lighten your load
- Exercise
- Get a better night’s
sleep
- Set goals
- Eat for energy
- Use nature’s
energy
- Vitamins, herbs,
and supplements: Do the “energy
boosters” work?
- Glossary
- Resources
- Organizations
- Books
- Special Health
Reports
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Here's an
Excerpt from this Fatigue Special Health Report
It’s a nearly universal lament of people
over age 35: They don’t have as much energy
as they did when they were younger. One of the
most common complaints is that they can’t
stay up as late as they once did and still function
normally the next day. People also notice that
they’re not as strong as they used to be
or that their muscles don’t move as quickly.
Although increased fatigue is not inevitable
with increased age, there are certain age-related
factors that make you feel weaker and, in general,
less energetic. For one thing, your circadian
cycle advances, making you want to fall asleep
earlier at night and wake up earlier in the morning.
Indeed, the most important influence on sleep
rhythms is aging.
Insomnia becomes more common as people get older.
For reasons that are not understood, older people
spend less time in deep sleep, the type of sleep
that is considered the most important for restoring
your energy. With less deep sleep, you wake up
more often in the middle of the night. And the
more often you wake up at night, the less rested
you feel the next day.
The amount of deep sleep people get each night
at age 30 is about half the amount they get at
age 20. After age 30, the decrease in deep sleep
and the increase in nighttime awakenings continue.
Not only do people wake up more often in middle
age, it takes longer to fall back to sleep. By
age 65, people spend less than 5% of sleep time
in deep sleep, compared with about 20% when they
were in their 20s. In addition, melatonin levels
decline with age and virtually disappear by old
age. Because melatonin helps you feel sleepy
at night, its decline can make it harder to fall
asleep. The reductions in melatonin and in deep
sleep help explain why insomnia becomes more
common with age.
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