Women and Fatigue
There is a reason you are so tired. There are probably lots of reasons you are tired. Poor quantity and quality of sleep, stress of work and maybe aging parents, your kids, not eating enough calories or protein during the day, dehydration, lack of movement in your day, the list goes on. You can write more about these reason at Why am I so Tired blog post here.
Here are a few more reasons that need to be addressed to help lift you out of the fog and into a day with energy that becomes more of a regular thing.
1) You have Iron Deficiency Anemia or Low Iron.
Iron deficiency anemia is common and if you don’t quite fit the diagnostic level of anemia, you may still have suboptimal iron stores. If this is not addressed, then it will take you a lot longer to have more energy again. Checking to see if you have iron deficiency anemia or low iron reserve is a simple blood panel called a HEMATOLOGY panel. Problem #1 is the ranges are off. Iron deficiency anemia is when hemoglobin is less than 120 g/l and ferritin is less than 20 ng/ml. However, a ferritin of less than 50 ng/ml accounting to some is considered low and could mean no iron stores (1). This is often not communicated to the patient or is missed all together. This may be because opinions in the literature differ regarding the highest ferritin cut-off value for the diagnosis of iron deficiency. Problem #2 is the treatment suggested, “you need iron. Take some iron” is there is no mention of formulation or how much. What is the dose? What time should I take it? How often do I take it? We need to do a better job here as healthcare providers so that iron deficiency is actually corrected with the proper dosage and form. Iron deficiency anemia can lead to some serious health complications like premature birth, low birth weight babies, misdiagnosed depression and/or anxiety disorders, and continued mega heavy periods.
2) It is your thyroid.
Testing for hypothyroidism or low thyroid function is also very simple. A FULL thyroid panel is beneficial especially when women are in or around the 4 Ps -puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and/or perimenopause. These are times where there are big hormonal shifts and these changes can affect your thyroid function. The thyroid is only secondary to the brain for running ALL your body processes. It is vital to your energy levels to have your thyroid functioning optimally.
3) You are doing too much.
Women in society are doing too much. There plates are full. The mental and emotional baggage is real and its heavy. STOP OVERDOING. Asking for help or letting someone else do some of the task is hard, but if you want to have more energy both physically and mentally you need to do less. Offload some stuff to someone else. Hire help. It can be very worth that extra hour or two in your day in terms of your long term health and well being. Stop doing the thing. You also may not even need to be doing the thing(s) that you ARE doing. Think about what your top priority is. Just one. Yup, just the one priority that you rank higher than anything else. What is it? And if your life is not in line with this top priority, I encourage you to look at where you can stop overdoing and where you can say NO, so you can create more space and have more ENERGY to do the things you love most.