Tired all the time?

Are you unusually tired? Suffering from unrefreshed sleep? Has your doctor told you, "it's your age dear'"?!

There are many reasons for feeling tired, fatigued, lethargic. God only knows in this day and age we're all under such immense pressure. Families, careers, housework, shopping, cooking, cleaning, it's enough to make you feel exhausted. However, there can also be underlying reasons for having chronic tiredness all the time.

While it's quite normal to feel a little tired by the end of the day after running around all day; drop the kids at school, get to work, busy day with relentless phone calls and emails, meetings, leave work, pick the kids up, go shopping, cook tea, bath kids, story time and collapse! However, when we constantly feel exhausted and stressed or unable to cope there could be other factors at play. Have a look at the early warning checklist below to see if any resonate with you:

• headaches increasing in number or severity
• migraines and vomiting
• vertigo
• feeling stressed with normal workload
• panic attacks
• feeling overwhelmed
• dizzy feeling
• palpitations
• pins and needles, often in the face
• sleep problems
• sudden bouts of total exhaustion (often before you are about to do something you don't enjoy)
• waking exhausted
• fuzzy head, poor concentration
• short term memory problems, poor recall
• jangly, or juddery feeling inside the body
• struggling to cope with noise
• low mood
• tearful
• IBS/bloating
• stressed and losing ability to cope
• impaired concentration
• bad reaction to caffeine
• poor tolerance to alcohol

If you've ticked one, two or more of the symptoms above, have you been using any of the following coping mechanisms below:

• caffeine
• red bull/energy drinks
• alcohol
• anti-depressants
• sleeping tablets
• comfort eating
• started a gym routine to build stamina and combat exhaustion
• withdrawal from social events
• screening calls
• dishonesty about how you feel
• putting on an act or brave face
• blame circumstances and believe things will change
• taking time off just to go to bed
• going to bed really early every night just to be able to get up and work
• expect energy levels to change on their own

If you would like some further advice, you can look to contact a nutritional therapist for support. 

Best wishes

Ruth x