Part of being healthy is wanting to engage fully in your life, but tiredness can get in the way of this – leaving you feeling demotivated and down in the dumps.
Sometimes it’s natural to feel very tired if, for example, you’ve been up late working on a new side hustle, are worried about a stressful conversation you need to have with your boss the next day, or are feeding a small baby. But if you are constantly feeling tired and there’s no obvious cause, this can be very worrying.
With constant feelings of exhaustion, life becomes exceedingly difficult. Stresses and worries build up, and that only hinders the amount and quality of sleep you get. So it’s wise to get to the root of why you’re feeling tired so you can work on resolving it before it snowballs into other problems which are harder to fix.
Why could you be feeling tired?
We’ve seen significant research that shows chronic low grade inflammation can hinder activity in the areas of the brain which are responsible for motivation. These areas rely on dopamine to work properly. This is the brain chemical responsible for motivation, drive and a sense of self-worth.
Your body deploys white blood cells, the chemicals from which protect you from bacteria and viruses. This process is called inflammation and it raises the blood flow to the affected area. However, sometimes your immune systems triggers this process when there are no invaders to battle. This inflammation can last for hours or days or even months or years.
When the body is suffering from chronic inflammation, it seems as if there’s an injury or illness present. So, the brain lowers drive and motivation – and the link between work and effort to reward – and keeps all its energy for healing. Suddenly, everyday tasks, goals and dreams feel out of reach. You feel fatigued, drained and depleted and daily tasks feel impossible to achieve.
We are seeing a lot of these issues at the moment, as well as a lot of the other chronic inflammatory disorders like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disease and cancer.
Tired all the time? This could be why…
- If you’re eating too much sugar and processed carbs this is a huge source of chronic inflammation.
- Food can also be the problem if you’re gluten intolerant or consuming pro-inflammatory foods such as canola oil, soyabean oil and hydrogenated fats
- Lack of some foods and nutrients is also an issue. Are you low in fibre? If so, bad gut bacteria and healthy microbes are pro-inflammatory and pro-disease. If you don’t have sufficient iodine, vitamin D, selenium, zinc, omega-3 fats and vitamin A then this may affect your thyroid and more
- Are you stuck in front of a screen all day? If your job doesn’t have a physical component and you lack regular physical activity, this is a common source of chronic inflammation
- Modern life: we live in a toxic soup of plastics, car exhausts, chemically laden beauty products and foods. All this, plus artificial light confuses our biorhythms and triggers inflammation
- Geopathic stress: Are you being affected by electropollution from pylons, Wi-Fi, mobile masts etc?
- Is there a problem with your thyroid? When your environment is toxic, as with the example above, your thyroid is often the first thing to be affected
- Stressed? Depression, anxiety and stress are so high these days, and that’s well known to trigger inflammation – especially when you’re living with a long term condition
You don’t have to feel like this (physically or mentally)
You may feel bad that you often seem unable to get through the day without feeling exhausted. With motivation levels low and fatigue levels high, you may also feel as if your doctor or other medical professionals have not taken your feelings seriously. This is a recognised problem with conventional medicine, and it seems that women are disproportionately affected in these cases. We understand and we’re here to help.
Feeling lazy and demotivated?
It’s important to remember that feeling “lazy” and “demotivated” can be symptoms of a larger more underlying problem. It may be that there are elements of your life and lifestyle that you can change which will address this and help constant tiredness become a thing of the past.
If you found this article useful and would like to find out how to incorporate some of the advice in your daily life, you can book a free 20 minute telephone consultation on this link.
