Got Fatigue?

Sleep is way underrated. In fact, I often overhear people bragging about how they go to bed late, wake up early and run through their days. I'm not sure if I believe all of these stories but a lack of sleep is nothing to write home about. It's the fastest route to poor performance and mental fuzziness. And, you'll look tired!

Besides a lack of sleep, sometimes there's something else going on and you have to do a little detective work to figure out what's causing your daytime yawning and daydreams of getting some zzzz's. Check out this article on FitnessRx Magazine's website about the top causes of fatigue in women.

If any of these sound like you, it's time to talk to your physician. If not, it's still time to go to the doctor and find out what's going on. After all, walking around like a zombie is no way to live.

Feeling Tired? What Lab Tests do You Need?

If you are tired all the time, it's important to see your physician to rule out common causes of fatigue. Three of the top causes are iron deficiency anemia, hypothyroidism and mono. I know what you are thinking here, there's no way you have mono, that's for college kids. However, mono is actually very contagious. You don't need to swap spit with someone to get it. You can also catch it from someone sneezing or coughing near you, eating or drinking after someone and possibly just being in close contact with someone. And if you are at the doctor already, drawing a little more blood and getting a mono spot test is worth it!
Click here to find out what labs you need to test for iron deficiency and for more information about hypothyroidism, click here.

So what do you do if all three of these tests come up negative (meaning you have none of these conditions)? Now you look for other causes such as stress, depression, sleep apnea, a hectic busy schedule, lack of sleep (or lack of good quality sleep) and what you are eating (or not eating). Sometimes, figuring out what may be wrong is best done by process of elimination. You eliminate the potential obvious issues and then look for other possibilities causing the problem.

Got Sleep Apnea?

Is it me or is everyone on a cpap machine? I can't even count the number of people who have told me they have sleep apnea and wake up (insert astounding number here) of times per night from sleep apnea. So what is the real deal on sleep anpea?

If you have sleep apnea, you have several episodes though the night where you temporarily stop breathing. Each time you stop, you wake up and disrupt your sleep pattern. What are the signs and symptoms of sleep apnea? Constant fatigue during the day, regardless of how much you sleep and snoring. In addition, those who are overweight or obese are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea.

Why does sleep apnea need to be treated? Well for one thing, if you don't treat it you are likely to suffer from fatigue and you may increase your risk of stroke and heart attack as well.

Dr Oz. on Exhaustion

Exhausted? Pale, dizzy and cold? Check out Dr. Oz's top tips on anemia support, anemia research and anemia treatments by clicking here.

Even better though, I love this clip from Dr. Oz's show that shows : click here to view the video.

Pregnant? Are you Consuming Enough Iron?

Anemia can increase the risk of preterm delivery. Yet many women don’t consume enough iron while pregnant. In fact, the National Institutes of Health indicates that up to 50% of pregnant women do not have enough iron in their body. That’s why prenatal multivitamins are so important. They contain more iron (and other nutrients) than regular multivitamins. Pregnant women should also get their iron levels tested at least twice while they are pregnant (more often if necessary). However, you still need to be aware of the signs of iron deficiency (though some people have few or no symptoms from iron deficiency). They include:

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Feeling cold, low body temperature
• Feeling out of breath easily
• Irritability
• Headache

Many women complain of side effects related to their prenatal supplement. You can minimize some of these side effects by consuming your supplement with food. If you are still having problems, talk to your physician about switching brands. Some women do better on name brand versus generic. And finally, consuming a prenatal multivitamin with heme iron will decrease the likelihood that your supplement will make you constipated (because you need less heme iron in comparison to non-heme, to raise your iron stores).

References
J of Nutr 2000;130:443S-447S.
NIH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000584.htm