Do you constantly find yourself feeling sluggish, fatigued or under the weather? It might have been going on for so long that this is a new level of ‘normal’ for you, but even so you’ll be aware that things aren’t great. People might comment that you look tired, you might find yourself having to take naps when you didn’t use to and you get ill more than you should. If all this sounds familiar, here could be some of the causes.
You’re intolerant to certain ingredients
Food intolerances are tricky things. If you have a full blown allergy to an ingredient then you’ll know about it- a short time after consuming it you’ll experience negative symptoms that easily enable you to link to the cause. Intolerances on the other hand can take hours, sometimes even a day or more to cause their symptoms. It could be breakouts in the skin, gas and stomach pains, feeling sick or feeling tired. Because in that time you’ll have likely consumed a number of other meals, snacks and drinks it can be hard to pinpoint it to exactly what you’ve had. While unpleasant, symptoms can be mild (unlike with allergies with can be life threatening) so with intolerances it’s easy to overlook them or write them off as something else. This means for years you could be consuming ingredients that don’t agree with you, leaving you constantly feeling a bit rubbish. There are tests that the doctor or nutrition expert can do, but one of the most powerful things you can do yourself is to keep a food diary. Write down exactly what you’ve eaten, and note any symptoms you get. In some cases you might be able to spot a pattern. Educate yourself on what common intolerances are, and you could work on eliminating them from your diet one at a time and seeing if you see an improvement.
You’re not getting enough sleep
Sleep is absolutely crucial to every area of our health. It enables us to regenerate new cells and replace old ones, it regulates hormones, restores certain brain chemicals and affects every single thing about our bodies and how they feel and perform. Miss out on sleep and you could put yourself at risk of heart problems, obesity, diabetes and much more. Sometimes sleep problems are a result of a bad routine, but others it could be a medical condition that needs to be investigated.
You’re experiencing stress
Most of us feel stress at one time or another. Life can get chaotic at times, family dramas, pressures from friends, relationship issues and parenting troubles- that’s just life. However, stress that’s ongoing can be incredibly bad for your mental and physical health. Sometimes you just need to ride out the storm as best you can- pamper yourself, enjoy some relaxing activities and get yourself organised to avoid it from getting worse until the stress has passed. However, if you find yourself constantly anxious and/ or depressed and there’s no major stressor to trigger this, it’s a sign you’re suffering with a mental health problem. See your doctor who can get you onto the right treatment plan.