One of the biggest complaints patient’s report is fatigue – that ever present feeling of not enough energy for everything that needs to get done. Understanding how the body gets to the exhausted state can help us prevent it from happening and how to address this complex issue. Over my next few blogs, I will introduce a couple concepts and describe some of the complex systems at play. Today, I am going to focus on the stress response system.
There are a host of causes and contributing factors to weed through in any case of fatigue, but almost all of them involve the Stress Response system in some way. Stress can be anything from a major change in your life (birth, marriage, divorce, death, move, etc), dealing with a stressful work environment, or even having to deal with a chronic physical issue, like pain, poor digestive function, an autoimmune disease, etc. These triggers, and many more, kick our body into a “stressed” state that is functioning like it is preparing to run from a bear.
Perhaps I should back up. Our nervous system is really like a toggle with two primary options: the sympathetic mode (Fight or Flight) or parasympathetic mode (Rest & Digest). When we experience the stress I am talking about, our body shifts into the fight or flight mode. See, our bodies can’t always tell what is truly dangerous or requires this system to take action. Our bodies are designed to process a certain amount of stress, but if you never kick out of the stressed state and give your body time to rest and recover, the systems slow run out of gas and start to malfunction. This is where fatigue and other symptoms, such as anxiety, poor sleep, weight gain, poor digestion, hormone imbalance, etc, can start to show up. Things that never would have caused a problem for you in the past, such as a food or activity, are suddenly overwhelming. The good news- there are lots of things that can help before it completely breaks down.
The first step is recognizing that things are out of balance. In the first phase of stress response- the alarm phase- we tend to notice we are feeling “Stressed.” We may get tension in our neck or shoulders, we aren’t breathing full deep breaths, or we may find ourselves getting irritable from low blood sugar (i.e. “Hangry”). When we are in this phase, the body is working to give us the ability to respond to our stressor, shifting into the “Fight or Flight” mode and pumping out chemicals like cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline). Sometimes we need this extra kick in the pants to make it, but more often we need to simply remind ourselves that this stressor is something we can handle and use a few tricks to kick us out it.
An example might be driving in traffic. Is it annoying to have to go 5 miles an hour surrounding by people who apparently don’t understand basic road etiquette? Of course! But this isn’t something that needs to kick your body into high stress mode, leaving you muttering under your breath (or not so under your breath) obscenities you would never say elsewhere. Instead, try taking a few deep breaths. I know it sounds silly or too simple, but we can use our breaths to tell our bodies that there isn’t anything to be afraid of- no bear to run from. When we extend our exhalation, use our diaphragms and slow down a bit, we tell our body to shift out of that alarm phase. It usually can start to shift your physiology after only 10-15 breaths.
Or if this strikes when you aren’t in a car, grab a calming cup of Tulsi tea. Tulsi (aka Holy Basil) is an herbal tea that helps to calm the nervous system and feed you the nutrients your body needs to have a normal stress response.
Or if you can, take a break from the situation and go for a 10 minute gentle walk outside. Get some oxygen and try to enjoy taking in the scenery. Let your mind and body know that there is nothing to be stressed about.
Better yet, if you know what one of your stress triggers are, work to shift your life to avoid it. There are plenty of stressors we have no control over and can’t avoid. We all have bills to pay and people that we care for, but there are plenty of things that we subject ourselves to over and over that need not be a part of our life. Taking action to change this as early as possible can help to prevent the long term consequences of unmanaged stress.
Using these tricks once might not save you from depleting your stress response system, but the more you use them, the more habitualized the relaxed phase is. You know relaxed right? Where you can respond using your heart and your head, rather than reacting from a frazzled state. The goal is not to never feel stressed- we need to be able to have a normal stress response in order to survive. The goal is to be able live most of the time in the relaxed state and be able to unwind with ease after a stressful event.