Boosting Your Energy: Chronic Fatigue

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Boosting Your Energy

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes. But surely fatigue should be added to that list. After all, who has not felt dog-tired, sometimes for long stretches, at one time or another?

Researchers say fatigue is one of the most common symptoms experienced by adults in the general population, whether you live in the United States or elsewhere. As one fatigue researcher notes, "Feeling tired is so common as to be considered normal." Not surprisingly, fatigue is also one of the most frequent complaints in doctors' offices around the globe.

Often fatigue is to be expected: You're recovering from the flu, or, like too many Americans, you haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Maybe, like so many people, you're simply trying to do too much, and the resulting stress — a major contributor to fatigue — is wearing you down. In these cases, regaining your energy may be as straightforward as getting some much-needed rest and taking time to relax — which your body and mind need to function at full capacity.

You can fight fatigue with regular physical activity.

If you're a baby boomer, your fatigue may be due to some of the physical changes that accompany aging, such as normal reductions in the amount of deep sleep or a decline in muscle mass. If you're a menopausal woman, frequent hot flashes, which can disrupt the amount and quality of sleep, may also be contributing to your fatigue. While no one can turn back the clock, there are steps you can take to slow or even reverse some aspects of age-related fatigue.

But in some cases, fatigue is a sign that something is amiss, and should be brought to the attention of your doctor. For example, fatigue is one of the main symptoms of a number of conditions, including depression, congestive heart failure, anemia, hypothyroidism, and diabetes, all of which require medical attention. Often fatigue subsides when these conditions are treated. Whatever its cause, fatigue is telling you something important — that you need to rest and relax, perhaps, or that you should take better care of yourself, or (fortunately, less often) that you have a disease or condition that needs treatment. Fatigue, like death and taxes, may indeed be an inescapable part of life. But that doesn't mean you have to take it lying down. This Special Health Report provides you with the latest information about fatigue and offers strategies to help you regain the physical and mental energy you need to enjoy life to its fullest.

Last updated:	January 23, 2007