Do you feel like you can't ever kick that feeling that you didn't get enough rest? No matter what you do, you're always tired, and it bleeds into other aspects of your life as well. Chronic fatigue can massively deplete you, and it's essential to get to the root of what's going on so you can start to feel better.
What's Happening with Chronic Fatigue
In your body, the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system come into play with chronic fatigue. The first is rest and digest, while the second is that famed fight or flight. You are either in one or the other. When stress happens, your body goes into fight or flight.
When your body is engaged in this fight or flight mode, it's designed for survival and alertness. Of course, the modern human isn't being chased by predators in the wild but more likely fielding stressful questions in a business meeting. These same biological processes happen, sending distress signals to your hypothalamus, which sends hormones to your bloodstream.
When this switch is flipped, the parasympathetic system is supposed to tell your other system to chill out and put it in rest and digest mode. Unfortunately, in chronic stress, this goes into a continuous loop, putting more stress on those adrenal glands.
Often, this is blamed on high cortisol, which does happen, but when these systems loop like this, you wind up paying the price for that low-grade, chronic stress.
The Symptoms
So, what happens now that your body is in a chronic state of stress? Weight gain and constipation are symptoms noticeable to us. However, the other symptoms aren't things you can necessarily see or put your finger on.
With chronic fatigue, you lose important nutrients like magnesium and vitamin C, and your immune system can become compromised. You can also have trouble with digestion, blood sugar, and hormone levels.
These chronic stress reactions can manifest in a wide array of health conditions that we are looking to avoid.
What You Can Do About Chronic Fatigue
Since many chronic fatigue symptoms brought on by chronic stress can't be seen, it's best to get tested. Having your cortisol levels tested can be the clue you need to enacting a proper ritual to fight off chronic stress and chase that chronic fatigue away.
You can incorporate adaptogens to set your body back to homeostasis, focus on healthy eating, exercise, and rest. Still, without knowing what is setting off these spikes in your adrenaline, it's merely a guessing game. If you find the root cause, you can nip it in the bud and feel more like yourself again.