Anti Aging Medicine Treats Fatigue

CHRONIC FATUGUE

Fatigue is a significant problem in our modern society.Up to 30% of adolescents and many more adults have been diagnosed with fatigue. Many carry a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, a poorly understood syndrome without clear diagnostic criteria.The most disturbing thing is that we are likely causing these fatigue syndromes with our choices of diet and lifestyle. Indeed less than 75% of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue have another medical diagnosis or concern as the cause.I will discuss some of the possible causes of chronic fatigue and how an anti aging medicine approach can help.

DIET and FATIGUE

The modern diet features a high percentage of carbohydrates, particularly high glycemic index carbohydrates. The glycemic index describes how quickly your body breaks a particular carbohydrate down into sugars. The higher the index, the more quickly this occurs. As we eat these high glycemic index carbohydrates, we quickly get a surge of blood glucose. This stimulates production of insulin. This creates several problems. In the presence of these high insulin levels your body is forced to store excess blood glucose as fat. This obviously contributes to obesity, particularly abdominal obesity. This is a risk factor for chronic inflammatory diseases, coronary disease, diabetes, cancer and stroke. The second problem is that the presence of insulin rapidly lowers the blood sugar. Insulin is a protein, and therefore remains in the body for a much longer time than the elevated blood glucose levels.This causes the glucose levels to drop precipitously, causing fatigue and hunger.Your body's natural response is to want high glycemic index carbohydrates again, and you reach for a snack, usually a poor choice again.And the cycle repeats. For more information, request a copy of our E-book atmidwestrejuvenation.com

STRESS and FATIGUE

Stress is present in everyday life. Some stresses are good and our body benefits from this. An example of this would be physical exercise and resistance training. This is what I would call a eu-stress, that is, it is beneficial, and our body derives benefit. However dys-stress or harmful stress causes a rise in cortisol levels. This does several things. It lowers our immune system and makes us more prone to infections. It also counteracts the effect of insulin, and this can lead to insulin resistance, and elevated blood sugars. Over longer periods of time, increased cortisol levels also produce fatigue.

HORMONE IMBALANCE MAKING YOU TIRED?

Hormone imbalanceis a frequent cause of fatigue. Low testosterone levels are a known cause of fatigue, particularly in men, but also in women. Decreased testosterone levels occur as we age and are responsible for many other changes of aging as well. Additional causes of low testosterone include elevated cortisol levels, insufficient sleep, as well as other types of hormone imbalances.One of the more common causes of fatigue is low thyroid function.This is one of causes of fatigue that is not usually lifestyle derived.

THE ANTI AGING APPROACH TO FATIGUE

All of the factors mentioned earlier are concerns in an anti aging medicine approach to your health.First we analyze hormonal imbalances that may cause your body to function at a suboptimal level. While some of these may be corrected with lifestyle and dietary changes, often supplementation is required. A low glycemic index diet is very important, not only because of its effect on energy levels, but also because of its strong beneficial effect on overall health, diabetes, heart disease, cognitive function and quality of life. We also strongly recommend resistance exercises to stress your body in a positive way, as well as stress reduction techniques such as yoga, meditation or simply physical exercise to counteract the harmful stress in modern society.Certainsupplementsmay be helpful as well. If you have been dissatisfied with your current medical workup and treatment of your fatigue, consider an anti aging approach to this problem.