Do you get exhausted too often

Are you experiencing crashing fatigue in
menopause? This type of fatigue grips you
suddenly, for no apparent reason, with a rush of
exhaustion and the feeling that you’re being
drained of energy. It's is often accompanied by
a sensation of muscle weakness and lethargy
that stop you in your tracks.
In fact, crashing fatigue can prevent you from
carrying out even the simplest, everyday
activities. It can come on at any time of day,
and is more than just feeling drowsy. Here are
two descriptions from a UK online online patients
forum :
“I experience extreme fatigue that will just hit
me out of nowhere. I could be fine one minute
and the next minute I can't keep my eyes
open.”
“Some days my head was so foggy I started to
doubt myself at work. Plus I would just feel so
drained.”
Along with feeling overwhelmed with deep
tiredness, your crashing fatigue can come with
its own set of difficult symptoms, including:
Irritability
Difficulty concentrating
Frequent hunger
Inability to sleep well, racing thoughts at night,
waking up tired
Reduced enthusiasm about life
Lack of motivation
Feeling overwhelmed, anxious or emotionally
stressed
While some conventional doctors are familiar
with the term “crashing fatigue,” hundreds of
thousands of menopausal woman understand
exactly what it means. However, most may not
know that they can get their energy back and
feel “normal” again with a few simple steps.
Learning the root cause of crashing fatigue is
the best starting place to resolve it.
What causes crashing fatigue in
menopause?
If you think crashing fatigue in menopause has
to do with hormones, you’re 100% right.
Women in perimenopause and menopause
experience this because the ovaries naturally
respond less effectively to the pituitary gland’s
signal to increase estrogen. This results in
estrogen levels that are excessive on some
days, and bottomed out on others.
Wild fluctuations in estrogen can also send your
stress hormones on a roller coaster ride, with
adrenaline sometimes flooding the body and
leaving you even more fatigued. If you are still
menstruating, you may already be familiar with
this feeling of crashing fatigue right before your
period.
For many women, crashing fatigue also has a
confounding side effect: they can’t sleep even
though they feel bone tired day after day. As
estrogen levels rise and fall during
perimenopause, the body can interpret it as a
hormonal emergency. This sends a “help!”
message to the brain that triggers the release
of cortisol and adrenaline. These fight-or-flight
adrenal chemicals can make it even harder to
achieve refreshing sleep.
The adrenal glands help make estrogen with
hormones like dehydroepiandrosterone , or
DHEA, but years of chronic stress can deplete
DHEA. That makes it harder for your body to
maintain hormone balance in menopause which
makes you more prone to crashing fatigue.
Life after crashing fatigue: more energy,
resilience (and joy!) every day
You can reset your energy and rid your life of
crashing fatigue by paying careful attention to
maintaining hormonal balance, fueling your
metabolism, and allowing for nightly recovery.
The circular connection between these three
steps allows them to work together to resolve
crashing fatigue.
1. Hormone rebalancing
Crashing fatigue is linked tightly to fluctuating
estrogen levels, especially when the changes
are severe and/or rapid. That’s why the correct
balance between naturally falling estrogen
levels and your other hormones helps smooth
out the hormonal ups and downs that drain
energy and disturb sleep. A menopausal
woman is much more vulnerable than a young
woman to the effects of stress so pacing
yourself and allowing for more time-outs during
the day is important.
Herbal extracts, which are the models for many
drugs and medicines, are powerful body-
friendly herbal extracts that can help coax
hormones into balance, continually adjusting
as necessary. Red clover, ashwagandha, and
especially black cohosh can adapt to the real
and changing hormonal needs of your body,
and function well together.
2. Serious snacking
One sure way to fight crashing fatigue is to
protect your precious energy by paying serious
attention to your metabolism. The right snack
at the right time can help prevent crashing
fatigue — or help you recover from an episode
— by stabilizing your blood sugar and
metabolism.
To prevent crashing fatigue, eat something
every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day to keep
your energy up, starting with breakfast. Keep
snacks super simple, healthy and fast (but not
junky) so that they’re ready the very minute
you need them. Before, or even during, a period
of crashing fatigue, grab a snack like one of
these:
Apple slices with natural nut butter (almond is
best, but peanut butter works in a pinch)
Pre-cut vegetables, hummus or baba ganoush,
and ½ whole wheat pita
½ cup plain yogurt with blueberries and
walnuts
Baked chips with guacamole
Smoothie made with banana, blueberries, kale,
protein powder and coconut water
A note about hydration: Drink water every time
you think of it, and whenever you eat anything.
Fatigue can be directly linked to low fluid
status, and you can change that starting now.
3. Targeted pre-sleep routine
If you have crashing fatigue, you likely have a
sleep problem too. As you approach bedtime,
calm your body and mind to set yourself up for
more restful, refreshing sleep. Combine the
following suggestions to help you fall asleep
more easily, move into deeper sleep (NREM)
faster, and stay asleep longer once you’ve
dropped off:
One to three hours before bed, take a very hot
bath for 30-45 minutes. This stimulates a
passive heating effect that enhances and
deepens sleep and many women swear by it.
Afterwards, finish up your evening routine and
prep your body to cool down. This is a key
physical change that will tell your body to
prepare for rest.
Get into bed at least one hour earlier than your
current bedtime — even if you don’t feel sleepy
— but don’t try to doze off right away. Settle
down and turn off all devices after a few
minutes and switch to reading a book or
magazine, or listening to quiet music. The goal
is to get off your feet and lie down. This tells
your body it’s time to turn on its internal
processes for refreshing, restoring and repairing
— things that only happen when you’re resting.
Some women like to add 1 mg of natural
melatonin about an hour before bed.