Why you are always tired, and how acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can help fatigue.
Are you exhausted all the time with a browser history filled with searches like “vitamins for energy”? Are you spinning all the plates with your career, family, friends, and children and still trying to figure out how high your socks are meant to be? Feeling overwhelmed because you’ve just learnt about perimenopause, and you think it could be why you are so tired?
Well, you have found yourself in the right place.
I see many people seeking help for many reasons, but if I had to pick one common theme among almost all of my patients, it would be tiredness. If you are reading this article, you probably know the type of unrelenting fatigue. I mean that experience of always feeling tired, even when you are sure you are doing all the right things.
Or worse, when you are so tired and weary, you feel like you cannot do any of the ‘right’ things.
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF TIREDNESS & FATIGUE
Your current lifestyle might create a health picture that pushes you toward the low-energy end of the spectrum in several ways. Ideally, you are already under the care of a thorough GP who has helped you rule out several of these and investigated the more serious things, but in reality, we’ll probably need to troubleshoot most of these together during your consults.
Metabolic health
In its simplest terms, metabolic health is about energy. It is about your cells having the energy they need, either from the food you’ve eaten or the substances you have stored. Accessing energy stores requires metabolic flexibility, which we are not all so good at today. Signs of metabolic inflexibility include fatigue, a tendency to low blood sugar, and intense hunger.
Improving metabolic health will include things like sleep, nourishment, functional digestion & detoxification (no, I don't mean juice cleanses and fasting), movement, nervous system support, and hormone regulation (including insulin, thyroid hormones and reproductive hormones, especially during perimenopause).
Sleep
Obviously, getting enough sleep at the right time is a no-brainer when you are experiencing fatigue. However, we also want to examine the quality of your sleep and rule out disordered sleep issues like sleep apnea. To get your sleep back on track, we use Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and sleep hygiene (which includes your morning routine).
Nourishment
Here at Vessel, we are not generally fans of fads or diet culture. What we are fans of is:
Getting enough macronutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrate) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and polyphenols) from wholefood sources of the best quality you can get your hands on,
Preparing more of your meals at home, ideally most of them,
Finding satisfaction and enjoyment in 1 & 2, and
Eating in the right way at the right times to promote optimal digestion (spoiler, scoffing cold sushi at your desk between meetings isn't the right way).
In Chinese medicine, our energy comes (broadly) from three places - the food and drink we consume, the air we breathe and the genetic material we inherit. At Vessel Acupuncture, we use Chinese Dietary Therapy alongside Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine to ensure you give your body the best chance at achieving optimal energy reserves.
Thyroid
Thyroid issues, particularly an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), contribute to low energy. The thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate the body's metabolism. When it is not functioning properly, it can lead to feelings of fatigue and lethargy.
Had your thyroid checked, and the GP said everything was “fine”? In this case, we might suggest further testing if your signs and symptoms indicate the need.
Hormones (insulin, cortisol, and the perimenopausal shift)
Insulin resistance (chronically high insulin) contributes to fatigue by preventing cells from effectively absorbing glucose from the bloodstream for energy. This means the body cannot access glucose for energy despite high blood sugar levels. It is possible to have normal blood glucose levels and still have insulin resistance (most standard GPs test for glucose levels, not insulin).
Disordered cortisol levels contribute to fatigue by disrupting the body's rhythms. Too much cortisol too late in the day (often a result of chronic stress) can interfere with sleep, and too little cortisol when you need it (in the morning) can have you feeling flat when you wake up.
Perimenopause (like puberty and pregnancy) represents a significant shift in your hormonal landscape. Metabolism recalibrates throughout this normal life phase, and metabolic flexibility becomes even more important to ease the ride. We find that combining evidence-informed lifestyle changes (supported by best-practice Western approaches), Chinese Dietary Therapy, Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, and specific, targeted supplementation can help you reach a better energy state during perimenopause so you can enjoy your wise-woman era.
Iron deficiency and other markers
We will review your iron studies from an integrative Chinese Medicine perspective (which means we look at optimal ranges, not just signs of life). We’ll also look at your Vitamin D & B12 - and get these toward the optimal range, which they likely aren’t if you are always exhausted. We’ll use practitioner-quality supplements (not the stuff you get from the supermarket shelf) to ensure you are getting the best quality supplement that is in a form your body can absorb. And you bet we will use Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Chinese Herbs to build your blood, which means more than getting iron and ferritin to appropriate levels.
Autoimmune Conditions
Inflammation and chronic pain from autoimmune conditions can exacerbate fatigue. When it comes to the digestive system's capacity to absorb nutrients from the food you eat and use them to make energy, as well as managing something like Coeliac disease with a lifelong gluten-free diet, Acupuncture can help promote intestinal function and a diverse gut microbiome, and we’ll usually also use Chinese herbal medicine to build your Blood and Qi.
Emotions
Since ancient times, Chinese medicine has held that emotional disharmony may be at the root of almost every disease or state of ill health. The Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot) is a guiding text written between the first and second centuries BC. It provides unparalleled insight into how different emotional states affect the body’s physiology. So many patients come to us saying, “My doctor says (x condition) is because of stress…” but they have not been given any tools for resolving that stress or accessing the wisdom that the body is trying to communicate through the physical manifestations of stress, anxiety, depression, grief etc.
Chinese Medicine provides practical guidance for harmonising our emotional landscape. The word emotion's etymology is “energy in motion.” Proper expression and emotional regulation result in less energy expenditure on emotional disharmony.
Overworking
Another classical Chinese aetiology of all disease states is overwork.
A crucial message conveyed in another guiding text for Chinese Medicine Doctors, the Su Wen, is the disparity in longevity between people of ancient times and modern individuals. Inquiring about this difference, Huang Di learns that those in antiquity who lived 2000 years before him (that’s 4000 years before today) enjoyed longer lives without weakening in their later years. The reason is that "They did not tax themselves with meaningless work.” Modern work schedules and life commitments (hello, parents) are demanding and often inflexible, depleting our energy and leaving us fatigued and prone to illness. The continuous stress associated with overwork dissipates our qi, weakening our bodies and making us susceptible to diseases. Finding ways to rest and rejuvenate throughout the day becomes vital to rebuilding energy and vitality.
Lack of exercise
Finally, we come to movement. One of the things that becomes seemingly impossible when you are fatigued is keeping up a regular schedule of exercise. As things like sleep, nourishment and metabolic health start to improve, you will find that you have access to more energy to get up and move. And there is a saying - energy begets energy. Movement is medicine. And it can be simple. We do not add to the noise of internet people telling you how to move and for how long; what we do is encourage you to find joy in movement. To find embodiment and connection through mindful movement, listen to your body’s wisdom, and move and move intuitively.
The concept of intuitive movement shares four principles: movement should:
Rejuvenate the body, not exhaust or deplete it
Enhance connection, not induce disconnection
Alleviate mental and physical stress, not produce more
Provide genuine enjoyment and pleasure, not pain and dread.
CHINESE MEDICINE AND FATIGUE
Interestingly, ancient Chinese Medicine texts didn’t have a disease-symptom category for ‘tiredness’. Instead, they had a category called ‘exhaustion’, which was more about extreme exhaustion from overexertion - think collapsing after a day (or many days) of hard physical labour out in the elements without adequate nourishment.
It’s not really what we are discussing here, but it gives us a clue about the importance of mitigating the modern lifestyle's deleterious impact on our energy levels.
As time passed, the concept of exhaustion was expanded to include tiredness and explain the possible causes, bringing us closer to the world we now know…
Improper diet and inadequate movement injure digestion
Prolonged anger and over-exercising injures the Liver
Too much standing and losing connection with the daily rhythms injures the Kidney
Excessive laying down injures the Lung
Worry, sadness and pensiveness as well as excessive use of the eyes, injures the Heart
ANCIENT WISDOM FOR LIVING LONG AND LIVING WELL
Traditional systems of medicine have guided us in their infinite wisdom on how to live well. At Vessel Acupuncture, we combine this ancient wisdom with modern, evidence-based knowledge and practice to provide individualised, tailored healthcare solutions that help you find vitality and ease in your life.
Book an appointment today and start on the path toward better energy, naturally.
A cautionary note on health advice you read online. This article constitutes general advice, it is educational and is not intended to be used for self-diagnosis or health management. More serious health conditions can cause fatigue, and you should be under the care of a GP for your primary care.