23/03/2025
In order to be your best self. You need your best energy. Here's a chapter out of my book Amino Man Strength for Life (R) enjoy.
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https://strengthforlife.mn.co/share/35rWUAUPCNmXCYAA?utm_source=manual
FATIGUE SIMPLE ANSWERS TO A COMPLEX PROBLEM
In the last 25 years of consulting with clients, fatigue usually turns up in the 1st 3 goals people have. People say things like:
I want to be less tired.
I need more energy for x, y, z.
Sometimes people are so tired they say things like:
I’m just so fatigued I can’t even get out of bed in the morning.
I’ve lost my mojo I’ve no drive in the bedroom.
There are many different reasons someone can feel fatigued. It’s important also to distinguish between healthy fatigue as a normal part of working and recovering adequately which is a good fatigue and general malaise which takes away from your mojo factor.
So, some fatigue is good, it’s a reminder to work your recovery. A longer more inhibiting fatigue state which might be referred to as burn out or can develop into chronic fatigue syndrome is something we want to avoid. Learning to manage stress and recovery is the key element to managing this important area.
I want all my clients, friends, and family to thrive. In order to do your best job for your family = love, for your work and for yourself you need energy.
Energy usually comes from getting fundamentals right, hydration, food, sleep, movement, and exercise and mastering the art of relaxation.
STRESS + RECOVERY = RESILIENCE
On order to progress in life we need stress. No stress = no adaptation. However, stress + recovery = resilience. Not focussing on adequate recovery strategies can lead to poor recovery which in turn will increase fatigue.
Fitness = Training + Recovery. Too much training and not enough recovery = fatigue and failure to adapt.
Poor management of totally stressors combined with inadequate attention to recovery is a leading cause of fatigue.
To unravel this area, we also need to be able to quantify and rule out internal or hidden stressors. These might vary from deficiencies to imbalances in bowel flora, excessive inflammation or poor functioning immune system.
Below we’ll cover the main areas for attention when unravelling potential causes for stress. You’ll see these all begin to come back to the larger fundamental control mechanisms, ranging from keeping blood glucose balanced, metabolic flexibility, optimising sleep, reducing inflammation and supporting adrenal and brain function.
A large part of this area centres around stress management and supporting parasympathetic nervous system recovery. Of course, if you have the odd bad nights sleep or become dehydrated these are some obvious causes of daily fatigue and are easy to fix, drink more water and get an early night.
It’s only when these become chronic or prolonged by which they can cause longer term depletion and require a long-term recovery strategy.
Sometimes the link might be complex and multiple systems will be out of balance. We must also never forget the link between enjoyment – being with people we love and trust and have a balance in mental recovery via social interaction and personal development.
FATIGUE CAUSES AND FIXES
FATIGUE
Has been in the top 3 complaints from clients I’ve seen over the last 20 years.
Things which can make you tired and lower your energy:
1. Lack of Sleep – general tiredness.
2. Dehydration.
3. Deficiencies.
4. Blood Glucose Control – Insulin / Cortisol See Saw.
5. Stress (ALL) - Adrenal burnout / dysfunction.
6. Poor body composition -
7. Inflammation.
8. Infection – low grade intolerances and allergies.
9. Poor digestion and bowel flora imbalance.
10. Brain chemical disruption.
11. Mitochondrial disorders.
12. Toxins, pathogens and environment.
8 Steps to Stress Hardiness.
• Meeting your needs through assertive action
• Coping skills, sense of control to ward off depression
• Expressing emotions
• Asking for help
• Meaning and purpose in work, daily activities and relationships
• Having capacity for pleasure and play
• Laughter
• Immune competence = stress hardiness
Factors which make us more tired and make it harder to concentrate
• Tiredness
• Dehydration
• Lack of sufficient rest / recuperation
• Dysglycemia
• Inactivity
• Over fatness (obesity)
• Brain chemical imbalance
• Adrenal Burnout & Stress
In each of these areas, there will be a detailed chapters covering off the main things you can do to improve and support each area.
Here’s a recap on these areas with their main implications in driving a more severe fatigue state.
BLOOD GLUCOSE BALANCE
As you’ll have seen balancing the blood glucose roller coaster many people ride is a keyway to keeping steady energy levels throughout the day. Part of this is encouraging metabolic flexibility via burning more fat for fuel – we do this by first balancing glycaemic responses from meals, improving macro nutrient balance towards 2:1:1 “Magic Macros” and employing fasting strategies, thereby becoming fat burners rather than sugar burners.
Easy to overlook. Keeping slower release mixed meals allows for steady energy after eating.
Avoiding high carb meals at lunch prevents afternoon rebound hypoglycaemia. Ditch the pasta for a protein salad and enjoy a more productive afternoon.
HOW?
Lowering carbs generally and eating more good fats, fibrous vegetables and some protein switches you from sugar burning into fat burning. Then you tend to not need so many instant carbs for energy and can skip meals if necessary, without massive drops in energy.
DEFICIENCIES
A deficiency in any nutrient can cause problems with metabolism and body functions. An iron deficiency can cause fatigue and malaise as oxygen carrying capacity will be reduced. We can also get copper deficiency anaemia. The health of the blood cells also relies on b-vitamins and the right kinds of essential fats.
Deficiencies in inflammation normalising nutrients can also increase inflammation which is left unchecked can further contribute to a fatigue state. A few common deficiencies are listed here which once fixed helped my clients feel better, perform better and feel less tired:
Vitamin D this not only improves general mood state, lowers SAD and increases immune function – low levels can lower testosterone and general well-being.
Omega 3/6 Ratio another vital link between serotonin production, regulating anxiety, reducing inflammation, increasing recovery not much works well with a poor omega 3/6 ratio.
Ferritin or stored iron. Although it’s more common to see levels which are too high. Low levels can cause fatigue, anaemia, poor hair and nail quality and a number of other nasty symptoms.
B12 deficiency or insufficiency can also contribute directly to increased feelings of tiredness and fatigue.
You can read more about how to test for these deficiencies here.
What do to if you suspect lack of vitamin D / sunlight / daylight.
Low light and sunlight can cause vitamin D deficiency which can make you feel tired, lower immune system function and wellness.
Take some vitamin D throughout the winter to keep your levels high. Do a test if you suspect low levels.
Get outside more. Being outside increases energy and hormones levels from training. Train outside as often as possible.
Read the SAD chapter if you suffer from unusually low mood state in the winter months.
SLEEP
Poor sleep. This is super common with 25% of the population having a sleep-based disorder at any given time. You’ll know when you’ve had a bad night’s sleep for whatever reason. Tracking sleep quality is a good idea using a device or wearable or some sort. This way once you add in a new protocol you can track the changes.
Read more about sleep fixes here.
My simplest fix for this is R5 Aminos a high dosed amino acids and mineral formula. Of course, sleep hygiene needs to be attended too and a sleep routine is also key. Working on your own sleep or night-time routine is vital.
LACK OF DRIVE OR MOTIVATION
Once we start to become fatigued, motivation can wane. If you are lacking motivation to train it can be due to doing too much without sufficient recovery between sessions. An excellent way to know if you are doing too much is to track progressions via the “Hall of Fame” tracker. No progressions for a while? Back off and look at training volume, intensity and recovery. We cover all aspects leading to over training in the over training section. Many of these factors parallel what we are covering here.
If we are training well, busy and have multiple sources of stress keeping mindful of our “Stress Cup” is a great idea. You’ll find at some point the threshold for coping can become overwhelmed. This is the straw that broke the camels back phenomenon. Often, we can become neurally depleted through following too many dopamine driven habits.
Dopamine depletion. Too many choices fatigue.
This is interesting as lower hormone levels including testosterone (T) for both men and women can make life feel less interesting. Lower T levels can lower dopamine levels.
You can lack motivation to get things done as testosterone helps dopamine a ‘get things done’ brain hormone. Low T = low dopamine.
Dopamine can be increase by using tyrosine an amino acid. Also, by increasing T levels. You can read my modern man supplementation article here on more ways to increase T levels.
STRESS
There’s an extensive, detailed chapter on all things stress related and how we can better manage our “stress Cup” increase our stress reserves and coping capacity.
Self-awareness is a key part of learning to control our stress levels, via increasing attention to recovery. As we often say stress + recovery = resilience. We need stress to adapt and become stronger all round individuals. Chronic unregulated stress and poor recovery, Lowers T levels and increases cortisol levels. This is fine in the short term. Long term stress can deplete the body’s ability to make cortisol and other stress hormones like nor-adrenalin.
Then you can feel tired because cortisol raises blood glucose and helps get you out of bed in the morning. Low cortisol symptoms include;
Morning tiredness.
Afternoon tiredness.
Waking between 3-5am with a rapid heart rate.
THYROID
Thyroid disorders are not that common outside of fatigue states but do feature frequently with cases of unexplained fatigue. if you have a low functioning thyroid you will for sure feel tired and depressed. You’ll also gain weight easily.
Testing your thyroid function rules this out as a possible cause of fatigue.
Herbs such as ashwaganda are great for thyroid function along with tyrosine, iodine, and selenium. Kelp is a great source of iodine. My Alpha greens is loaded with organic kelp.
Thyroid Supporting Protocol
The thyroid is the master gland of metabolism. Like an accelerator or break – when it slows down all body systems will slow down.
Anything from hair growth to turn over of food will be regulated by thyroid function. A normal functioning thyroid will allow normal fat loss when on a fat loss programme or dietary adjustment. Low thyroid causes fatigue and depression, thinning hair and heavier periods in some people. Low thyroid can also speed up cognitive impairment. Omega 3 protects against cognitive impairment.
Hypothyroidism signs and symptoms may include:
• Fatigue
• Increased sensitivity to cold
• Constipation
• Dry skin
• Weight gain
• Puffy face
• Hoarseness
• Muscle weakness
• Elevated blood cholesterol level
• Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness
• Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints
• Heavier than normal or irregular menstrual periods
• Thinning hair
• Slowed heart rate
• Depression
• Impaired memory
• Enlarged thyroid gland (goiter)
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothyroidism/symptoms-causes/syc-20350284
Thyroid hormone slows gradually with age. Low thyroid is more common in women as high oestrogen can lower thyroid function. Same can happen with men with high conversion of testosterone into oestrogen via aromatase enzyme which is high in body fat. Less fat, less oestrogen possibly increased thyroid hormones….another reason to maintain normal body fat levels.
Training too hard on low calories / carbs is another sure way to lower thyroid hormone production. A great reason to cycle restrictive periods with levelling calories and carbs. Carb cycling helps with this.
Deficiencies in any nutrient can cause some of the symptoms listed above. For thyroid hormone and thyroid function, selenium and zinc are especially important. Along with vitamin A which can have a much higher deficiency rate than is currently recognised. All nutrients work together so you can find these minerals in quality thyroid multivitamins. A high quality multi will also provide everything you need in balance to guard against deficiencies.
Don’t guess test – blood tests can help you identify areas of insufficiency.
TOO BIG?
The bigger you are the less thyroid hormone will be available to the body as in a dilution aspect. Indeed, if you need or currently take thyroid hormone replacement you normally need to take this according to how dysfunctional your own thyroid is and also your body weight.
The thyroid gland makes thyroid hormones the key one is called T4 which is stimulated by the brain releasing TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). The T4 then converts to T3 which does all the work it’s like the active thyroid hormone, T4 is a pre-cursor hormone.
T4 is made or built from tyrosine and iodine. Taking more tyrosine can moderately increase thyroid hormone production. Taking iodine (not too much) also normalises thyroid hormone production. Kelp is an excellent way to get iodine. Even 3-5g of tyrosine can help support thyroid hormone production.
Guggulsterones can also help shift T4 into T3 whilst the evidence for this is weak the real-world effects appear to be strong. By this I mean people who take this and test their thyroid function tend to do well.
Ashwaganda, is a really effective herb for normalising lower thyroid function. I’ve used this frequently to help individuals feel better without having to resort to medication. Their Dr’s are happy with this intervention.
As mentioned above most strategies to support adrenal function will help thyroid function if this is a cause of the lower thyroid function. Vagal nerve stimulation is also helpful, with mindfulness, breathing and cold showers all having a good effect on vagal nerve tone and in turn thyroid function. I’ll be talking about vagal nerve stuff soon in a future newsletter.
The thyroid can also get overactive. This is normally due to antibodies and a condition known as Hashimoto’s where you get alternating low and then higher functioning thyroid.
As with many autoimmune diseases food intolerances, leaky gut, environmental toxins, air pollution and low vitamin D are all implicated and may drive and cause these conditions.
Finally if you have any of these symptoms obviously consult your GP – if they continue then you’ll need to dig deeper, beyond the TSH and T4 tests looking at something called reverse T3. This is like a metabolic break – slowing down all the other normal numbers and meaning you’ll continue to have symptoms.
Gut bugs and dysbiosis (imbalanced gut flora) are also a key for normal health but also normal thyroid hormone production.
Vagal nerve stimulation
https://hashimoto.help/vagus-nerve-inflammatory-disorders/
Tyrosine
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3402/ijch.v66i5.18312
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4308793/
https://examine.com/supplements/l-tyrosine/
Gugglesterones
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637499/
Ashwaganda
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4296437/
Cold Exposure
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/jphysiol.1974.sp010647
GUT FUNCTION
The gut brain axis describes the complex interaction between gut health and function, mood state, memory, cognition and mental health.
Your gut houses bacteria and gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters like serotonin (a feel good sleepy hormone). Poor gut health means this vital source of neurotransmitter production can be limited.
Look after your gut with pre-biotic fibre such as inulin and probiotics like symprove and VSL.
The 4R or 5R approach chapter shows how we can review, analyse and support a return to optimal gut function, digestion and a balanced microbiome.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6469458/
EXCESSIVE STIMULANTS
Pre-workouts drinks often contain high levels of caffeine and other stimulant. Whilst these can raise intensity, focus and concentration excessive use leads to neurotransmitter depletion. Even drinking too many coffees and teas throughout the day can contribute to excessive caffeine consumption.
When we get tired it’s easy to use coffee and other stimulants to get energy. Whilst some caffeine intake is fine if you go over 400mg of caffeine per day you tend to need it too much and become dependent on caffeine for energy.
Like a nasty bank manager you pay back more interest from this borrowed energy supply.
I usually limit clients to 1-2 pre workout type drinks with stimulants in per week. Other nootropic and cognitive supporting mixes can be taken daily as these generally replace and rebuild neurotransmitter balance.
ENERGY BALANCE + EXCESSIVE FASTING
Dieting is common as many; many people are over fat.
Cutting calories by various methods is the standard route to dropping fat combined with exercise.
Cut too hard for too long and you risk lowering metabolism and thyroid function. The solution find a sustainable way to maintain a steady deficit and throw in some faster periods of more strict deficit for 3-5 days before either refeeding or increasing calories a little bit.
OVER TRAINING
This ties in with energy balance as restricting energy whilst training hard and intensively can cause over training and fatigue.
Similarly restricting adequate carbs for higher intensity exercise is another common pitfall. Especially with keto / paleo type diets which tend towards lower starches and higher calories from fat.
Whilst these are fine for lower intensity of exercise or steady state endurance type activities – higher intensity weights, cross fit and so on require adequate refuelling between bouts.
Paleo and keto can maintain energy fine they just don’t replenish carbs as fast as eating higher starches and sugars can do.
It’s all about balance though. I prefer lower carb intakes in general for general population. If you have a day between gym sessions you can replenish quite well on lower carbs. If you train every day or twice per day = fuelling is necessary to prevent fatigue and over training.
INFLAMMATION
Excessive inflammation can have a number of route causes. If you have higher levels of inflammation this can cause fatigue and even depression.
Maybe one great reason fish oils seem to help you feel better generally after a while of taking them.
I’ve written extensively about inflammation here.
ADRENAL DYSFUNCTION
Whole books have been written on adrenal dysfunction or Adrenal Fatigue a now dysfunctional description for the altered function of the adrenal glands after prolonged exposure chronic stressors without sufficient recovery.
Whether we buy into adrenal fatigue or use the phrase is irrelevant really. The fact is there are a series of symptoms under which adrenal function can become disrupted. You can call it whatever you want. What’s clear is you need to acknowledge the symptoms. Become more self-aware and run though possible causes, ruling out each one in turn.
Good chapters to read on keeping adrenals functioning well include “The truth about over training”
Helping adrenal function means paying attention to all the sections outlined here in the fatigue chapter. Additionally the use of adaptogenic herbs is are strongly recommended.
ROAD TO ADRENAL RECOVERY & AVOIDING FATIGUE
Plan Training and Recovery Properly
Fix Sleep
Monitor Recovery status and adaptive capacity
Maintain optimum energy balance, nutrient balance and protein balance for your goals
Support digestive function
Support brain function
Support inflammatory processes
Rule out ancillary cofactors
Monitor your stress load pay into your replenishment processes frequently
Practice techniques to maintain a positive emotional state
The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication network that links the enteric and central nervous systems. This network is not only anatomical, but it extends to include endocrine, humoral, metabolic, and immune routes of communication as well. The ...
