Fatigue

[firenze11]

I'm wondering what you all do when you're feeling fatigue set in. Every year, around this time I start getting really tired, I've been really active for the past couple of months hoping it would help, but I'm not sure.

I think I must get very mild SAD, but I don't have any depression symptoms except that I get so tired in the fall/winter. (I realized I keep going in around January asking my doc to do blood work - but it's always great, so I'm guessing it's the season)

I know exercise is supposed to help, but I feel like it's actually making me more tired this year, especially after morning workouts. I'll be great for a few hours after then I crash hard. It is so frustrating.

I've been taking spin and swim classes with my swim class at 6:30 pm and one of my spin classes the next morning at 8. I just couldn't do it today. Mentally I felt I should go and I knew I could push through it and I tried to tell myself to toughen up but my body gave a big fat no.

So, back to the question, what do you do when you're feeling fatigue set in? Any tips/tricks. I think I eat pretty well, I exercise, I try to go to bed early and get at least 8 hours of sleep - of course I'm in school so keeping stress down is hard but I'm doing pretty well with that.

[Veronica]

I sleep more. I've been getting 9 - 10 hours of sleep lately. In the summer it's 8 - 8.5 usually.

Veronica

[SadieKate]

You know, professional athletes actually take breaks in their off seasons. Nobody in their right mind should be training at the same level 12 months a year. Have you considered whether a short break in your training would be a good thing? I think a lot of recreational athletes neither take seasonal breaks or think about periodization. Have you?

[OakLeaf]

And try to get more sunlight. If you don't have windows at work, see if you can install full-spectrum bulbs or at least bring in a lamp of your own. It made a huge difference to me when I had an office without windows. If you don't run, try swapping out a brisk 1-2 hour walk for your swim class one or two days a week. Get outside during your breaks, even if it's just to stand in the doorway (trying to avoid the cigarette smokers ). If you're lucky enough to live away from a lot of ambient artificial light, use thin curtains in your bedroom; if you must draw heavy shades at night, then open them in favor of privacy curtains as soon as you're awake in the morning.

But they're right - listen to your body. Once you've maximized your exposure to natural light, fresh air and a good diet, don't try to force yourself beyond that. You are an animal in nature and like it or not, you participate in nature's cycles. IMO, people are healthiest when they acknowledge that and work within it.

[firenze11]

I'm not really lacking sleep which is part of why I'm frustrated. I get a good 8-9 hrs/night but my body is still tired.

I'm wondering if maybe I started training too hard too quickly. I took it relatively slow this summer and then when I got to school I'm doing 3 back to back days of pretty tough workouts. So I don't really think I fit into the category of training hard all summer (unless the breast cancer walk counts) and now needing an off-season break. I feel like if I do less I'll be doing next to nothing. Maybe 3 days together (one feels like a two-a-day with late swim early spin) is too much and 3 days spaced out would be better.

[jobob]

Perhaps. Seems like everyone is different with respect to their tolerances for (over-)training.

Around the end of August last year I suddenly became very fatigued, so much so that I would be exhausted after a relatively easy ride. I had really ramped up my training that spring & summer and, after I saw my Dr and had some tests done, best as we could tell it was my body telling me "enough already". I ttok a couple of months off and felt much better by December. Now I'm a lot more careful in how much I ramp up, and I'm better at recognizing the signs.

You might consider cutting back on your schedule for a few weeks and see if that helps. Also, if you haven't had a checkup in a while, it wouldn't hurt.

[firenze11]

Thanks. I think I will maybe cut back for a bit just to see if it helps or not, I feel better today after skipping spin so maybe it was good to take a day off. I'm also thinking about going to the doc to ask about possible mild SAD. I guess it wouldn't hurt

[arielmoon]

I sleep more. I've been getting 9 - 10 hours of sleep lately. In the summer it's 8 - 8.5 usually.

Veronica

me too! I figured it I was needing it to recover from the century on Sunday!

[Aggie_Ama]

You can move to Texas where we have 300 sunny days a year. Although Hawaii sounds better.

No seriously, my friend took a job in Anchorage and has had major issues with SAD. I think he has been using a low end light treatment, not a full on tanning bed though. I think it has been improving his quality of life.

[tulip]

Hey Firenze, have you always been in Montreal?? That's pretty far north. I had some issues with feeling very low energy when I lived in Paris in winter, which is the same latitude as Montreal. For comparison, New York City is the same latitude as Madrid.

Also, and this may not pertain to you, when I lived in Paris I found that living in another language was quite draining, even though I'm fluent in both French and English. Even more draining might be going between two languages all the time, which might be more of the case in Montreal.

[shootingstar]

Be fair to yourself firenze. Would agree that NM was sunnier. We vacationed in Sante Fe and Alburqueque area for a wk. and noticed the amount of light there. By the way, we LOVED it there.

While Montreal gets more snow and cold than lower Mainland/Vancouver and Vancouver is a beautiful city, for myself since relocating to Vancouver, I find the rainy months...just barely bearable than the snow and ice. I never knew how much I disliked many winter days of greyness, persistent rain ....snow, especially clean dry snow is preferable to this. I don't get SADD just fed-up slugging through rain.

Don't give up on exercise, but don't be hard on yourself for days you want to lighten up abit. Otherwise you'll just burn-out...

HOpe all is going well on other fronts in your life.

[Crankin]

I don't have SAD, but I do notice around here people constantly complain about the winter... hey, it's New England!
My key to dealing with the short amount of light is to get outside! I didn't do that the first ten years or so after we moved back, except for playing in the snow with my kids. All of my exercise was at the gym. Now, while I still go to the gym, I do something outside at least 3 days a week, sometimes more. It might be just a fitness walk, or hiking, snow shoeing, or x country skiing. The true winter season seems pretty short when you you look at it this way. We don't get much snow until December and any snow we get in March is nice, spring skiing conditions, but is gone rather quickly. Usually I'm outside riding a bit in March, too.
I think it's natural to want to curl up by the fire and chill during these months, but if you keep getting some exercise outside, it seems to keep it in balance.

[SCurve]

Firenze, I am *so* with you. I have been getting sad and tired in the winter for my whole adult life. I also crave exercise, because I have been a fitness professional since 1999. But even I get low in the energy department once the sun starts setting at 4 p.m.! It got so bad last year that I (gasp!) STOPPED working out. Horrible.

My solution: I now have a workout partner, and even if I am tired and depressed, I would not miss our gym workouts for the world! We count on each other and we never, ever cancel, no matter how down or busy (we are both grad students) we are. It is the best arrangement ever. We work out twice as hard as we would if we were working out alone, and because we get to chat between sets, we don't even realize how much work we are doing until we are exhausted--and happy!--at the end of the session.

Do you have the opportunity to post a flier or notify other women in your area that you want a workout buddy? I met mine at a networking event at school. But seeking out other students in spin classes or yoga classes might be a great idea.

Best of luck!

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I have to agree with Crankin about getting outside. My dumpy feeling already started and thankfully, someone figured out the ankle mystery and it's healing. So I started running. I have a running partner too, and she doesn't let me slack. The cold nose goes a long way as does the click click click of the toenails on the hardwood floor when she realizes that it's getting later without getting outside. Border collies. Now if only she would figure out how to turn on the coffee pot and change the laundry...