7 Reasons Why Your Body Feels Heavy and Tired
Hard work for all involved. On a daily basis, our bodies achieve great things for us. Most of us don’t even notice, or only when things are no longer running smoothly. Pain and tension are just two of the symptoms that suggest that there is a rusty cog in this well-oiled machinery. Heavy limbs and the feeling you’re carrying a weight on your back are further indications that something’s out of whack. In this article, we’ll introduce you to seven reasons why every little movement is becoming so difficult.
1. Stress
It creeps into our life like a toxic vapor, remaining under the radar for a long time. Once its poison takes a foothold in our life, though, it’s difficult to take a step back and modulate the tempo. Stress is no sudden development that we can see coming and off-handedly turn the tide. Typically it builds up over weeks and months, slowly but surely. At some point we find ourselves at a crisis point where everything feels like too much. We feel our heart racing, lie awake at night, neglect our social connections and our body. There’s no time for workouts, never mind for relaxation and healthy eating, and this adds to the diabolical weight. Our body and psyche are literally deprived of air. The consequence? Everything feels heavier and more difficult, we move as though wrapped in cotton batting, thereby ensuring that the hamster wheel will turn more quickly, instead of jumping off of it.
2. Too much caffeine
It might be hard to believe, but it is possible to take in too much caffeine. This dependable wake-up call then no longer does its job, but rather starts to work in the opposite direction, making us feel tired and heavy. Caffeine pushes our organism only for a short period of time. The problem here is that everybody reacts differently and each person can take a different dose of the delicious drink. The guideline of three cups a day, espresso, no filter coffee, can be the happy medium for some people, but for others even these three moments of happiness during the day prove to be too much. Recent studies have shown that caffeine not only brightens our mood but can also dampen it. What’s more, the brief spike in energy, like with blood sugar, leads to a drop-off after the peak moment, which for not a few people can feel like a freefall on the energy curve, like crashing into an abyss. This roller-coaster ride stresses our body, which often manifests this stress with an impending strike of our musculature. But excessive caffeine consumption can also affect our adrenal glands, which likewise can lead to energy crashes.
3. Chronic sleep deficit
Sleep remains the number one home remedy for feeling fit and well-rested. If you’re planning to move mountains every day, you’ll have to plan on getting seven to eight hours of nightly rest. Our bodies react very sensitively to a lack of sleep. The next bit of bad news is this: We can neither store up sleep beforehand nor make up for lost sleep once we have a deficit. Sleep needs to be celebrated every night, whereby the hours before midnight are particularly valuable for the regeneration of our bodies. So if you don’t want to go through your days like a beast of burden, work on your nighttime routine, first and foremost.
4. Too little exercise
We humans were not designed by nature to be couch potatoes, even if our current lifestyle suggests we are. Some days we hardly move more than a few steps, but our bodies need to be moved, otherwise we run the risk of obesity and chronically high blood pressure. Our musculoskeletal system also atrophies, opening the door to diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. If we just sit all day and lie on the sofa in the evening, a kind of sloth routine sets in quite quickly. The worst part is, if we don't feel energized, it becomes difficult to motivate ourselves to exercise. An unsightly vicious cycle is created that has negative effects not only on our physical well-being. From a purely medical point of view, any form of exercise and physical activity increases our heart rate and makes the blood flow faster through our veins. Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which in turn can increase our energy levels and provide a good, sometimes almost euphoric mood. Those who exercise regularly strengthen their physical stamina, but also their mental stamina. Stress then no longer has an easy prey in us.
5. Poor nutrition and dehydration
Like any powerful machine, our bodies need the right sources of energy to function at their best. If we deprive a car of gasoline or choose the wrong fuel at the gas station, we won't get very far. It's the same with our bodies. Drinking enough water and switching to a lighter, more balanced diet instead of heavy, hearty home cooking can make a difference like night and day. In fact, studies show that when in doubt, no food can actually be healthier than the wrong food. If you focus on nuts, vegetables, fruits and whole grains, you're providing your brain and body with the best fuel of all. Eating a medium pizza alone or starting each of your days with a chocolate croissant can only lead to total exhaustion. We can really only afford such breakdowns on weekends and vacations. Starting each day poorly will not only cost us victory sooner or later, it will not get us to the finish line at all.
6. An underactive thyroid
It is still popularly considered one of the most common reasons for a constant lack of energy. When our thyroid goes, we feel tired and as if our body is encased in concrete. Every movement is a challenge for us. A blood test by the doctor of our choice can shed light on this very quickly. An iron deficiency also exhausts us and slows down our well-being.
7. Depression and anxiety disorders
Last but not least, massive psychological stress can also cause us to feel immobile and as if we are being slowly dragged down into the abyss. A depression or depressive episode literally brings us to our knees, if we are even able to get out of bed in the morning. If this is suspected, urgent medical help is indicated.
Our conclusion
One body, one health, one life. We humans can survive for three minutes without oxygen, three days without water and about three weeks without food. Our body is able to store reserves in the form of fat deposits in times of abundance and good nutrition, which can be used for our survival in bad times. It regulates all of this completely independently, without constant consultation with us. It has to release enormous amounts of energy for digestion alone. The elimination of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine also takes a lot of effort. The blood sugar spikes that we subject ourselves to with constant snacking and eternally reaching for sweets sometimes literally throw us off our game. Given all of its helpful functions, it certainly wouldn't be too much to ask us to support our body in its Herculean task; we own the hand that feeds it, after all.