Extreme Fatigue: The Most Effective Tips

Always tired? Many know the feeling. Extreme tiredness can be a signal from the body that it is not getting enough rest – but other causes such as a nutrient deficiency can also be behind it. With these tips, you can quickly replenish your energy reserves.

Constantly tired? This is how the body warns us about exhaustion

Just got up and are already tired again? The feeling of extreme tiredness can have many causes – the night was too short, your thoughts keep revolving around a tiresome topic or the rich supper is too heavy in the stomach and you fall into the so-called “soup coma”. Anyone who feels extremely exhausted during the day should take this signal from their body seriously. Extreme tiredness often occurs simply because the energy reserves have not been properly replenished. With a few tips, you can still get through the day well.

What helps with extreme tiredness? 6 tips for the day

1. A cold shower in the morning after getting up. Anyone who has problems getting out of bed in the morning – especially when the night was particularly short – can help themselves with a cold shower. The spirits are reawakened by the cold water. The following process takes place here: When the cold water patterns over the body, the body tries to compensate for the heat loss. The blood circulation is promoted and the body is thereby “activated”. The increased blood flow also stimulates the oxygen supply and triggers an adrenaline rush.

   Tip: Even during the day at work, a small splash of water on the face helps to keep a “cool head” and not to lose concentration when you are extremely tired.

2. Get active by moving more. Anyone who constantly feels tired and listless during the day should initially avoid large sports units. However, a little exercise doesn’t hurt to get going again. A short walk around the block or a short run up and down the stairs creates new stimuli for the brain. If you are doing a particularly monotonous job, exercise also brings a little variety. And best of all: You can even take a short walk like this during your lunch break.
3. Ventilation against tiredness. Especially in the winter months we often feel tired and listless. The heated air and the stuffy offices make you sluggish and sleepy. There is a simple solution to counteract extreme tiredness: air out. The teacher at school already knew: Regular airing gets even the most tired children going again. A little fresh air and you’re fit again – at least temporarily. In addition, fresh air reduces bacteria and viruses and thus protects against colds and the like.
4. Include targeted breaks. When you’re extremely tired, you just want to lie down and sleep for a while. But why not? If you feel powerless throughout the day, it can help to incorporate targeted rest breaks into your daily routine. A short nap can temporarily replenish energy reserves. Doctors recommend a short nap of around 30 minutes. But be careful: With so-called “power napping” you should not sleep more than half an hour, otherwise, it will be even more difficult to wake up and the relaxing effect will fizzle out again.
5. Coffee against tiredness. Caffeine is considered an all-purpose weapon against extreme tiredness. So it’s no wonder that many people grab a cup of coffee when they get up. But why does coffee wake you up? The reason for this is the caffeine contained in coffee. It acts as a blockade for the organic molecule adenosine, which is responsible for making us tired. Caffeine acts on the body as a kind of adenosine blocker because it pushes right into the receptors to which the molecule adenosine wants to dock. If the adenosine molecules are occupied by the caffeine, we feel less tired. The so-called “coffee nap” intensifies the effect of the caffeine: you drink a cup of coffee or another caffeinated beverage shortly before the “power nap”. The caffeine combined with a short sleep is even better for extreme fatigue than napping or coffee alone, according to a Coffee Nap study published in 2014. However, too much coffee can hurt the body: from a quantity of six cups of coffee a day, the risk of heart disease increases by 22 percent. This was recently discovered by scientists at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. Doctors recommend: 5 cups of coffee per day is ideal.
6. Right nutrition. A nutrient deficiency can be behind extreme fatigue. If you constantly feel tired and drained, you should have your family doctor check your blood values for vitamin B12, vitamin D, selenium, folic acid and zinc. If there is a deficiency, dietary supplements can be useful. In the case of acute tiredness, we recommend foods that have to be chewed vigorously, such as crunchy fruit and vegetables – the chewing process promotes blood circulation in the head, and tiredness is (at least temporarily) dispelled. Foods that contain B vitamins are also suitable for combating constant fatigue: These include milk, meat, and whole grain products.