Feeling sick? We can all feel a bit under the weather sometimes, especially with the seasons changing.
Here are five reasons you might be feeling off — and how you can solve them.
Lack of iron
Did you know that anemia is one of the most common medical reasons for feeling run down? In fact, iron deficiency is much more common in women than it is in men — meaning you are more likely to be run down due to low iron, than your male counterparts.
Solve it: Ensure you’re meeting your daily iron requirements by including dark-green leafy vegetables, like watercress, spinach and curly kale. Meat, pulses, and fortified cereals and breads are some other options for packing in some extra iron. If you’re worried you may have an iron deficiency, visit your GP to discuss treatment.
Eating a big meal before bed
Feeling sluggish when you wake up? It could be because you ate a big meal before bed. By eating large meals before bed, your digestive system is still at work as you try to go to sleep.
Solve it: You should aim to eat regularly and lightly, instead of building up to infrequent and big meals. This way, your gut won’t be working away as you try to snooze. Aim to have finished eating about 2-4 hours before you sleep.
Dehydration
It might sound simple (and slightly unbelievable) but listen, you could be suffering from fatigue because you’re dehydrated. In fact, it is a simple fact that by not drinking enough water you can become dizzy and have your blood pressure drop. And a GP revealed that in more than one in ten cases of tiredness and fatigue, they believed dehydration was the problem.
To solve this: It is recommended that you drink six to eight glasses of water a day, which is about 2 litres. By staying hydrated, you ensure your body is ticking away as you go about your day, leaving you feeling more awake and ready to take on your week.
Too much alcohol
We all know that after a few we can feel tired and even start to fall asleep — but that doesn’t mean we’re getting a restful nights kip. Alcohol can actually harm our sleep, even if we’re down for the recommended eight hours a night.
Alcohol makes you sleep less deeply and potentially disrupting our REM cycles, making us feel more tired in the long run.
To solve this: try avoid drinking before you’re going to sleep. Start by drinking more water or swapping your tipple for a no-alcohol version if you can and see if you feel any improvements!
Stress and anxiety
Did you know that stress and anxiety can lead to being more prone to colds and flu, and even making it harder to get to sleep? If you’re feeling run down, a cold or the flu can knock you for six.
To solve this: try tackle what’s making you feel stressed or anxious. It can help both in the short term, and the long run, by getting to the bottom of it. Is there a work deadline you’re worried about? Try speaking to friends or partners to help ease the load.
