Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2017: Health & Wellness Issue | Page 28

TIRED NO MORE
In this article, learn about some common causes of fatigue
amongst women, so you can get back to living life to the fullest.
by SHANNON FRANDSEN
W
e overpack our schedules.
We sacrifice much-need-
ed sleep for just one more
episode of whichever TV series we’re
binging on. We tell ourselves, half-se-
riously, that we can sleep after we’re
retired. When we stop and think
about it, though, we might wonder
how we will make it to retirement if,
at just 30 or 40 years old, we are al-
ready dead tired.
But then some of us are wiped
out when we do all the right things,
like getting the recommend-
ed amount of sleep and exercise.
Maybe even without sundowners
at rooftop bars a few times a week,
or without committing to too many
projects at work or at our children’s
schools, we cannot keep our eyes
fully open much past 11:30 am.
Sometimes, we are tired for what
seems to be no good reason at all.
Why does this happen? There
are many possible causes. The fol-
lowing reasons why some women
28 WANDERLUST
experience fatigue are numbered in
no particular order:
#1 CHRONIC FATIGUE
SYNDROME
One possible culprit is Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, or CFS, which is
a cluster of otherwise inexplicable
symptoms, the primary one being
extreme fatigue. CFS is sometimes
used interchangeably with myal-
gic encephalomyelitis (ME), though
it is actually a different, yet related,
condition.
Researchers are not sure yet ex-
actly what causes CFS or ME, which
means there is no cure for it either.
Millions of people around the globe
suffer from CFS or ME, with women
being twice as likely as men to de-
velop it.
Symptoms of CFS
According to the Mayo Clinic, in ad-
dition to unexplained fatigue for at
least six months, a diagnosis of CFS
requires at least four of the following
symptoms:
¬ ¬ Sore throat
¬ ¬ Enlarged lymph nodes in neck or
armpits
¬ ¬ Memory loss
¬ ¬ Difficultly concentrating
¬ ¬ Unexplained muscle pain
¬ ¬ Joint pain, without swelling or
redness
¬ ¬ Severe headache
¬ ¬ Sleep that does not leave you feel-
ing refreshed
¬ ¬ Exhaustion for over 24 hours after
physical or mental exertion
How can I tell if I have CFS?
Because there is no test to let you
know if you have CFS or not, diagno-
sis is based on the symptoms report-
ed, after ruling out other common
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