fatigue Archives - Lifelab Testing

Why Am I Always Tired?

Modern life comes with many trials and tribulations. More than ever we’re straining to see screens, staying up later watching boxset, popping to cafes for mid-afternoon coffees and following the latest Silicon Valley trend which advises waking up three hours before everyone else. It seems that the last consideration many people make is whether or not they’re getting adequate sleep. In the never-ending quest for productivity, we overlook the most vital factor in maintaining good health.

 Here we look at the factors affecting your sleep and why you’re so tired.

Caffeine

coffee allergy testing
Coffee: The Angel & Devil on sleep’s shoulder

The crutch many people lean on to get through a day of fatigue, caffeine consumption is a vicious circle. You take it to wake you up, downing coffee after coffee throughout the day in an attempt to stave off the creeping tiredness. However, caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist, which means that it disrupts the production of adenosine, a substance that contributes to sleepiness. One study found that consuming caffeine within 6 hours of sleep reduces total sleep time by one hour. Caffeine consumption should be limited to morning consumption and kept as far from bedtime as possible to optimise sleep.

Blue Light

Blue light is everywhere. Your phone, your laptop, your television, pretty much every screen you’re looking at has some level of blue light. Blue light has been proven to limit the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Lack of melatonin affects the length of time you spend asleep as well as the quality of the sleep you do get. Blue light limits your ability to go into REM sleep (the deep stages of sleep where dreams occur) which affects the restorative processes your brain undergoes during rest. Using blue light limiting settings on devices, blue light blocking glasses and limiting exposure in the hour before bed will help improve sleep.

Allergy

During sleep, your brain attempts to recover from the work it has done throughout the day. It requires oxygen to undergo this restorative process, and clear nasal passages are essential. When you’re living with an allergy, you may experience restricted nasal breathing. Without taking an allergy test, you may not even know you have one. When breathing is limited, your brain doesn’t receive the amount of oxygen it needs to recover truly. Taking an allergy test can help you identify the substances you need to avoid to get a proper nights sleep.

Darkness

It is not only blue light that affects sleep. Your body responds to any light as a notice that it is time to limit the production of hormones that promote sleep. When your body detects complete darkness, it causes a flood of sleep hormones to flow to the brain and push you into a sleep cycle. Using blackout blinds and switching off unnecessary lights in the hour before bed can have a significant impact on sleep quality.

With allergies having a significant impact on your ability to sleep, it is essential to take an allergy test. You can find an allergy test to suit your budget here.

Allergy Testing Can Stop You From Suffering Fatigue

Food allergy testing is often only given when there is a clear indicator that it is needed.  Particularly when teens or adults, where it’s commonly thought that the danger of an allergy developing has passed.  However, allergy testing isn’t just required when a child, teen or adult has an anaphylaxis-related reaction.  Sometimes it’s simply a bloated stomach or even fatigue.  There is no “one size fits all” for a food allergy, which is why education is important.

How allergies relate to fatigue

Since we know that a food allergy occurs when your body’s natural system starts to protect itself from what it perceives as a threat (ie: the allergen), fatigue is actually a really common symptom of a food allergy, though it’s often ignored and attributed to other issues. 

As your body fights the allergen, the same hormone that is released to fight it, also makes you feel tired and hazy.  Similar to when you are overtired.  It can also keep you from sleeping well, if the allergic reaction occurs near bedtime.  This difficulty sleeping is also made worse by the fact that the same hormone can cause swelling in your nose, making you feel stuffy, which makes it hard to have a good night’s rest as well.

Examples of fatigue related to allergies

Fatigue and its connection to allergies can be felt in a few ways.  Here are some examples that you may have found in your everyday life that, until now, don’t really have a clear reason for happening.

  • Constant fatigue: If you feel like you are always ready to pass out from fatigue in the afternoon or evening, it could be due to something that you’re eating in a meal.  While slight fatigue is normal after a large meal, a traditional meal shouldn’t make you feel like you’re exhausted after it.
  • Difficulty sleeping: If you’re waking throughout the night or waking in the morning still feeling really dragged out or tired, it could be due to an allergen that is pushing those fatigue levels higher as well as keeping you from slipping into a deep sleep throughout the night.
  • Feeling fogged or hazy: Difficulty concentrating or simply feeling “hazy” or “out of it” is another version of fatigue that is often caused by a food allergen.  If you are struggling to stay on-task or focused on a conversation, this form of fatigue could be something to consider in terms of the root cause.

What to do

In fighting the reaction, the best thing that you can do is to take an allergy test.  This will help you figure out just what is triggering the fatigue so that you can avoid it.  If you accidentally ingest it, you’ll find that taking an anti-histamine can help curb the worst of your symptoms and get you back to your life as normal.  Allergy testing can help you beat fatigue for good.

For more information on battling fatigue and dealing with this annoying symptom, you can log on to www.lifelabtesting.com and see how we can help!

Fatigue and food intolerance: Is there a link?

If you are suffering from fatigue then one of the key triggers could be a food intolerance. Intolerance testing can definitely help you to stop asking the question: ‘Why am I always tired?’. Everyone gets stressed out when going to work and finds themselves feeling drained. The most common cause is often a lack of sleep, but fatigue is also caused by a food intolerance.

Why is fatigue on the rise?

The number of people suffering from fatigue is increasing daily, and that is because lifestyles are becoming more hectic and more demanding. People are working harder all the time. The number of people complaining about feeling fatigued is always rising, but there has actually been more complaints about fatigue from women rather than men.

But, if fatigue is caused by a food intolerance, does it not affect everybody? It does, but not every food intolerance will cause the same symptoms, and it is not always the same food. Some people with a food intolerance will suffer from a bloated stomach or a headache, and some will suffer from fatigue. Intolerance testing can definitely help you to find out which foods you need to be avoiding.

How can intolerance testing help me?

Intolerance testing can help in so many ways, but one of the main ones is to help you reevaluate your diet. If you are always eating a food that you have a food intolerance to (but you weren’t aware) then intolerance testing can identify this, and this will help you to remove that food from your diet.

Why am I always tired?

Food intolerances and fatigue are linked, that is for sure. If you find yourself anxious and stressed, you may see that you constantly questioning: ‘Why am I always tired?’. Lethargy is common and there is often a root cause. You can consult your doctor with this and they will advise you.

Understanding your body

For people suffering from fatigue, there are so many questions. Why am I always tired is often asked, as you look to discover and understand why you are feeling a bit down. Your health and wellbeing is so important and intolerance testing can improve this. Identify and eliminate these food intolerances, it can be an important step forward in identifying your energy levels.

For more information on intolerance testing, log on to www.lifelabtesting.com and say goodbye to your fatigue and bloated stomach today.

Is a Food Intolerance Making You Tired?

With people having to work long hours, life can really leave you drained by the end of the week. Obviously, this is something that can usually be remedied with a few days of relaxation and time off. However, if this fatigue just won’t seem to shift, no matter how early you go to bed, this is going to raise questions relating to what else could be causing it. If you are feeling drowsy after eating certain foods, you have to ask yourself – Is a Food Intolerance Making You Tired?

The Value of an Intolerance Test

If you are experiencing fatigue as a result of a problem your body is having with processing a particular type of food, then an intolerance test can be invaluable. The reason why is that it pinpoints exactly where your issues lie and allows you to take steps to avoid that particular food. An intolerance test can provide you with the information you need to take back control of your life.

So, let’s take a look at some of the food groups that are most commonly associated with causing fatigue.

Wheat

Whilst wheat can be hugely satisfying to eat, it is known to be addictive and to those with an intolerance, it can cause real physical and emotional problems. Within this food group, is gluten, which is usually (but not always) the root cause of wheat intolerance and can cause acute fatigue to the sufferer, particularly if the person isn’t aware of the problem. This is especially the case when discussing conditions like coeliac disease, which is a severe type of wheat intolerance.

Dairy

Whilst cheese, milk and butter are foods that offer much in the way of nutrition, those with sensitivities to dairy find that the adverse symptoms that they cause, outweigh the goodness that they provide. When a person has an intolerance to dairy, the most common cause is either lactose intolerance or a casein allergy and when a sufferer ingests dairy, the gut can become inflamed, causing headaches, bloating, fatigue and all manner of adverse effects. The stress that this causes to the body, results in fatigue that just won’t go away.

Nightshade Fruit & Veg

Another food group that can cause intolerance related fatigue are the fruits and vegetables from the Nightshade family. Included within this group are peppers, tomatoes and even potatoes, which are obviously quite popular and with the concept and importance of an intolerance test still not being as widely known as we would like, many suffer their whole lives with the fatigue it causes, completely unaware that they could have done something about it.

Affordable, Quick and Painless

At Lifelab testing, we offer intolerance test services for as little as £99. When you opt for a test, you receive a detailed scientific report of your own unique physiology, as your blood is screened against 40 key food intolerances. Send us just a small blood sample and within just a few days, you’ll know exactly what your body has a problem with. Simple, easy and fast!

Fatigue can really hold you back in both your personal life and career, so being able to circumvent the issue with a targeted intolerance test can put the control firmly back in your own hands. For more information about our full range of testing services, take a look through our website where you’ll find everything you need to know. 

If after looking through all the info you need further advice, you can talk to one of our friendly experts either by calling 01332 32 18 92 or via the LiveChat facility on our site.

Get tested now and free yourself from the misery of food intolerance fatigue.