Fatigue is a common complaint I hear from my patients all the time. While lack of sleep is often the cause, rest doesn’t alleviate the sleepiness. Before considering traditional Chinese medicine as a solution, it’s essential to rule out any underlying health conditions that may cause fatigue, such as Cushing’s syndrome, kidney disease, diabetes, thyroid conditions, anemia, or some medication side effects.
From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, fatigue may arise from a weak body constitution, overworking, or an unbalanced diet. A weak body constitution can be caused by inborn factors or illness. Lifestyle and work are also significant factors that can lead to physical and mental exhaustion. An unbalanced diet can harm our digestive tracts, leading to deficiency of yin, yang, qi, and blood in various organs, causing us to feel unwell and experience fatigue.
Fatigue can be classified into different TCM patterns:
- Spleen-Pancreas: the organ system that directs digestion. When this is weak, people might feel bloated after eating, tend toward loose bowels, and feel weak and depressed; this can be due to erratic eating patterns, especially too many sweets. Worrying or overthinking can also be part of the problem.
- Lung: the lungs extract Qi from the air we breathe. Sometimes, lung Qi is weakened when we do a lot of talking as part of our work without taking enough breaks. Emotions of grief and sadness can also weaken the lungs, this may present as being prone to coughs or colds.
- Blood deficiency: this often goes together with Qi deficiency. A heart-related blood deficiency can lead to feelings of anxiety and restless sleep. A liver-related blood deficiency can cause eye strain symptoms
- Yang deficiency: lack of heat energy in the body causes weakness with body aches and fatigue. This differentiation can cause menopausal fatigue and low back pain.
❤️ Chinese herbal remedies are used in customized combinations to address imbalances in the organ systems, and patients are encouraged to reduce their external expenditures of energy while cultivating internal stores through activities such as qi gong or tai chi. Dietary changes also play a crucial role in reversing fatigue.
