When you understand how your body makes energy then it becomes easier to see how you get fatigue. We tend to associate energy as something we need to move the things we can physically control like muscles and to help the brain with our thought processes.
Although this is true, a much larger percentage of your daily energy supply is used to run all the systems in the body that you have no control over like your heart, kidneys and digestive system for example. This is what your RMR, resting metabolic rate is. It is the amount of calories your body needs to run all it’s system before you can even attempt to do all the things you want to do like move and think.
For example an average woman uses approximately 1700 calories a day just in running the internal workings of her body. If your calories intake is around 2500 per day then approximately two thirds of your daily calorie intake is used to do the jobs you may not even know exist or have any control over. You can also see why your body hates to be put on a low calorie diet because it fears it will not have enough usable energy to go around. The priority energy supply must go to the body first and whatever is left over, you can use to consciously do things.
If your body is under constant or extreme stress, ill or injured the additional workload and the increase in wear and tear will mean your body will need more energy and resources to operate, leaving less available for your conscious purposes. As more energy is used internally your movement and thought processes will reduce in strength as energy levels fall, resulting in poor concentration and physical fatigue. It can also result in your body craving for stimulants and high calorie foods in a desperate attempt to boost flagging energy levels but the additional strain these generate means that your body has to work even harder, putting further stress on the body.
The brain is one of the highest internal energy users so any drop in energy will have a huge effect on your brain’s ability to function. Your brain is your control centre, it oversees every movement, response and function. Imagine how you feel when you are tired and run down. You find it hard to concentrate, your movements slow down, your emotions go all over the place, you make silly mistakes and you forget things altogether.
If low energy has this noticeable effect on your ability to function, just imagine what effect it is having on the internal workings of your body. Processes and responses will be affected in the same way. They will slow down through exhaustion, send out wrong information or won’t send any out at all, systems will be put on low tick over and any repair and maintenance programme will be put on hold while the body frantically diverts what resources it has to immediate priorities and life maintaining processes.
The body needs to supply essential operational systems first before your demands are even considered. If energy levels are constantly low then what is available is used to keep the systems of the body operational and this means there is very little remaining for you to use elsewhere. We do have the ability to store energy and this causes many of us great distress as it is in the form of fat cells.
Most of us have a good supply of stored energy and some of us have an excessive supply so why does our energy levels fluctuate or remain low when the body has the ability to store a constant and often excessive supply of potential energy?It is not because we do not have energy supplies available to us but more the fact that our body finds it hard to manufacture those supplies into usable energy because it does not have the right resources or processes available to it.
Symptons of an Energy Imbalance
Your body may be struggling to cope with energy production if you have energy slumps about an hour after eating.You need to eat between meals to restore your energy.You crave for high sugar or fatty foods.You regularly use caffeine, alcohol or nicotine as an energy restorer.
Your body may be poor at energy production if you have consistently low energy.Your weight has gone up as your energy levels have gone down.You always feel tired after eating a meal. Stimulants and stimulation makes you feel immediately exhausted.
Making the Right Mix
The two key components required to make energy are oxygen and glucose. So problems in energy production can come from shortages of either of these components, an imbalance between the two, or an inability to process them. You need molecules of both oxygen and glucose to make energy so if supplies or production of either are affected, then energy cannot be produced. Too much short, shallow breathing brought on by stimulation, stress or anxiety will give you an initial boost of energy but will reduce your oxygen intake over time, making your energy levels fall dramatically. In this situation, reduced oxygen intake is reducing energy production but if your body is stressed in will be demanding more energy. This means that energy levels are being reduced at a time when the body actually needs more. Low oxygen levels mean that you cannot utilise as much glucose to make energy so it is irrelevant how much you have stored or put in because your body can only process it with the help of oxygen. So you can see that extremes or constant stress on the body can create a shortage of supply, imbalance existing supplies and upset the process of energy production. This is why it is so important to give your body regular breaks because relaxation through deep breathing will restore oxygen levels, enabling your body to re boost energy.