Tired, Stressed and Looking for Answers?

You're tired. You're stressed. You're not sleeping as well as you'd like, your patience is a little questionable, and somewhere around 3 p.m. you're wondering how you're going to make it through the rest of the day.

So you start looking for answers.

Maybe it's your adrenals. Maybe it's your hormones. Maybe it's your blood sugar. Maybe you need more magnesium. Or less coffee. Or a different supplement. Or a completely new diet.

I've taken myself down this same road.

When you don't feel like yourself, you want to know why. And when someone can point to one thing and say, "There it is - that's your problem," it's pretty tempting.

Especially when they also have a list of things you can buy to fix it. Because apparently there's a supplement for everything these days. 🙃

The problem is, feeling tired and stressed doesn't automatically tell us what's causing it. Fatigue can have many possible causes, including poor sleep, stress, eating too little, too much or too little physical activity, medications and various health conditions.

So before you start trying to fix everything, let's take a step back.

Not everything needs fixing

I think we're getting very good at turning normal human experiences into problems that need solving.

You're tired? Something must be wrong.

You're having trouble sleeping? Your hormones are out of balance.

You're stressed? Your adrenals must be struggling.

You have an afternoon slump? Time to investigate your blood sugar.

Sometimes there is something that needs attention. But sometimes your body is responding pretty reasonably to what's happening in your life.

Maybe you've been sleeping badly because you've been staying up too late. Maybe you've been training hard without enough recovery. Maybe you're eating less than you think you are. Maybe you've been travelling, working long hours, looking after everyone else and generally doing a lot.

Or maybe you're just having a rough few weeks.

That doesn't mean you should ignore how you feel. It just means the first explanation you find isn't necessarily the right one.

When everything starts to feel like a problem

Once you start looking for answers online, it's very easy to find one explanation that seems to fit everything.

You read about cortisol and suddenly every bad night's sleep makes sense.

You read about blood sugar and now your 3 p.m. slump has an explanation.

You read about hormones and suddenly every mood change, craving and tired morning seems connected.

And because these explanations often contain a little bit of truth, they can be very convincing.

Before you know it, you're changing your diet, adding supplements, trying a new workout, working on your sleep and starting a new morning routine - all in the name of getting healthy.

And if you're already stressed, turning your health into another full-time job probably isn't helping.

I've done this too.

Start asking better questions

Instead of immediately asking, "What's wrong with me?", try asking a few different questions.

What's changed?

When did I start feeling this way?

Am I eating enough for what I'm asking my body to do?

Am I recovering from the amount of exercise I'm doing?

How have I actually been sleeping?

What's going on in my life right now?

Sometimes those questions tell you more than another supplement ever will.

You don't have to figure it all out yourself

There are lots of ways to get support, depending on what's going on.

Your doctor or other healthcare provider may be the right place to start. A counsellor or therapist can be incredibly helpful when stress, anxiety or life circumstances are weighing heavily on you. Other practitioners may have a role too - massage therapy, acupuncture, physiotherapy, or someone like me who can help you look at nutrition, lifestyle and the day-to-day habits that may be contributing to how you're feeling.

This is where my work comes in.

As a holistic nutritionist, I don't just look at what you're eating and hand you a meal plan. I want to understand what your days actually look like.

How are you eating? Are you eating enough? How is your digestion? How are you sleeping? How active are you? What does your stress look like? What about your energy, hormones, routines and the demands you're putting on yourself? What feels manageable right now, and what feels like one more thing you absolutely do not need?

Sometimes we find a few practical things that could make a difference. Sometimes we need to dig a little deeper. And sometimes, you just need help making sense of it all.

You don't need to have the answer before you ask for help.

In fact, that's kind of the point.

Look at the whole picture

Stress and feeling tired rarely happen in isolation. The way you're sleeping, eating, moving and recovering all matter, as do the demands you're carrying in your everyday life.

So rather than immediately adding something else to your routine, maybe ask yourself what you could take away.

Could you cancel something?

Say no?

Ask someone else to help?

Give yourself an earlier night?

Take a little time where nobody needs anything from you?

Sometimes creating some breathing room can do more for you than adding another item to the to-do list.

And if you've been feeling tired, stressed or unlike yourself for a while and can't seem to get back on track, that's worth paying attention to. You don't have to keep experimenting on yourself indefinitely. Getting some help figuring out what's going on can save you a lot of time, money and frustration.

I've been there.

Sometimes you just need to stop, take a breath and figure out what actually makes sense for you.