Q: We’re not even halfway through February and my body is already run down and I can’t train properly. Please help!
The world is on hyperdrive hurtling ahead at breakneck speed, but SA is like that lunatic Polo driver that flies past everyone else, weaving through traffic at 190km/h.
It is our state of nature. Fast, reckless, dangerous and not quite built to be doing agile manoeuvres at 190km/h, but we’ll do it anyway and to hell with the consequences. Add to that mental exhaustion the discipline of exerting your body routinely and you have the perfect recipe for feeling run down.
But fear not. This state of disaster is not permanent and the Water Cooler has been appointed minister of wellness, here to ensure all the carefully thought-out action plans are, in fact, actioned. And this is not rocket science, nor bullet train blueprints, just some common sense to ensure the energy system is not depleted.
What does run down mean? It could be that you feel exhausted. Beyond feeling lethargic you may have lingering aches and pains and your muscles are just not recovering in time. Your workouts are shorter, your intensity is lower, and it is far easier to justify doing nothing.
A quick google search will pull up Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin D, zinc, magnesium and many other supplements that can help “perk you up”, but let’s worry about the lifestyle first, and supplement later.
If it makes you feel any better, I feel run down too, writing this response listening to the pouring rain — water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink as the suburb has had no water in the pipes all day. This is important because hydration is the single-most important variable to, well, keep us alive. But beyond that, it’s also vital to not feeling sluggish. Mild dehydration — probably caused by consuming too many diuretics to cope with the state of the nation televised chaos — can make you feel fatigued.
Everyone understands what caffeine does, and if you’ve become dependent on coffee to get through the day it is possible you’ll develop fatigue. There are a few theories about why, including that the sugar you use is causing sugar spikes and dips, that coffee is a diuretic, which can cause dehydration if you don’t drink enough water, and because caffeine blocks adenosine receptors and when its effects wear off, your receptors are flooded with a hormone that makes you feel tired.
Another diuretic is alcohol. If your stressful days and hyperbusy brain require more than recommended alcohol doses to fall asleep, you have a problem. It dehydrates you, as we know, but it also disrupts your sleep and so when you’re supposed to be recharging, you really aren’t.
Heavy alcohol consumption has so many other detrimental effects that it will, without doubt, lead to feeling run down and eventually fighting serious side effects and complications. Go easy on the booze. Smoking is an entire column on its own, but rest assured it adds to becoming a beat-up banger.
Stress is a killer. As mentioned on these pages before, over time, the heightened state of arousal and anxiety causes myriad effects on the body, including disrupting hormones and damaging the cardiovascular system. All of us know from experience how exhausted we feel after a high-stress or emotional episode.
And then, the good-old circular argument that people in the fitness industry love to hate. To not feel fatigued and run down you need to move more and exercise, but you move less and struggle to exercise when feeling down.
Dr Martin Scheepers, a clinical psychologist in Northcliff, has told me frequently about how important physical exercise is to feel sharper, think clearer and manage mental wellness better.
And so my answer is: exercise to want to exercise. Move to feel better. Make small but important lifestyle changes, follow a good, clean diet, supplement if you need to, and soon you’ll be setting personal bests again.
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