If you wake up feeling like you didn’t sleep at all, you drag through your day, you have trouble concentrating or doing anything productive, you know how lack of energy can affect your life. There are variety of reasons for not having adequate energy: maybe you’re just too busy to get a square eight hours of sleep. Maybe you suffer from a sleep disorder. Maybe you have an iron deficiency or your diet lacks enough protein. Maybe you have low testosterone. Whatever the source of your fatigue, you’re probably most concerned with how lack of energy can affect your life. If the following descriptions for how lack of energy can affect your life seems to describe you, you should probably see a doctor about your condition.
How Lack of Energy Can Affect Your Life
- Poor Immune Health
Have you noticed that you seem to catch whatever bug is going around? You constantly have a cold, or the flu, or one illness or another. While you sleep, your immune system works hard to fight off any viruses or bacteria that are trying to build a stronghold in your body. If you are not getting adequate rest, not only do you lack energy through the day, your body has to work hard just to function; you don’t have the strength to resist illnesses. On top of that, being sick furthers your issue with lacking energy. It’s a perpetuating cycle. - Difficulty Losing Weight
Studies show that when you lack energy, you have lower levels of leptin in your system. Leptin is a biochemical that makes you feel full. At the same time, the hormone that stimulates your hunger senses, ghrelin, works in overdrive. Your body tells you that you’re constantly hungry and never full.Not to mention, when you lack energy, you are less active and burn less calories throughout the day. In other words, you eat more, never feel full, and don’t burn as many calories. It is no wonder that lacking energy leads to difficulty losing weight.
- Higher Instances of Depression and Anxiety
Even if you are fortunate enough have plenty of energy on a regular basis, you probably understand how one night of poor sleep can make you irritable with a negative outlook throughout the day. It is no surprise then, that if you regularly lack the energy to function, that negative cloud that you feel all of the time will develop into long-term mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Additionally, one common symptom of depression is lack of energy. It’s hard to know if the lack of energy causes the depression, or the depression causes the lack of energy. - Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
When you get a good night of sleep, your body converts the glucose that is in your bloodstream into carbohydrates that give your cells energy. When your body doesn’t get adequate rest, that glucose is not processed efficiently, giving you a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. - Low Sex Drive
Having low energy levels affects libido in both men and women. However, when men experience low energy levels, it both leads to a low sex drive and is an indication of a low testosterone level, which also has a huge impact on libido. - Higher Risk of Heart Disease
When your body doesn’t get the time to repair itself, it does not function as it should. Being in a constant state of exhaustion makes your heart work harder, increases your blood pressure, and results in higher levels of biochemicals that cause inflammation. All of these factors put more of a strain on your heart muscles, and lead to potentially life-threatening cardiac diseases.
What To do If You Suffer From Lack of Energy
If the list above describes you, here are a few tips for gaining energy:
- Avoid overuse of caffeine or energy drinks. These are a temporary fix and result in a crash that makes you feel worse.
- Get enough sleep. Try to give yourself one or two days a week that your body wakes naturally without an alarm.
- Develop healthy eating habits, which will help naturally correct any vitamin or mineral deficiencies leading to you lack of energy.
- Visit a doctor to identify any underlying medical issues that your lack of energy is a symptom of.
