(Nimue)
With many people affected by long covid, there are now far more of us dealing with fatigue. It's hardly a new problem. ME/CFS has been (somewhat) recognised for a long time although there are still people trying to diagnose it as an attitude problem rather than a physical condition. Many people who suffer from depression experience a dramatic loss of energy and motivation as part of that. Pretty much any illness or ailment will sap your energy. Fatigue is something most people will have to deal with at some point.
Low blood pressure has been a major issue for me in recent years. In the past there were often days when that meant not being able to stand up or move around. I'm a lot better than I was, but any activity that necessitates getting a good oxygen supply to my muscles is still challenging. I'm working on that as best I can. I also have the issue that hypermobile bodies are expensive to run and we tend to get tired more easily than non-hypermobile people.
Not all forms of fatigue respond well to rest. Cancer treatment fatigue isn't alleviated by resting. With the hypermobility and low blood pressure it's complicated – because if I lose strength or fitness I'm less able to deal with the underlying problems, so sometimes it pays to push. Pushing all the time is overwhelmingly exhausting, and that doesn't work for the longer term either.
There aren't any simple solutions here, because why you have fatigue in the first place will have a huge impact on how best to deal with it. If you're burned out, or physically ill then total, short term rest is often the best choice. If you're managing fatigue as a longer-term issue, then there are all kinds of balancing acts around what serves your mental health and what your body needs. Sometimes all you can do is pick the way in which you find it preferable to struggle. If I can get outside, I'll do it even if it wipes me out afterwards because I need to get outside.
I've become very aware in the last year of just how huge an impact sleep has on body and mind alike. Enough sleep, and a decent quality of sleep makes such a huge difference. Being able to sleep is difficult if you are experiencing a lot of pain, stress or anxiety. Pain can be exacerbated by lack of sleep – it's possible to get into some vicious cycles with this. Sometimes the only way out of that is with radical change, and not everyone has options on that.
If you are online then you are to some degree engaging with a society that is exhausting, overstimulating and stressful. We aren't equal to processing the amounts of awfulness we are exposed to every day. Most of us do not thrive in the fast lane and do not flourish in face of constant stress. The social reasons that contribute to exhaustion are many, and pulling out of the culture we inhabit isn't realistic. But, cultures can change, and talking about the problems is a place to start.
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