Is it normal for workers to be tired? Don’t take being tired lightly, this is how these diseases come about!

Ms. Jiang, 30 years old, is a white-collar worker in the city. In the past year, she has often felt tired, had a poor appetite, was irritable, suffered from insomnia, woke up easily after sleeping, had dry mouth, felt dizzy in the morning, and had back pain. She went to the hospital for various biochemical tests, but her blood routine and liver and kidney function tests were normal, and there were no positive findings in imaging tests.

Although the test results were all normal, Ms. Jiang felt that she was ill and felt weak and tired all over. Her friends suggested that she see a Chinese medicine doctor and take care of herself, so she went to a Chinese medicine hospital for treatment.

After learning about Ms. Jiang's symptoms, the doctor observed her tongue and found it to be dark and dry, thin and small, with a yellow coating. He took her pulse and found it to be thin and stringy. He diagnosed her with chronic fatigue syndrome , which was caused by liver and kidney deficiency.

The doctor prescribed a Chinese medicine prescription for her, asking her to take it with boiled water after breakfast and dinner. During a follow-up visit half a month later, Ms. Jiang said that her symptoms such as frequent dreams, irritability, dizziness in the morning, dry mouth, and lower back pain had disappeared, her sleep had improved significantly, and her fatigue and weakness had also been significantly relieved.

Doctors remind: Chronic fatigue syndrome is a group of syndromes that appear under the modern efficient and fast-paced lifestyle, with long-term persistent fatigue (including physical fatigue and mental fatigue) as the main prominent manifestation , which cannot be relieved by rest. It may also be accompanied by non-specific manifestations such as low fever, headache, sore throat, joint pain, muscle aches, inattention, memory loss, sleep disorders and depression.

Most cases of "death from overwork" develop from chronic fatigue syndrome . When patients are examined in hospitals, they are often misdiagnosed with neurasthenia, menopausal syndrome, endocrine disorders, etc., thus delaying the treatment of the patients.

Being tired is an indelible label for modern workers!

Even the most energetic "study king" cannot escape the clutches of fatigue after a long time. It is normal to feel weak in the limbs, distracted, insomnia and yawning.

People in the workplace even mock themselves as "crispy" while working hard and tenaciously...

Over time, fatigue/sub-health accumulates and changes from quantitative to qualitative, eventually turning into chronic diseases or even sudden death .

Why does hard work make people so exhausted?

1

Excessive mental exertion

Studies have found that working attentively for a long time can lead to overuse of the brain and make people feel tired.

When people use their brains, their nerves will be in a tense state. At the same time, when they rack their brains to think about a problem, they will feel tired, because fatigue is always transmitted through the nervous system, and mental labor is much more tiring than physical labor.

For doctors, designers, programmers and other high-pressure mental workers, excessive daily cerebral cortex activity causes a lot of metabolic products to accumulate in nerve cells, affecting their thinking ability and making them feel drowsy and dull.

How to deal with it: At this time, the cerebral cortex is very excited and it is difficult to fall asleep, but the body is in a state of low excitement. You need to relax your nerves and relieve fatigue through activities such as listening to music, taking a walk, watering flowers, and basking in the sun.

2

Excessive physical load

For workers, farmers, athletes and other manual laborers, a lot of physical energy is consumed every day. At the same time, a lot of acidic substances accumulate in muscle cells, which makes people feel sore, tired and weak.

How to deal with it: At this time, muscle cells need rest, but the cerebral cortex is in normal condition, so you need to relieve fatigue through sleep. If you really can't sleep, you can close your eyes and lie down or sit for a while.

3

Excessive anxiety

If you often fall into a state of anxiety, you are likely to suffer from mental exhaustion , which may even affect your work and life.

In addition, thinking too much is also one of the important factors that cause people to feel tired . When we concentrate on working, all kinds of distracting thoughts often flash through our minds, which can easily lead to our attention becoming scattered and our thoughts easily producing all kinds of fantasies and imaginations... If we need to focus on the things at hand, we will need to spend more energy and cognitive resources. If this happens many times, it is easy to feel exhausted.

How to deal with it: The fatigue at this time is caused by the psychological state. You need to close your eyes and relax yourself through deep breathing, meditation and other activities to relieve anxiety and stress.

4

Poor working environment

If the surrounding temperature is too hot, the humidity is too high, the light is too dim, the noise is too loud, or there are other uncomfortable environmental factors, it can easily increase the physical and mental burden, make people feel tired, and find it difficult to concentrate.

How to deal with it: If you want to relieve fatigue at this time, you need to improve the working environment, adjust the temperature, humidity and light, wear headphones, and make yourself feel comfortable so that you are less likely to get tired.

Don’t take being tired lightly.

Excessive fatigue can easily induce these diseases!

01

sudden death

Overwork is a common cause of death among young people today.

Staying up late and working overtime often will increase the risk of stroke. If you are a "high-risk group" for stroke, it will be more likely for your blood pressure to rise suddenly, doubling the risk.

02

Gastrointestinal disorders

Such as gastritis, gastric ulcer, indigestion, gastrointestinal tumors, etc.

Excessive fatigue may cause loss of appetite, the body may eat too little, or eat irregularly. If this continues for a long time, the gastric mucosal barrier will be damaged, which can easily induce gastrointestinal dysfunction.

03

Various infectious diseases

Excessive fatigue can lead to decreased immunity of the body and susceptibility to pathogens, such as frequent colds, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, shingles, etc.

Studies have shown that although shingles is more common in the elderly, young and middle-aged people can also get the disease, and the disease often occurs when they are tired and have low immunity.

04

Bone and muscle injury diseases

Such as neck and shoulder pain, lumbar spondylosis, arthritis, lumbar muscle strain, etc.

Prolonged overwork will lead to an increase in lactic acid in the body, which will form a pile and cause the patient to experience symptoms such as muscle soreness and pain.

05

Mental illness

Overwork can cause insomnia, anxiety, depression, as well as irritability, anger, difficulty controlling your emotions, memory loss, and lack of concentration.

This is mainly because excessive fatigue can cause autonomic nervous system disorders. When the balance of the autonomic nervous system is broken, it is easy for patients to experience the above symptoms.

06

Chronic diseases

Chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease are related to overactivation of the body's nervous system and endocrine dysfunction.

Excessive fatigue will increase the burden on the heart and cause arterial spasm, and in severe cases, lead to myocardial infarction .

07

Tumor diseases

Medical research has shown that lymphoma, liver cancer and lung cancer are the top three cancers that are "caused by overwork".

Due to busy work and high pressure, many people are in a state of chronic fatigue for a long time. First, they feel weak all over, and then they suffer from insomnia, headaches, and mouth ulcers. If the fatigue state continues, it is likely to cause lesions, excessive growth of tumor cells, and the formation of tumors.

How can we avoid being exhausted by so many trivial matters?

In addition to extreme choices such as "quitting to save lives", there are many ways to help workers get rid of excessive fatigue.

1

Sleep well

The brain is an important organ that feels fatigue. Get enough sleep for 7 to 8 hours a day, have a regular work and rest schedule, and don't stay up late to allow your brain to get enough rest. This way, you can respond rationally to various tasks, allocate energy reasonably, and avoid fatigue.

2

Eat seriously

Foods such as rice, bread, corn, and sweet potatoes are rich in carbohydrates and can provide energy for daily activities; foods such as lean meat, fish, shrimp, eggs, and milk are rich in protein and can enhance muscle strength.

Supplementing nutrition through three balanced meals, eating at regular times and places, and eating regularly can effectively increase the upper limit of energy.

3

Moderate fishing

The human body perceives fatigue relatively slowly and needs to take active rest . We must avoid sitting for long periods of time and avoiding high-speed brain operation for long periods of time.

It is recommended that you take a 5-10 minute break after every hour of work or study. You can do some slack time , such as writing or drawing, listening to music, eating snacks, exercising, etc. Relaxing can delay the onset of fatigue.

4

Regular exercise

Develop a good habit of exercising, complete at least 3 exercises a week, and exercise for more than half an hour each time . This can not only enhance physical fitness and make the body less susceptible to fatigue, but also increase nerve strength, speed up metabolism, allow the brain to produce dopamine, and make people energetic.

5

Simplify your life

Repeated distractions can make people easily fatigued. By tidying up your desk, reducing unnecessary clutter, only doing one task at a time while working , and avoiding being frequently interrupted by other trivial matters, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary fatigue.

You feel tired every day? Why not test yourself to see how tired you really are?

In addition to subjective feelings, people can also measure their fatigue level through the Fatigue Scale (FS-14). If you meet the following symptoms, you will get 1 point. Come and test whether you are in a state of fatigue?

1. Feeling that fatigue has affected life and caused distress.

2. Feeling like you need more rest.

3. Often feel sleepy, dizzy, and have unclear thinking.

4. When you start doing something, you feel it is very difficult.

5. After stopping in the middle of doing something, it is very difficult to continue.

6. Often feel that endurance is poor and physical strength is insufficient.

7. The muscles feel not as strong as before.

8. Feeling weak and often suffering from various discomforts.

9. Having trouble concentrating, or attention wandering quickly.

10. The mind is not clear when thinking and the reaction is slower than before.

11. Tend to have a lisp or stutter when speaking.

12. I often get stuck because I can’t find the right words when speaking.

13. I feel that my memory is worse than before.

14. I don’t like doing things that I used to do.

Test results:

If you get high scores in questions 1 to 8 , it means that you are physically tired and need more sleep and adequate rest.

If you get high scores on questions 9 to 14 , it means your brain is fatigued and you need to switch your brain, relax more and exercise moderately.

References:

[1] Li Yu, Wang Yue. Diagnosis and treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome based on Yin-fire theory[J]. Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy, 2023, 3(34): 131-134.

[2] Hou Xiaoyong, Jia Guangpo, Tian Lianying, Gao Fei, Liu Xuewu. Study on the pathogenesis of chronic fatigue syndrome[J]. Hebei Medicine, 2015.37(16):2463-2466.

[3] Zhang Xia, Xiang Xiaoli, Qu Xin, et al. A case of chronic fatigue syndrome treated with paste prescriptions[J]. Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2022, 3(57): 232.

[4] Yuan Ping, Liang Boheng. Epidemiological characteristics of chronic fatigue syndrome[J]. Foreign Medical Science: Hygiene, 2003, 030(002):70-74.