Can stress and anxiety make you extremely tired?
February 25th, 2009 | by Michael |
Fran M asked:
I am under a lot of stress, have OCD, probably some depression mixed in there. I find that at different times during the day the fatigue is horrible. I can literally fall asleep working at my desk. I’ve tried anti-anxiety drugs — too many to name. They all make me even more tired or again too much weight, which upsets me even more. Any advice?
MICAH
I am under a lot of stress, have OCD, probably some depression mixed in there. I find that at different times during the day the fatigue is horrible. I can literally fall asleep working at my desk. I’ve tried anti-anxiety drugs — too many to name. They all make me even more tired or again too much weight, which upsets me even more. Any advice?
MICAH
9 Responses to “Can stress and anxiety make you extremely tired?”
By gjdjdid on Feb 27, 2009 | Reply
yes this is possible. the best thing i would reccomend to you is going to bed earlier and relaxing more.
in reguards to the medicen and weight you should just exercise more and take the medicen and eat healthy.
trust me the medicen will help you better then any thing else out there in my opinion. my ocd is absolutley off the walls and without a perscription id be out of control. just like i was. good luck to you!!
By mls on Feb 27, 2009 | Reply
oh yes, try and take it easy, do some relaxing things. fun things. Take it easy if you can as much as you can.
Breathe, pray and it will work out.
By Adelle on Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
Truthfully, I think you need to put a lot more fun and relaxation into your life. Other than medications, you need to start focusing on more nurturing methods.
Instances being taking long, warm baths with calming scented oils and relaxing for at least an hour a day, doing something you love that does not cause you any kind of stress at all, and above all, take care of your body. A lot of your exhaustion can stem from metabolism issues - boost up your metabolism by exercising and getting the nervous energy out of your system. Drink some meal a day shakes to keep yourself healthy and energized. And try something relaxing like Yoga - learn to meditate and control your anxiety, rather than letting your anxiety control you.
By mrkittypong on Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Yes, it can tire you body out.
By me on Mar 7, 2009 | Reply
Yes your body is running overtime when anxious, you use energy just being anxious.
By Weerapat P. on Mar 7, 2009 | Reply
I understand you because I’m now having Bipolar Disorder and OCD. But I don’t have a lot of stress. However when I was young I used to have a lot of stress due to inability to get along with friend naturally and it made me just switch off (faint). And I used to have an anxiety attack. But now, with new the medication ( I had change doctor and he ony prescribes me with depression and OCD medicine, ), I feel better. If you are having Xanax, it had a side effect of addiction and gaining weight. Maybe you could try consulting your doctor for medication adjustment
By Alice B on Mar 7, 2009 | Reply
Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes your Serotonin production to be low; when your Serotonin level is low, you are more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc.
Medication like Antidepressants (SSRI - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level.
But there are natural ways to do it without medication. There’s this strange herb called “St John’s Wort” - it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only and ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety and panic-attacks as St John’s Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc.
The problem is that, even if your Serotonin is balanced… you have that “learned behavior” in your mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior - Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that you can use without CBT will be Distraction… There are several other techniques to help cope them!
Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to….
Extracted from Source.
By Heather O on Mar 8, 2009 | Reply
Yes, it is very possible. A quick 101 on the body and stress: first is the fight of flight stage. Your adrenalin pumps, blood pressure and heart rate rise, muscle tension and headaches are common, as well as indigestion. Now this isn’t just when you almost broadside the car in front of you….your body can react this way to bad or good news, to major life changes, to extended anxiety, or the anticipation of these things. Second phase is adaptive: might seem like all those symptoms went away, but what is actually happening is your body is trying to compensate for the stressor(s) by driving it’s own resources to wherever it feels they need to go. Last stage is the exaustion stage. Many of the original symptons can come back(but not always!) and further, you are dog tired now. Once you are here, you body is tapped. There are a number of things you can do at this point: I think the most important is to take a close and honest inventory of your situation, and write down the things that cause stress for you. They fall into several areas, eviromental such as a long commute or a lot of background noise, sociological, such as family circumstances, financial, biological, and the fact that your experiencing fatigue in the first place has a double effect…it causes you distress. Take a look at what you can control. Examples would be noise. Set aside an hour a day or more if you can, find a way to tune it out. no tv, no traffic, phones ringing, cleaning, nothing. read a book, write, reflect, but no noise. second: realistically prioritize what is happening with your days within the context of your situation right now. In other words, your stressed to the point you are falling asleep at your desk! Its time to figure out what you can NOT do, to lessen the load. This is where you have to be honest, and realistic. If you can put it off, do so. If you can live without extra running around do so. If you can spread your work out than do that. Do not overcommit yourself right now. do what you can to make sure your eating right…believe it or not it makes a HUGE difference. Three meals a day, real meals. Try hard to pass on the fast food and stick with elementals…Im not saying to diet, just try and get the nutrition you shuld be getting. Snack twice a day, reasonable healthy snacks. Excersize can make a difference too. Yes, your exaughsted so the last thing you want to do right now is hit a tread mill. OK, so walk instead of the elevator. Park a little further away than you know you could. Stroll around the block once, or twice. Be consistant with this. Try and enforce a regular sleep pattern. Even if you can’t fall asleep right away, be in bed from 10pm to 6am(or whatever is reasonable in your sceduel…remember…reasonable and realistic). Talk to your P-Doc or your Primary, they can suggest more than I can fit into this box. Especially with the drugs. If the side effects are very bothersome, insist on a change. But between now and then, I hope you found something here that is helpful. Best of luck, I’ve been there.
By Tips for Panic, Anxiety & Stress on Mar 10, 2009 | Reply
Yes, stress and anxiety are not only emotionally draining but also very exhausting physically.
My advice is to attack the root cause of your stress and anxiety with compensatory methods or relaxation.
Have you tried Yoga? Exercise? Reading?
Any positive outlet for stress and anxiety will decrease the symptoms and center your energy on more positive and optimistic thoughts.
Here’s a great list of 25 Ways to Reduce Stress and Anxiety:
It should give you a nice start and pick up your energy immediately.