Have you had that feeling when you were hyped with so much energy, but suddenly you feel tired like you don’t want to move, but just stay in bed all day? You’re not alone. If you feel this during your menopause, it could be a crashing fatigue. But what is it? Is it the same kind of fatigue that you feel after a hard day’s work?
What is a Crashing Fatigue?
It is the phenomenon where you suddenly experience an overwhelming level of exhaustion or weakness. It happens at any time of the day at once and in an instant, but it doesn’t often recur or happen daily.
When you have crashing fatigue you often feel:
- Stressed and helpless
- worn out suddenly for no reason
- suddenly sleepy and have decreased concentration
- tired, weak and lethargic
With this kind of fatigue you may feel less energetic and it could cause you to discontinue your activities, temporarily until you regain some energy.
What it's not
Crashing Fatigue is only a symptom that occurs when hormonal changes happen in menopause. It is not a major medical issue that causes other symptoms. Rather, it is an effect following the changes in the body because of the hormone imbalances.
It is different from the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which happens daily and is not relieved even if you try to relax and rest. It is not the same as the Adrenal Fatigue, which is a more complex health concern. The adrenal fatigue is a problem on its own and not merely a symptom and it cannot be relieved with rest. The exhaustion in adrenal fatigue worsens with activities as well. It is also different from simple drowsiness, which makes you feel that you need to take a powernap.
Crashing Fatigue in Menopause
Crashing fatigue happens during menopause because of the hormonal changes that occur during this phase and age. The fluctuations of estrogen and progesterone levels in menopause may affect your cortisol levels. Since cortisol is responsible for your body’s energy level, the imbalances in your hormones may cause you to feel exhausted.
Following the hormonal changes, you may feel sleep deprived, experience hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and other symptoms that could stress you out as a whole. In response to the stress, your energy crashes, making your mind and body suddenly feel very weak.
However, the symptoms of crashing fatigue does not last long throughout your menopause journey. It usually gets better as you go forward through the transition from perimenopause, menopause and post menopause stages. If you haven’t read our post yet, you may want to read and learn more about the different stages of menopause HERE.
Fatigue Management
You can address crashing fatigue starting with simple and the most natural methods. If natural treatment options do not work for you, you may need to talk with your physician about it. For now, here are some things you can do to decrease and prevent fatigue during menopause.
Lifestyle changes
Have healthier sleeping patterns. It is important for you to get more than enough rest and sleep, especially with crashing fatigue. You may want to improve your sleeping habits. If you can, see to it to go to bed earlier. Or, make sure that you get at least 6-8 hours of continuous or sound sleep. Learn more about some tips to sleep better from our post Sleep Well and Feel Better.
Listen to Your Body
It is important to listen to what your body is going through. We tend to over analyze what we feel, thinking that there is always a deeper reason why you feel tired. When you feel tired, you have spent all your energy and it's nothing too serious. The feeling of exhaustion could be your body's way of saying that you need to slow down and take some rest, and you should. Hopefully, the family is there to support you and help around with the daily chores, until you can fully rest, be back 100% and feel a lot better.
Be Calm and Relax
If you feel the crashing fatigue, take a break and allow yourself to relax. Be calm and take slow deep breaths. Using proper breathing techniques will help calm your mind and your body, thus, reducing stress. You may also prevent any episode of crashing fatigue by practicing yoga, meditation or Tai Chi.
Eliminate stimulants
Limit or avoid alcohol and smoking because they are potent stimulants. These things can give you an increased level after you consume them, but not for too long. Your energy will still drop low leaving your body a lot weaker, when their effects wear off. Instead, consume food with high protein and complex carbohydrates that can give you enough energy to last throughout the day.
Exercise
Find activities that make you feel relaxed and de-stress. Simply walk for about 20 minutes. That can help you improve not only your physical health, but your mental health as well. Even if you have not experienced a crashing fatigue yet, it is advisable to engage in simple exercises you can do at home. This will help you prevent different diseases like osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease. If you are not sure where to start with exercise, check out different types of exercise you can follow. Discover more from our Home Workout for Menopause post as well.
Use Herbs
Since the main cause of a crashing fatigue roots to hormonal imbalances, you can help yourself with herbs that are good for menopause. Phytoestorgenic herbs are great for this symptom, especially black cohosh. This type of herbs have compounds in them that can act as estrogens when introduced to the body. Another group of herbs that can help with estrogen and hormone balance are the adaptogens. These herbs do not mainly act as estrogens, but they have compounds that actually bind with the estrogens receptors, making your natural estrogens more active and useful in the body. Good examples of adaptogens are the Maca Root, Ashwagandha and Rhodiola.
Treat with Supplements
In case the natural ways for fatigue management are not enough to give you positive results, you may treat the problem with the help of natural supplements. There are supplements made specially to address the symptoms of menopause. Most of them help with balancing your hormones to make you feel better. You can choose from both organic and synthetic supplements, depending on your needs.
Have you ever experienced crashing fatigue before? How did you feel and how did you cope up with it? Share in the comment box below!
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