How did you beat ‘tired all the time’?

[SallyRabbit]

Hello,

I’m 43, about to be 44. I work funny hours and have 3 children so I’m busy and only work out once a week - if that. I’m exhausted ALL THE TIME. I realise I can’t expect to have the energy I did at 20, or even 30, but I would love a BIT more energy. It cannot be like this from now until I’m dead!

Now I know that healthy food, exercise and decent sleep is a massive part of it - and I know I am really rubbish at that. I cook healthy meals for the kids and then use biscuits to give me an energy boost (although not overweight). But I’d love some inspiration please ladies - can you tell me what change you made and how much of a difference it made to your energy levels?

I wish I believed in alt medicine - I’d love a big dose of placebo I really believed in!!

So not just ‘try eating healthily’ but what you specifically changed and how it affected your life. Inspire me please!

Thanks x

My dh found out he was milk protein intolerant. Switching to goats milk helps. When he had as cows milk now, he gets sluggish. It was such a normal feeling fur him, that he didn’t realise it was food induced.

Wanted to add: the hardest part of training for many elite athletes is getting the rest that they need. Coaches often work with them on getting enough rest, which feels counterintuitive.

I felt less tired when my kids stopped waking me up at night, I went to bed earlier, drank enough water, and exercised enough. And allowed myself to rest (without my phone in my hand) when I needed it.

Have you checked your thyroid? I got medication for under active thyroid and I feel a massive difference

Biggest difference for me is eating for stable blood sugar levels. I did keto for a while which worked well, but you definitely don’t need to go that extreme to make a substantial difference

Check how much you are actually sleeping if you can. When I discovered I was in Peri my smart watch was recording only 4 hrs sleep per night. I was going to bed for an 8 hr sleep but only actually asleep for half of that time! HRT helped immediately and I also now take a magnesium supplement and I’m like a new woman

Eating healthy, exercise, time to yourself for things you enjoy including hobbies and holidays, good sleep, no alcohol and get your vitamin D checked.

Talk to your doctor and get bloods checked. At your age I was anaemic and feeling low energy. I got iron from the doctors and after that went onto a multivitamin with iron from Myvitamins.com I found magnesium massively helped me through the perimenopause time too. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, and exercise has really helped me. I love walking and the gym but introducing a short walk maybe in the morning could help or whenever you can fit it in x

Others have probably said this. I cut out all the packet snacks I was eating, to try and give me energy, cut out caffeine as much as I could (not completely off it but have cut down massively, don't wake up feeling groggy anymore!). Eat way more protein to keep you full for longer and if you are needing a sweet pick me up you can try making some easy oat baked cookies or homemade pancakes with berries in, both of which are super easy and do the trick..if you can muster up the energy to do some exercise you will feel better. Even a 15-20 min yoga session might help to boost your mood! Good luck

small amount of exercise everyday (15 min Pilates video as minimum), gave up booze and also take B12 tablets

I did a sleep study and found out I was waking up 40 times an hour

For me it was autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimotos). I was going to sleep every afternoon when I got home from work.

i would never have known if I hadn’t gone to the GP and she ordered a full blood test.

Hrt with lenzetto as the oestrogen component as oestrogel is vile, sticky stuff.

Magnesium glycinate
Vitamin d
Folic acid
Zinc
Creatine supplements
B vitamins
K2

Inositol for metabolic and hormonal regulation

Glucose revolution diet to reduce insulin resistance and metabolic flexibility (I'm not diabetic or prediabetic but helps with energy levels hugely).

I do cardio 3-4x per week, but when I hit 45 I will move more to strength training to avoid sarcopenia and the 10% muscle mass loss expected per decade after age 40.

This regime has got me from sedentary, fat and tired in November to losing a stone and feeling like I have loads of energy by June.

Ditch alcohol, reduce sugar and get iron levels checked. I was anaemic at that age, it took a while but I felt better after several months of iron tablets. Exercise also helps energise me.

Came here to say this. Getting on the right meds has literally changed my life.

Iron supplements,magnesium and bvits.

Being mindful of my water intake helped me abit. I drank very little water for a while and honestly used to cry with tiredness after lunch. Someone asked me how much I drank and it was a tiny amount realistically. I now drink a normal amount (nothing too extreme). Honestly the difference it made to me I can not explain.

Honestly? My DC leaving home, and becoming widowed, so my time and energy is my own, after a period of intial grief, which was exhausting on a debilitating level.

I started walking every day. Even when I’m dog tired I still go and I always feel better after. I have found ‘fake it til you make it’ really works with energy. I just force myself to do the things I would have done if I was full of beans and I soon start feeling full of beans! For me personally, it’s been a mental challenge rather than physical. I tried all the supplements and healthy eating and it didn’t make a difference until I started the walking. The fresh air and exercise does it for me.

Gave up caffeine

14 mg of iron a day

Prioritising sleep above pretty much anything else. That's what made all the difference for me. Sometimes our society sees lack of sleep as virtous. Fuck that. Your body can't function properly on poor sleep. Any intervention you put in place will have an impaired impact if you are not getting enough, good quality sleep.

Thyroid blood test

Before you do anything else get your bloods done at the gp. Stress you are exhausted all the time and get them to check everything. Everything else is just tinkering at the sides till you've done this.

Honestly exercising more really did change my energy levels. After DC I scaled it down and was tired all the time, once I got back into the gym and pilates I felt so much better. Only drinking caffeine before lunchtime helps me sleep better as well, the half life is about 4 hours, longer in some people, so it takes a very long time to leave your system.

Moving to a job where I did not have to travel to work by car. You can daydream on public transport and not have to manage those behind the wheel who in my opinion should not have a licence.

📍Iron bisglycinate to sort my ferritin levels which were ‘normal’ at 12. (As PPs have said, ferritin levels that are ‘normal’ according to the NHS are not optimal for health and energy. I’ve read trichologist advice that for optimal hair growth you need ferritin of at least 80!) Mirena coil (part of HRT) reduced my iron loss because I stopped bleeding altogether a couple of months after it was fitted.
📍Getting a private thyroxine prescription - my thyroid levels were low enough that they would be treated in the US and lots of other countries but the threshold is much higher here.
📍HRT. My perimenopause symptoms started very suddenly at 44. It helps but it wasn’t the miracle for me that it is for some women.
📍Actually drinking more water rather than just telling my kids they should drink more water.
📍Vitamin D3 with K2
📍Magnesium bisglycinate / L-threonate
📍Getting 8000+ steps in. Exercising even though I hate it.
📍Easing up on the sugary treats. I love (small amounts of) cake and biscuits and chocolate but my goodness I have so much more energy when I don’t have them. ANNOYINGLY.

Something I haven’t been able to crack is the sleep. Never get more than 6hrs 15mins a night, and have tried everything. But recently discovered that apparently that amount is normal for my age (49) 🤷🏼‍♀️

Mid-forties for women seems to be a really pivotal time where the lifestyle and health choices you make determine very quickly what kind of ‘third age’ you have. Self-care is largely incredibly boring. I do miss NOT thinking about any of this, and just bouncing out of bed for the day pre-kids obviously 😏

Good luck with it all, OP. Hope you find solutions that work for you.

How could I have forgotten! 🤦🏼‍♀️ I just started creatine about 6 weeks ago - Nutrition Geeks - and that has been transformative for reducing brain fog, which has in turn helped me feel like I have more energy.