Chronic Fatigue and Your Sleep Patterns . . .

That a person should have a minimum of six to eight hours of sleep is well known. But how are you caring for your biological clock?

The human body prefers the use of patterns. For instance, one should take an antidepressive medication at certain predetermined times. To break this pattern is to take chances on reducing the drug’s effectiveness and aggravating side effects. Perhaps we have not often thought of our sleeping habits in quite the same way, but we should. The body expects to rest in much the same way. It wants a regular time to sleep and to awake. While this is true whether or not a medication is involved, the use of a medication increases its importance.

Let’s use some common sense, some logic for a moment (even though these terms are often anathema in the worlds of medicine and psychology). Your metabolism works at different levels when awake as opposed to when asleep. You breathe and your heart beats at different rates. This is why, for example, heartburn can set in after eating just before bedtime; the digestive system, like the rest of the anatomy, virtually shuts down while sleeping.

What, then, does an irregular sleeping pattern do to a drug regimen? Two issues factor in here: what time you go to bed and how long you sleep.

Let’s say the doctor tells you to take one pill in the morning, one in the afternoon, and two at bedtime. So you go to bed at 9:00 p.m. Tomorrow, however, you retire at 11:00 p.m. This adds two hours of active time, as opposed to the previous day, for the afternoon pill to work, and takes away those two hours of inactive time for twice the amount of medication at bedtime. How can you expect your body to regulate that, when it doesn’t know how much time will be allotted for either situation? The result may be a more inefficient and improper use of medication by your anatomy, though you think you are following the doctor’s orders. Could this be a factor in an increase of depression and/or side effects?

Now combine this situation with the fatigue created by this lifestyle. Fatigue and drowsiness are common side effects to antiseizure medication. If you are experiencing them, first take a look at your sleeping habits before placing the entire blame on the drug.

(As a suggestion, a short 20 minute nap during the day, if possible, will often work wonders.)

Nonetheless, many people suffer fatigue despite proper sleep patterns, even without medication. Obviously, this calls for looking at the rest of your life to see what is going on, especially in terms of stress.

A huge reason for fatigue is chronic stress. This condition ravages our society in epidemic proportions. Admitting one is suffering from stress, however, does little to overcome it because all the aggravating factors are still there.

But conquering stress, tension, and depression is more simple than one may think, once one knows how. I am giving away a free CD on this for a while longer. If you want one, just go to my website: http://ConquerStressToday.info. I'll be happy to send you one. :)