Fight your fatigue away

What is fatigue? It is weariness from labour of body and mind. It is both a mental and physical exhaustion. Research indicates that one out of three person suffers fatigue at one time or another and some people suffer throughout their life for no apparent cause whatsoever. Then what are its causes? There are many. Fatique takes many forms and colours. The modern rat-race or the fierce struggle to maintain one's position in work or in life, is one of the contributing factors in the causation of fatigue. Modern life gives man little or no time for rest, relaxation or recreation. He is busy in trying to outdo the other and beat the race.

George is having a good time with life while Arthur is struggling to keep his body and soul together. One tries to outbeat the other. In this condition he forgets all the natural laws of life and engages himself in tasks that engender restlessness giving way to physical and mental exhaustion. He has no time to eat or sleep. He is always awake working and daring towards unrealisable goals. Fatigue sets in giving place to other sinister results. Boredom follows, sickness develops, disappointments increase, stress and tension grow, pressure builds up and depression sets in. 

When fatigue is allowed to take a hold on us, other disastrous results follow. What shall we then do to rid ourselves on this morbid state? If we can react to fatigue in a more sensible way, half the battle is won. We can live without fatigue if we are a little thoughtful of what makes faigue and avoid those unsavoury circumstances th go to create fatigue.

The past years have seen remarkable changes in the life patterns of man. Much has resulted From the explosion of scientific knowledge and discoveries which have helped to bring about greater social changes and better medical facilities. Men have attempted greater feats and achieved them. They have even gone to the moon and seen life on the other planets. The discovery of pencillin and other broad spectrum of antibiotics brought about a new revolution in medical science, which changed the course of human illness that had plagued mankind for centuries. 

Illnesses like corona and other infectious diseases were the principal causes of disability and death. With the finding of a cure for these diseases, many thought they would enter into a new era of physical health and well being. The millennium did not arrive. In solving one problem, we have unmasked another. The new scientific discoveries with doubt helped people to live longer and strive harder but at the same time made them heir to set of ailments - heart disease, arthritis, Mass transportation and instant communication brought about profound changes in man's relation to the world around him. 

With the old system eroded, we have entered into a period of nervousness and uncertainty characterised as the twenty first century - the age of anxiety. In this age of anxiety, people began to urter varying degrees of emotional depletion - Woredom, loneliness and absence of purpose and direction to their lives. Chronic fatigue was the common manifestation.

Fatigue is loss of energy. Energy is the vital ingredient Without which we do not feel quite alive. No Matter now many plessures surround us, we need energy to enjoy them. The blood sugar level drops in a person when he stops eating for a long period. High temperature and lack of sufficient ventilation also cause fatigue. Lack of salt, water or sugar can also create physiological imbalances that result in fatigue. A lively book may be boring, a delicious meal unsavoury, a beautiful day uninteresting and the day's task may look irritating. For the person whose energy level is low, life itself will have no purpose or meaning.

Fatigue has both a psychological and physiological connection. Psychological components are boredom, anxiety, stress and depression while physiological symptoms are pain in the body, restlessness, loss of appetite and lack of sleep. Body is so burned up he cannot feel relaxed or composed.

Dr. S. Howard Bartley, one of America's foremost authorities on the subject of fatigue, says “Fatigue, like anxiety, relatively permanent impairment, and illness or a disease, is a form of human inadequacy. All of these every day terms lack precision and distinction, and definition is, therefore a fundamental problem." It has been the thought of many people for many number of years that fatigue was a condition exclusive to those people who had been working too hard. Subsequent events have proved otherwise. Some work-people put prodigious amounts of work and still report feeling fine. 

For instance a leading politician or a public spean travels hundreds of miles and delivers speeches alle speeches going from place to place and continues the process for several days. He does not feel the fatigue except for a hoarse voice in the throat. Why is this? He is so absorbed in the task and so enthusiastic in the pursuit, he does not have the time to feel the fatigue. 

A husband dies and the wife is compelled by circumstances to take up his duties on herself despite her domestic chores. Instead of wallowing in misery and self-pity, she accepts the challenge and takes up the added responsibilities. She excels in the performance arousing envy and suspicion of others. In the process she gets exhausted but she refuses to believe so. She is vibrant with energy and enthusiasm. She surges forward and accomplishes everything. She has gathered enough energy and she has battled through fatigue.

 If energy loss is the cause of fatigue, how some individuals who perform heavy tasks do not feel tired while some who do least amount of work feel tired even before the close of the task. This is because different individuals use up varying degrees of energy doing the same task. How they regard the task makes the difference.