Tiredness is a common complaint in the Chinese medicine clinic, and is featured in many different disorders. Tiredness can be expressed in many ways, such as lack of physical and mental energy, lack of motivation, excessive sleepiness, exhaustion, weariness, listlessness, feeling flat or a devastating inability to perform even the simplest of tasks. In Chinese medicine, tiredness falls under the heading of diseases such as ‘deficiency and overwork’, which can result in exhaustion and chronic debilitating illness.
Why Do People Feel Tired?
There are two causes of tiredness according the Chinese medicine. Either patients have too little of one or more of the fundamental physiological substances (qi, blood, yin and yang) or the distribution of these substances is impaired. If the distribution of qi and blood is impaired, there must be a pathogen or pathological accumulation of some sort blocking their movement. Pathogens can be external and lingering, or generated internally.
Different Types of Tiredness
There are certain clues that can help identify the nature of the tiredness. One of the most important is the response of the tiredness to rest. Tiredness that is worse after, or at least no better for, rest or prolonged inactivity, indicates an excess pattern.
Tiredness that is alleviated by sleep or rest is usually of a deficient type, as rest enables the body to replenish some of the deficit. Low reserves of energy are easily spent in activity.
Tiredness following eating points to Spleen deficiency or damp. Tiredness with an emotional component points to Liver or Spleen qi constraint. Tiredness aggravated by cold weather indicates deficiency of the Kidneys.
Emotional Factors
Emotional stress is an important cause of disruption to the Liver, Spleen and qi dynamic. The Liver is affected by anger, frustration and repressed emotion, while worry, obsessive thinking and prolonged concentration, in combination with a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, weaken the Spleen. Any of these emotional factors, if prolonged or extreme, may disrupt the relationship between the Liver and the Spleen. Failure of the Liver to evenly distribute qi causes tiredness that fluctuates with the emotional state and activity levels.
Prolonged worry, grief and sadness can deplete Lung and Spleen qi, and diminish qi and blood production. The weakened Spleen can produce damp, further impeding the disruption of qi and blood.
A sudden or severe shock can sever the connection between the Heart and Kidneys, drain them of vitality and damage yang qi and yin.
Diet and Medications
Inadequacies or irregularities in diet and digestion are important components of persistent tiredness. If the diet is lacking in essential nutrients, or if the food ingested is not being processed efficiently, qi a blood production will suffer.
Poor or erratic protein intake, restrictive or fad diets, or excessive intake of poor quality ‘fast foods’ lead to relative malnutrition, weaken the Spleen and reduce qi and blood production.
Excessive intake of food and alcohol in general, or diet overly rich in heating or supplementing foods like meat and fat, can lead to dampness, heat and phlegm. Food allergy, lactose intolerance and coeliac disease are often unrecognized, especially when mild or sub-clinical, and can be important factors in chronic tiredness.
Some other causes of tiredness include:
- Overwork or exhaustion
- Poor sleep cycle
- Qi deficiency
- Blood deficiency, pregnancy or childbirth
- Yin deficiency
- Yang deficiency
- Blood stasis
Biomedical Conditional where Tiredness is a Major Component
The subjective experience of tiredness can be part of almost any disease, however there are a variety of illnesses, imbalances and compulsions in which tiredness is a major complain.
Endocrine
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Diabetes
- Adrenal (Addison’s disease, Cushing’s syndrome)
- Hyperparathyroidism
- Changing hormone levels (menopause, puberty, pregnancy)
Cardiovascular
- Cardiomyopathy
- Arrhythmia
- Congestive cardiac failure
- Anemia
Nauromuscular
- Parkinson’s disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- myasthenia gravis
- Post head injury
Drugs
- Alcohol and nicotine
- Amphetamines
- Antibiotics
- Anticonvulsants
- Antidepressants
- Antihistamines
- Anti hypertensives, beta blockers
- Steroids
- Hormones (oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy)|
- Digoxin
- Sedatives and hypnotics
Other
- Depression, anxiety, bereavement
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Malignancy, leukemia, lymphoma
- Chronic infection (Glandular fever, HIV, Lyme disease, cryptosporidum, hepatitis)
- Malnutrition, obesity
- Auto immune disease (Lupus, Behcets disease)
- Sleep disorders (sleep apnea, myoclonus, shift work, sleepwalking, asthma, orthopnea, reflux (GERD))
As stated above, there are a lot of causes for tiredness and Chinese medicine aims to treat the root cause, not just the symptom. To get an individual diagnosis and treatment plan, book a consultation with a qualified Traditional Chinese Medical practitioner.