a 3 minute read – By Dr. Christopher Lepisto
We’re all feeling it to some degree. The high of summer has passed. The kids are back in school. The excitement or dread of the holidays approach and daylight savings is here. Despite fabulous higher-than-normal temperatures with abundant sun, it is natural to feel that familiar fatigue as we turn into shortened days and increased darkness. Our bodies will feel the shift as a longer sleep-to-wake portion of the circadian rhythm. The influence is to feel a bit more tired, nudging us more towards the pillow.
The circadian rhythm is our inherent sleep-wake cycle. As the sun drops lower in the sky post-autumn, we will feel less stimulation of sunlight at the backs of our eyes and correspondingly trigger a milder increase of daytime serotonin via the pituitary gland tucked in at the center of our brain. This is complimented by elevated melatonin levels at night resulting in naturally lengthened sleep. But this all comes with a catch.
If you are feeling tired before these rhythms kick in, it is easy to see how this nudge sends us on a downward slope. You might have an underactive thyroid, decreased sex hormone production or pain levels that have hung too high for too long. You feel less motivation and greater difficulty getting out of bed. Now stack on body pains like arthritis, reflux or effects of holiday stress. It’s the same seasonal drag but it feels a bit too much this year.
The solution is to clean up the underlying fatigue now, before it gets us into a potential stuck point. I can help. I seek to identify the cause of your fatigue and recover it naturally. Give me a call, I’ll help you get back you back on the road to better health.
Dr Lepisto
