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When spring wears you out

When spring wears you out

Fatigue, headache, sleepiness... many people consult their GPs at this time of year. Feeling tired and weak? Forget vitamin supplements - go out and do sport

CARMEN BARREIRO

Monday, 19 April 2021, 18:45

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Carmen went to see her GP for a check-up a couple of weeks ago. For some time she had been feeling as if everything was just too much. It took a great deal of effort to get anything done, and even things that not long beforehand had seemed normal, such as loading bags of shopping into the car or doing her job as a sales representative for a food company, seemed to be too much.

It was all getting difficult to cope with, says this young woman from Madrid. "Sometimes I felt a bit better, but other times I felt as if I were dragging myself along. Apart from the tiredness, I was having difficulty sleeping and getting occasional headaches," she says.

A blood test showed nothing unusual, just a slightly higher level of cholesterol than normal for someone of her age, and a physical checkup and the symptoms she reported didn't correspond to any significant illness. The diagnosis? Asthenia (when the body lacks or has lost strength) with an unidentified cause. In other words, exhaustion.

"We see a lot of patients like this at this time of year, especially women aged between 20 and 50. The feeling of being physically and mentally tired, sometimes known as spring fever, tends to be mild in most cases and it goes after a few days without any treatment being needed, although it is true that to combat the symptoms you do need to lead a healthy lifestyle all year round," said Dr Ana Cristina Serrano, a memberof the working group on Nutrition at the Spanish Society of General Practitioners (SEMERGEN).

"Asthenia is the cause of one in every three or four consultations in specialities such as Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Psychiatry, especially during the spring," said Dr Nicolás García, of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra (CUN).

But why do we feel so tired at this time of year? Is it real, or just a sensation? What causes the fatigue? What can be done about it? These experts answer the most frequent questions asked about this condition, which appears to be quite common in the spring.

Does spring fever exist?

From 'I can't go on like this' to headaches and lack of appetite

First, we need to clarify what asthenia is. "From a medical point of view, it is a term that means tiredness or fatigue. It's a type of exhaustion which is disproportionate to the level of activity. If you have just run ten kilometres, it is normal to feel tired. What isn't so normal is feeling fatigued every day when someone is only doing normal activities. That's when we can start to talk about asthenia, whatever the time of year," the specialists agree.

What happens is that this feeling of not wanting to do anything, and a general lack of physical and mental energy, tends to occur more frequently in April, May and June, which is why it is known as 'spring fever'. This is something that occurs as the body responds to seasonal climate change, more hours of daylight, different timetables, and a range of temperatures," said Cristina Fernández Marcos, the coordinator of the Information Centre of Medication and Quality of the General Council of the Official Colleges of Pharmacists.

"Apart from the tiredness, other symptoms can occur as well or in isolation, such as a lack of concentration and appetite, forgetfulness, headache, sleep alterations, a feeling of sadness and, in some cases, irritability," said Dr Serrano.

Why do we feel like this?

Fatigue is almost always the symptom, not the illness

Unless it occurs in a case of chronic fatigue syndrome, asthenia is not an illness. "It is a mild condition which usually improves after a few days without causing any complications," says Nicolás García. "What is most important is to determine the cause of the asthenia, because tiredness often occurs in different illnesses or in life itself. You can be tired because of stress or if you have just had a virus, but also through cancer or because there is a dysfunction of the thyroid gland or even depression. When we don't find another cause to explain the fatigue, and the feeling of tiredness goes on more than two or three weeks, it's a good idea to see a doctor because asthenia can hide something more serious."

Of course, the opposite can also occur. "Sometimes patients come because they are always feeling tired and when they tell us what they're doing in their everyday life, it really isn't strange that they feel worn out," said García.

What to do about it?

Get some exercise and you'll feel less exhausted

It might sound strange, but, "It has been shown that controlled physical exercise substantially improves the symptoms of asthenia, while prolonged rest can actually be counterproductive," said Fernández Marcos.

Dr García completely agrees. "I'm aware that it must seem that we always recommend physical exercise for everything, but the reality is that in the case of asthenia it is the most important thing. A lot of the feeling of tiredness probably originates in the muscles, so doing regular physical activity and doing it properly is essential to mitigate the fatigue. The more exhausted we feel, the more we need to take exercise, even though we really don't feel like it," he said.

It is also important to maintain a good sleeping routine (going to bed and getting up at a regular hour, avoiding caffeine before going to bed...) and eating healthily.

"The food we eat should provide our bodies with proteins, carbohydrates, fats, mineral salts, vitamins and water. However, on some occasions people don't eat a wide enough variety of things and in that case it is a good idea to take a vitamin or mineral supplement. Nevertheless, caution is needed: vitamin and mineral supplements can never transform an unbalanced diet into a healthy one," say the experts at the College of Pharmacists of Barcelona.

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