Struggling With Fatigue? Read This BEFORE Seeing A Health Care Practitioner.

There are a myriad of reasons that can contribute to fatigue.

Some of which include low iron and an under-active thyroid.

However, before spending a fortune 💰 on exhaustive testing, have you considered the real reason for your fatigue?

As in – could it be because you’re just trying to juggle “life”, whilst being a full-time shift worker?

I’m mentioning this because I had a client reach out to me after a 3am early shift (yup, that’s not a typo… ⏰️😳😵‍💫), whilst juggling full-time shift work AND being a mum to 3 young children.

Long story cut short, she was running on about 3-4 hours sleep EVERY night.

I could have run some tests and prescribed some pills, but that wouldn’t have addressed the root cause of her fatigue.

All it would have done is artificially suppress her body’s overwhelming feeling’s of fatigue, and possibly delay the onset of a chronic disease later in life.

So my question to you is this.

Have you created a life that doesn’t allow your body sufficient time to rest and sleep?

Because no amount of pills can fix a lifestyle that not only involves burning the candle at both ends… but sets fire 🔥 to the bit in the middle as well.

Just something to ponder if your health care practitioner is quick to “diagnose and prescribe”, without taking into consideration your lifestyle first.

Audra x

Suffering From Gut Issues?

Gut issues are prevalent in many who work 24/7 due to a myriad of reasons including dehydration, insufficient dietary fibre and especially … mistimed eating.

Mistimed eating is when we eat out of sync to our natural sleep/wake cycle.

If causes gut issues because the stomach, along with all of the ancillary organs involved in digestion such as the liver, kidneys, gall bladder, small and large intestine, do not break down and process foods at night in the same capacity as they do during daylight hours.

And when do most shift workers eat?

All over the place!

Anywhere from 8am, 3pm, 10pm, 2am, 4am … whenever they have a designated break or find the time to squeeze one in if they’re super busy and under the pump.

No doubt you can relate :-).

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Don’t Limit Your Calories, Limit Your Eating Window.

When we work 24/7, we tend to eat 24/7 which can lead us on a downward spiral of all sorts of health complaints over the long-term.

This is because our innate timing system, or circadian clock, is essentially switched to the ‘ON’ position for a very long time.

Have you ever considered what time you take your first bite of food in the day, and then your last bite of food at night?

For example, if you have sugar with your coffee at 4am and have a biscuit before bed at 8pm or later, your Eating Window would be 16 hours or longer.

This means your circadian clock is running for 16 or more hours.

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Are You Always Hungry?

If you are hungry all of the time … more often than not, (apart from lack of sleep) it’s because your body is starved of nutrients.

This is because when the diet is made up predominantly of highly refined, processed and cooked foods which are void of nutrients, it leads to increased appetite, cravings and fatigue.

Something shift workers experience often.

On the other hand, raw foods provide the body with satiety and help to subside cravings for sweets and other things that may not serve you. This is because raw foods contain fibre and vital enzymes which are crucial for cellular function, optimal digestion and overall health.

This leads to stable blood sugar which will help you to stop snacking in between meals.

Raw foods are quite literally living food – straight from the earth.

Food is considered raw until heated above 42 degrees Celcius (107 F) – that’s where the bioavailability of nutrients change.

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Morning Light and Fatigue

The number 1 most commonly used drug in the world today is coffee, and this is because the vast proportion of the population is not exposed to the morning light.

We’ve moved from spending so much of our lives outdoors, to a completely indoor one and shift workers are especially vulnerable due to having to work shifts that go against the body’s innate timing system or circadian rhythm.

Morning light exposure stimulates the eye to instigate subconscious functions within the body. It activates the autonomic nervous system, part of the body that controls heartbeat, waste excretion, hunger, thirst etc.

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