Tired all the time

[Lord Herman]

Being a (recently diagnosed) Aspie myself, I'm guessing Asperger's might have something to do with it. It can be a huge source of stress, especially in new situations like the one you're in now. Even if you don't consciously realise your level of stress, it can still have physical and subconscious effects.

That said, it could just as well be something else, or a combination of factors. The exercise idea sounds plausible. In my own experience, exercise for the sake of exercise can be hard to keep up, though. Could be something Asperger's-related, or maybe my ADD (which is quite common among Aspies), but I need to have something interesting to do while I'm on my walk / bike ride / high speed pogo stick chase. In my case, if I have my camera with me, I can walk for miles without getting tired and/or bored.

If you're worried it might be diabetes or something, though, I'd advise seeing a doctor. Especially in the case of diabetes, the earlier it's diagnosed, the more can be done about it.

[Asta Kask]

Have you been consuming any mysterious pills lying around?
True story: My Boy's friend saw some tablets belonging to his mother, and thought - somehow - that they were vitamins. It said to just take a couple a day, but he was all "Pffft, I wanna be strong and healthy!" and took half a dozen or more a day. All of a sudden, he just couldn't wake up. He was sleepy all the time, and kept having naps.
Turns out these "vitamins" were a sleeping aide (like a mild sleeping tablet of some sort). His mother called him a moron.

How can you be together with this man? He's a disaster waiting to happen.

Reminds me of a story I heard in university - a young man complained to his mother that his asthma medicine made his heart race. So his mother gave him some of her heart medication... and it caused an asthma attack that could not be broken. He died.

Don't eat pills that don't belong to you.

[Asheram]

Is there good air circulation on your room?
How's the ambient sounds? any repetetive noices?
Do you keep proper and regular hours of sleep and doesn't take naps?
Is your roomie up and running at night?
What direction is your bed facing? (for some strange reason I sleep the best when my head is pointing east or north)
Try to take a walk in the evenings about an hour or two before bed.
Don't eat anything for two hours before going to bed.

[Serpentine]

How can you be together with this man? He's a disaster waiting to happen.

...I'm not Read what I wrote again.

[Halae]

Alright everybody, It's update time, yay!

*Silence. Circkets in the background*

okay, on a more serious note, I figured out what was wrong. Thank you all for the wonderful an thoughtful suggestions, but it seems the simple answer was the correct one - I've been sedentary way too long. I'm going to start jogging every morning and leaving my window open just a crack at night, as it seems to be helping.

[Lord Herman]

Yay! Glad you're feeling better.

[Asta Kask]

...I'm not Read what I wrote again.

Sorry. Mistook Boyfriend and Boy's friend.

[H Birchgrove]

I'm gonna jump on the "lack of exercise" bandwagon. Seriously, try going for a walk. Sedetary life is bad for you. It sounds wierd, but doing nothing is exhausting, and not in a good way. Back when I used to play WoW, I used to be tired a lot just from sitting there and playing all day, and not even doing stuff, just hanging out in town and chatting. When I quit, I started getting more active, and I've found that I'm tired at the proper time (when I want to go to sleep), and awake and alert most of the rest of the time. Its seriously so much better.

Peruse through Deth Muncher's thread for inspiration on things to do to get your active level up. Don't start too crazy, just try going for a 30 minute walk for no reason that to walk around. It'll be good for you!

Also, do you take a multivitamin? You mentioned Vit C suppliments. You might want to look into a multi that has a full range of Bs, along with your essential metals like Zinc and Magnesium. B6 and B12 stimulate natural energy production, while a lot of the other goodies in a multi regulate various body processes that are vital to well being. If you aren't eating healthy (and by healthy, I mean 4+ servings of green veggies and 5+ servings of whole grains per day), a multivitamin is the 2nd best thing you can do for your body, aside from eating right, and probably the easiest and cheapest as well. A 90 day supply of my multi costs me about $25. Thats like, $8 a month. You probably spend more than that at the 7-11 your friend stops at in a week.

Getting too much vitamins can be dangerous though, especially if the vitamins are both synthetic (pills) and fat-soluble (for example vitamin A, D); since both types of vitamins stay longer in the body than either natural vitamins (found in food) or water-soluble vitamins (vitamins like B, C).

I suppose taking those vitamin C pills won't hurt if you don't eat much else that contain vitamin C; though I recommend you to try kiwi fruit- eat one and you get one day's worth of vitamin C, unless you smoke because then you need two kiwi fruits. But don't eat vitamin D pills unless your doctor tells you to or you live in the Arctic. Sunshine and eggs, fish etc should be enough.

[Keld Denar]

Multis generally contain safe amounts of things you have to worry about ODing on. They have to...or the FDA wouldn't let them on the shelves. Unlike some "herbal" remedies, multivitamins undergo pretty rigorous FDA testing like other drugs do. Like anything else, though, you should take it as directed. Since C is water soluable, you could get away taking a C boost with a multi. My multi has 150 mg of C in it, which is 250% if your daily recommended amount. Contrast that with how much a single dose of something like Airborn has (~1000 mg), and you'd be hard pressed to even reach toxic levels taking a multi together with a C suppliment.

Again, talk to a doctor or licensed nutritionist if you are concerned about anything you take, but most people don't get anywhere NEAR the vitamins they need naturally, much less 20-somethings who don't cook for themselves (of which the OP seems to be) at which point a multi will definitely do more good than harm.

[Asta Kask]

If you eat a balanced diet, you're just flushing money down the toilet if you take multi-vitamins. Don't, unless you have a deficiency established by a doctor.

[Keld Denar]

The problem is, most people DON'T eat anything even close to a balanced diet, especially young people who don't cook for themselves. Its hard to get 5 servings of veggies when your meals consist of Burger King and Mt Dew.

Now, the obvious solution there is to eat healthier, but thats often even more expensive than taking a multivitamin.

I do eat pretty healthy, and I still notice a difference in how I feel if I miss a day of my multi. I think its the extra Bs I get from it that contribute to a higher overall energy level, or maybe its something else, but if I don't take it one day, I find myself feeling less good on the day after, even if I resume taking it again.

And its not like they are THAT expensive. I have a pretty high performance multi, and its like $26 for a 3 month supply. That's less than $8 a month. I know people who spend more than that a DAY on coffee. If you took something cheap like the Flintstones vitamins they recommend for kids, you're talking probably as low as $4 a month, and they'll still contain a lot of the essential vitamins and minerals you need that most people don't get enough of.

In a perfect world, multivitamins aren't needed. Sadly, this isn't a perfect world. In most cases, taking a multi is more beneficial than not taking it.

I also notice that both of the people who've objected to taking multivitamins are Europeans. When I lived in Germany, I noticed a huge trend in pushing for organic and healthy foods and away from synthetic things like vitamins. While we here in America are also feeling a larger push toward organic and healthy foods, food suppliments also seem very popular without the stigma of being synthetic. Just something I've noticed...

[Thes Hunter]

Random note on vitamins.

If you have been paying attention to the health media, it seems that every month they will say something is great for you! and then a bit later another study will come out and say the same thing is horrible for you.


Well, several meta-analysis of the data shows that if you get your vitamins and minerals from their natural sources They're great for you!, but from vitamins (especially at increased doses) they may cause deleterious effects. So getting your vitamins from food is the better course.

However, I have recently started on some low level Vitamin D supplementation, because UVB causes cancer, and UVB also activates vitamin D. Since the only sunlight I tend to get streams through my window, and all UVB is filtered out, I don't get jack, so on with the supplementation even though it's not as good for me. But I am trying to integrate more walking in the morning and evening because small amounts of exposure won't change my cancer chances enough to outweigh the benefits of vitamin D.


*edit*

And oh, yeah, Great to hear you are feeling better Harnel!

(and I had to add that in an edit, cause I suck at the internet and social interactions, forever! )