Feeling Exhausted? This Could Be Why.

Here are five reasons your gut health could be to blame.

I had a question in clinic this week, about how your gut health affects other parts of your body. This is very interesting as your gut health closely connects to just about every other system and function of your body. A major complaint of nearly everyone I speak to is ongoing tiredness, fatigue or exhaustion. If you’re feeling tired or exhausted all the time it can really impact your life negatively – with work, family and everything else so it’s absolutely worth getting to the root cause of it, and getting it sorted.

So if you’re feeling exhausted here are a few reasons this might be happening –

Impaired absorption may be why you’re feeling exhausted.

Firstly – if your gut isn’t functioning optimally you’re unlikely to be absorbing nutrients properly.  Your stomach just won’t be able to break down food, and allow your gut to absorb all those vitamins and minerals efficiently.  A lot of vital nutrients are going to end up passing straight through your digestive system.  If your gut function is compromised your stomach acid might be low, or you may be producing inadequate levels of enzymes from your pancreas, for example.  This will cause inadequate nutrient absorption.

If you’re feeling tired all the time, then your microbiome – AKA gut bacteria – could be to blame.

Further along your digestive system your microorganisms are a huge influence on how effectively you digest and absorb your food. They’re also critical in how well you sleep, your mood and your hormone levels, to name a few. All these factors can influence your overall energy levels.

Any time you experience a degree of stress, be it from an infection or emotional stress, your microbiome will undoubtedly take a hit. Your bacterial balance may change from consisting of mostly beneficial species, to having overgrowths of less desirable bacterial species, or yeasts such as candida. These may not only cause digestive disturbances, but also hugely impact your energy levels.

Studies have actually shown that not only do less desirable bacterial species tend to proliferate in those who experience a lot of fatigue, but they have less bacterial diversity too. This is why I’m absolutely not a fan of overly-restrictive diets to control digestive symptoms. Everyone needs a diverse microbiome to keep healthy and energetic, and a diverse diet is needed to increase bacterial diversity.

Gut mucosal lining.

One of the main tasks of your gut mucosa is to keep invaders out, and nutrients in. If gut lining integrity is compromised you end up with a condition called ‘leaky gut’ – there’s more on that here.
When the gut lining gets thin and/or leaky, it allows particles to pass through which triggers an immune response. Among other things, the inflammation caused by this will contribute to feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. Continued inflammation will erode away at the gut wall causing it to become increasingly thin and deteriorate.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the part of your nervous system that deals with stress. As inflammatory substances, known as cytokines, begin to circulate in increasing numbers this causes stress in the body. The more your body is stressed, the more the stress hormone cortisol is released. If this goes on for too long, your adrenal glands may become compromised resulting in insomnia and exhaustion.

Needless to say, if you feel tired all the time this warrants investigation firstly from your GP. However if those tests don’t shed any light then do get in touch to discuss gut testing (especially if you’re experiencing gut related issues alongside). It could well provide the answers you’re looking for.