How fatigue is affecting everyone. How acupuncture can restore energy.
AcuBay Clinic, May 2021
Dr. Young Kim
Dr. Regan Choi
Check all the boxes that apply:
More tired than usual.
Less energy than usual.
Sleepiness.
Sore or aching muscles.
Slowed reflexes and responses.
Appetite loss.
Short-term memory problems.
Poor concentration.
Reduced ability to pay attention to the situation at hand.
Low motivation.
Did you check a lot of boxes? If so, you might be going through low energy or something called fatigue syndrome. This syndrome was first created by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) back in 1988, which is surprisingly recent.
According to dictionary.com, fatigue is understood as ‘an extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness’ and ‘causes someone to feel tired or exhausted’. Some common symptoms are from:
Medical causes: Some diseases and disorders tend to trigger fatigue.
Life-style related causes: Some common ones include lack of sleep, alcohol and drugs, lack of regular exercise, poor diet, and more.
Workplace-related causes: Some common ones are poor workplace practices, workplace stress, burnout, unemployment, and more.
Emotional concern and stress: Depression, anxiety, and stress are the most common emotional concerns.
Zoom fatigue: Where people crave real-life interactions.
Ever since the global pandemic changed our lives, there has been two new cases of fatigue and they are ‘zoom fatigue’ and ‘COVID-19 fatigue’.
Zoom fatigue explains itself - people are growing more tired to be on a video call and are craving real-life interactions. People might ask, how does talking to people through video make people exhausted? Stanford researchers discovered the following:
Eye contact is too intense: People are able to focus on other things when having a chat in real life, but everyone's face is displayed on a video call which triggers people to be alert to not make any mistakes as they know they are being watched.
Seeing yourself: People tend to become more critical of themselves when they see their faces on a video call when in reality, nobody walks up to you with a mirror in real life.
Better performance without video: It has been proven that people perform better when they are moving around because their attention is fully on the subject of the matter. Compared to audio calls, video calls have many factors that people pay attention to even though they don't think they are.
Gestures with different meanings: Gestures are more exaggerated on video calls so that people understand what the person is trying to say instead of something else. It requires more energy to think and take action, so all in all, it's exhausting.
COVID-19 Fatigue: Will we go back to normal?
COVID-19 implemented a huge sudden change to our lives and that has stressed people all over the world. Elise Epel, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, mentioned that stress “keeps our mind vigilant and our nervous system vigilant, and that uses more energy” which is one of the reasons why people are feeling more exhausted and out of energy.
People are worried about brain fog where the root of the problem is from trauma and stress from the global pandemic. People may not notice, but stress changes the quality of your sleep, refusing to put you into a deep sleep which often makes people more exhausted and confused because the amount of sleep never changed. People who are greatly impacted are more likely to have mental and physical health issues in the long run where they would need support.
However, Lynn Bufka, a psychologist with the American Psychological Association, is confident that people will be able to go back to normal once the pandemic is completely over and we hope so too!
Starting from something small can dramatically change your life. I’m sure people expect different solutions, but having healthy and consistent habits is a huge step forward. Some of those include getting enough sleep, exercising, eating a healthy diet, going outside, and meditation. Being stuck in a mindset or place that makes you feel exhausted will only worsen the situation - take a leap of faith and try something outside of the box to reduce fatigue and after a couple of different tries, you’ll start to figure out what works best and which ones you will want to continue.
Many treatments include medication, but as we always said, acupuncture is the most natural solution to healing people and it can most definitely help with fatigue.
It was proven in 2012 that acupuncture had a superior effect on reducing fatigue compared to the drug prednisone.
Acupuncture is also commonly used by former cancer patients who have been suffering from chronic fatigue after surgery.
You may be asking, how do needles help with fatigue?
The main purpose of acupuncture is to manipulate certain qi meridians. For fatigue patients, acupuncture is used to calm the yang energy and stimulate the yin energy. The yin energy is slow and cold where it derives in quiet activities such as resting meditation, and deep breathing. The yang energy is fast and hot and it comes from physical and mental activities like exercise, concentrating, and things outside that causes stress. When there is an imbalance in the body’s energy flow, that is when fatigue happens.
Tips from us, AcuBay Clinic
Acupuncture points that can help with reducing fatigue.
KD1, LI4, ST36, GV20, LR3 (Please view picture to see specific areas).
Here are the specific points we insert the acupuncture needles that will help restore energy.
Other ways that can help reduce fatigue are herbs such as ashwagandha, ginseng roots, peppermint, and rosemary. Our dawn chorus tea is also known to work wonders.
Otherwise, meditation and Qi gong, promoting the movement of qi energy, are also very beneficial methods to treating fatigue.
Acupatches, that are available at our clinic, are stickers that reflect specific wavelengths of light to stimulate acupuncture points on the skin. Energy Enhancers is used to help with low energy.
Questions? Concerns?
Want to learn more? Or are you ready to feel more energized? Feel free to contact us anytime. We are always here to help you heal.
Contact:
408-828-3409
Our Offices:
Campbell: 1925 S Winchester Blvd #205, Campbell, CA 95008
Morgan Hill: 15585 Monterey Rd Suite E, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Works Cited:
BetterHealth Channel. "Vic.gov.au, 2014, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/fatigue. Accessed 28 May 2021.
Cummock, Katie. “COVID Fatigue and Your Mental Health.” Intermountainhealthcare.org, 29 Apr. 2021, intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/covid-19/2021/04/covid-fatigue-and-your-mental-health/. Accessed 28 May 2021.
Dellwo, Adrienne. “Acupuncture for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Does It Work?” Verywell Health, 2021, www.verywellhealth.com/acupuncture-for-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-715648. Accessed 28 May 2021.
Rhitu Chatterjee. “If Your Brain Feels Foggy and You’re Tired All the Time, You’re Not Alone.” NPR.org, 6 May 2021, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/06/992401123/if-your-brain-feels-foggy-and-youre-tired-all-the-time-youre-not-alone. Accessed 28 May 2021.
University, Stanford. “Four Causes for ‘Zoom Fatigue’ and Their Solutions | Stanford News.” Stanford News, Stanford University, 23 Feb. 2021, news.stanford.edu/2021/02/23/four-causes-zoom-fatigue-solutions/. Accessed 28 May 2021.