Mental illness. Causes and treatments

Causes of mood disorders The cause of stress, anxiety or depression is often difficult to determine and is usually a combination of social, situational and personal factors. Social factors may include relationships with family, friends or work colleagues, separation from family, divorce, employment status, working and living conditions, moving house or the loss of a…

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What are the signs and symptoms of fatigue?

Some of the key signs to look out for are listed below. Drowsiness is an impaired awareness associated with a desire to sleep and signs include:errors in familiar tasksrepeated yawningdifficulty keeping eyes open, head nods, microsleepsirritability or impatiencememory loss or forgetfulness (e.g. not being able to remember the last 5min driving)difficulty concentrating/Dream-like thoughtsblurred visions, heavy……

How sleep works

Good sleep helps us wake up feeling refreshed and alert for our daily activities. Sleep affects how we look, feel and perform on a daily basis. If sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to complete all of the phases, which can leave us feeling drowsy, tired and fatigued. IMPORTANTExperts have warned that……

Napping

Effective napping is a skill, which cannot be achieved by everyone. Napping cannot replace sleep, but can assist in times of sleep debt, extreme tiredness and/or when heightened alertness is required for your safety, such as driving a car. Naps may improve subsequent performance and alertness for a period of time, ranging from 2 to……

Top tips for management mental health

Putting it all together Depression, anxiety and stress are major risk factors of fatigue. The good news is that they are all treatable conditions and many people overcome mood disorders through proactive management. However, there is no quick fix. Treatment of mood disorders often takes time and includes a combination of techniques to manage the……

Exercise and sleep

Regular exercise can considerably improve the quality and quantity of sleep, as well as, having other benefits to general health and wellbeing. Exercise improves sleep by improving the release and uptake of neurotransmitters in the brain. This provides a positive environment for the brain to function allowing sleep to occur more naturally.There are some considerations……

Meal type and fatigue

It is often promoted that foods high in carbohydrate make you drowsy because they increase the uptake of the amino acid tryptophan by the brain. Tryptophan is a chemical that can work together with another important brain chemical called serotonin, to help promote a calming effect and sleepiness. Foods rich in protein, however, increase production……

What are the best methods to improve sleep quality during menopause?

Many women report disturbed sleep during perimenopause and menopause. This often includes difficulty falling or staying asleep and waking through the night or very early in the morning. There are many possible contributing factors during this period, including: To improve sleep during perimenopause and menopause, the contributing factors that are specific to you will need……

Avoiding injury when exercising

Regardless of your exercise choice, one truth applies to everyone: preparation can prevent injury. Many common exercise injuries stem from overlooking two basics: warm-up and stretching. Warm-up: The idea of a warm-up is to swing your body into gear gradually – not suddenly. A good warm-up consists of slow, deliberate, rhythmic movements that are similar……

Sleep medication

Sleeping medication may be helpful to overcome short term needs or significant life events, such as grief or high stress events. Sleeping medication can be used to improve sleep quantity and quality but should only be used for short periods to avoid dependency, as dependency will only lead to longer term sleep problems. It is……

What is fatigue?

Fatigue is not a condition, but rather a symptom of many different situations, illnesses or conditions and can be defined quite simply as a feeling of weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy. The presentation of fatigue can be unpredictable and its causes diverse, making its management difficult. One thing is for sure: that each and……