Boost Your Energy Levels: What Your Blood Might Be Telling You

Fatigue feels like a normal part of modern life. Considering the always on, perpetually connected 24/7 lives many of us lead, feeling tired all the time is a reasonable response. Except extreme fatigue is often a symptom. It’s your body’s way of warning you that something is wrong. 

Fatigue can’t be cured with coffee or energy drinks. Ignoring extreme fatigue can have dire consequences. Unchecked, underlying health issues only worsen over time. Fatigue could well be the first sign of a condition that might rob you of time with your family and friends while erasing the joy from your life. Fortunately, if you’re always tired, there’s an easy way to discover what’s wrong and start fighting fatigue. With just a few drops of blood you’ll not only learn about underlying health issues but a proven strategy to boost your energy and eliminate extreme fatigue. Here’s what your blood might be telling you.

Many Americans Are Fighting Fatigue 

Fatigue is a growing problem. According to the CDC, one out of five women ages 18-44 reported feeling tired all the time during the past three months. For men of the same age, nearly 14% reported they were always tired. The good news is that these percentages actually decline with age. 

Yet extreme fatigue should not be ignored or minimized. Sometimes the causes are situational or environmental. If you feel tired all the time, take a hard look at how you spend your day. Are there obligations that really aren’t obligating? Are there tasks you can hand off to others? Consider your pre-bedtime routine. If you are answering work emails just prior to slumber, it could be affecting both the duration and quality of sleep. Try to reduce your use of blue-light emitting electronics like phones, tablets, and TVs in the hour before you close your eyes. Read a printed book. Sip some herbal tea. And if the problem persists, consider these factors.

A Vitamin D Deficiency Drains Your Energy

If you’re feeling tired all the time, the solution might be just past your front door. That’s because if you aren’t spending time outside, you could be deficient in vitamin D. Most people can easily get the vitamins and nutrients they require from diet alone. Vitamin D is the exception. Although there are food sources, the sun is this unique vitamin’s main delivery system. That’s because vitamin D production is stimulated through ultraviolet light. One of the first signs of a vitamin D deficiency is extreme fatigue. 

Did you know that vitamin D deficiencies first afflicted the elite? While poorer subjects worked outside, royal families and their court remained indoors. Lack of sunlight led to vitamin D deficiency and rickets. The often crippling bone disease was widespread until the early days of the 20th century. Although adding vitamin D to milk reduced its numbers, one hundred years later fewer adults are drinking milk. Many people also work in offices and are diverted by numerous indoor entertainment options. These factors have accelerated the number of people who are vitamin D deficient – now estimated to be one out of four American adults. Although rickets was essentially eliminated, it’s been rising over the past 50 years with cases going from 0 per 100,000 in 1970 to an estimated 27 per 100,000 in 2022. 

Along with feeling tired all the time, you may also awaken poorly rested no matter how many hours of sleep you got. This is another sign of vitamin D deficiency. Other symptoms include feeling sad or depressed, aching bones, weak muscles. and even hair loss. If you find yourself constantly battling colds, it’s another warning sign for this deficiency. Chances are, many of these symptoms affect you more in the winter months than during the summer. Yet given the indoor lives many of us lead, it’s possible to suffer from this deficiency even when the sun is shining. 

There’s no point in guessing. Biomarker testing can determine if you have a vitamin D deficiency and so much more. This test will be looking for important biomarkers – biological molecules found in the blood that illustrate normal or abnormal conditions. Biomarker testing will also let you see how well your body responds to either lifestyle changes or medical interventions. 

You don’t need to wait in a crowded doctor’s office. In fact, biomarker testing 

will let you discover the levels of vitamin D in your blood without even leaving your home. Along with checking your levels of vitamin D, this test will also look at whether or not you are deficient in vitamins B9 and B12. When it comes to boosting your energy, this pair of Bs are Aplus performers. The test will also reveal if you have potentially cancer-causing inflammation markers in your blood while taking a look at your heart, kidney, and liver health. Many other companies charge hundreds of dollars for these tests but Kyla’s at-home blood test is just $99. Your insurance could cover this cost.

To begin download the Kyla app or go to the Kyla website. Following a simple series of questions about your health and your family history, you can order the right test for you. After downloading the Kyla App, you’ll also be able to enroll in Kyla’s Anti-Aging Program. So not only will you discover your deficiencies and why you’re always tired, you’ll learn how to boost your energy through exercise, diet, and other lifestyle changes.

After receiving the test kit, follow the simple directions for collecting a few drops of blood. Then mail the sample back to Kyla’s labs postage-free. The results you’ll receive will let you know if you’re deficient in vitamin D, B9, B12, or if another issue is cause for concern. 

To combat vitamin D deficiency, make a point of going outdoors during the day. Do this daily. Although most studies suggest that sunscreen doesn’t inhibit vitamin D production, some experts suggest going without for a short period of time. If your arms are exposed without protection for 15 minutes, it’s sufficient. Those with pale skin should always wear sunscreen. If you’re dark skinned or tan easily, you will need to spend more time outdoors. 

Diet can also help. Eating more tuna, trout, salmon or other fatty fish along with sardines or herring will boost your D. So will liver and egg yolks. Fortified milk, almond milk, soy milk, OJ, and breakfast cereals can also help. When taking a vitamin D supplement make sure it contains vitamin D3.. That’s because if you’re always tired, vitamin D3 is more effective than vitamin D2. Be cautious. It’s important not to exceed the recommended daily dose when taking a vitamin D supplement. That’s because vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that is stored in your body. That makes it easy to take too much. Exceeding the recommended dose of 600 IU for people ages 1 to 70 years, and 800 IU for people over 70 years can cause nausea, vomiting, weight loss and kidney stones. 

The Sugar In Your Blood Can Cause Fatigue

What you’re eating could be eating you – if you’re feeling tired all the time. Loading up on simple carbs like the ones found in sweetened cereals, cookies, and other dessert items can send your blood sugar levels spiking. The crash that follows is inevitable and exhausting. Highly processed foods can also lead to high blood sugar symptoms. So, if you’ve noticed a pattern of sleepiness after eating, blood sugar may be the culprit. It could also be why you’re always tired.

Type 2 diabetes occurs after the pancreas is no longer able to control blood sugar levels by producing the hormone insulin. As blood sugar (or glucose) becomes resistant to insulin, the result is often pre-diabetes. That means blood sugar levels are so high that the insulin no longer works (insulin resistance). Insulin resistance is a warning sign. Untreated pre-diabetes usually leads to type 2 diabetes. This is when the pancreas is so overworked that it is unable to produce sufficient insulin. 

With pre-diabetes, glucose levels increase after eating but the body no longer receives an energy boost. This is why extreme fatigue could be a symptom of a serious condition. The number of people with type 2 diabetes tripled between 1990 and 2010. Today the American Diabetes Association estimates that almost 40 million Americans have the condition. 

Extreme fatigue is just one of the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Other type 2 diabetes symptoms include blurred vision, excessive thirst and a concurrent need to frequently urinate. You may experience darkening skin around the armpit, neck, and groin area along with tingling hands or feet. The scary part is that one out of five adults with type 2 diabetes don’t know they have it. Many don’t experience any type 2 diabetes – which is why it’s so important to get tested if you are always tired. 

To find out if your blood sugar levels are why you’re always tired, the first step is to test your A1C levels. The good news is that Kyla’s at-home test for vitamin D deficiency also looks at hemoglobin – the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells. You’ll learn the percentage of hemoglobin with blood sugar attached to it. A positive diagnosis for type 2 diabetes begins with this test. If the test shows that more than 6.5% of hemoglobin has blood sugar attached, it indicates diabetes. If the percentage of attached blood sugar is between 5.7% and 6.4%, then that indicates pre-diabetes and likely insulin resistance. Normal blood sugar levels are below 5.7%.

If you’re worried about extreme fatigue and your blood sugar levels, changing your diet could make a huge difference. The key is learning about the glycemic index. Food takes time to digest; as it does it releases blood sugars or glucose into the bloodstream. This chart measures how food affects blood sugar. Fast-digesting foods or high glycemic foods rapidly raise your blood sugar levels. If you have high blood sugar symptoms, avoiding high glycemic foods will not only result in optimal glucose levels. It will also boost your energy and even help you lose weight. 

If you are always tired, start eating more low glycemic foods. These foods take longer to be digested which means glucose enters the bloodstream much more slowly. This will help you to maintain normal blood sugar levels. By consuming more low glycemic foods like unsweetened nuts, fruit, vegetables, chicken and beef, along with fish like tuna and salmon you’ll not only have more energy but lose weight as well.  Anything between 1 and 55 is considered a low-glycemic food. These include most dairy products, beans, and some grains. 

Ultra-processed foods are usually high glycemic foods – including most frozen, microwavable meals along with cookies, cakes, and ice cream. Remember, sugar intake alone is not responsible for type 2 diabetes. It comes from a diet heavy in simple carbs along with being overweight and inactive. All three are a recipe for fatigue. 

Hormonal Imbalances and Fatigue 

Insulin isn’t the only hormone connected to extreme fatigue. If you’re always tired, there are numerous hormones that might be the culprit. That’s because these chemical messengers do everything from helping to regulate metabolism, to reproductive functions, to your sleep-wake cycle. If you have too much or too little of a particular hormone it will affect your energy levels. 

For example, the hormone cortisol is instrumental in the body’s reaction to stress. This fight-or-flight response can become a problem if you’re dealing with chronic stress from your job, relationship, finances, or anything else that’s ongoing. While not a medical diagnosis, many refer to this condition as “adrenal fatigue.” 

According to Dr. Ann Kearns, at the Mayo Clinic, adrenal fatigue “is a general term used to describe a group of symptoms that aren’t specific.” Examples of those symptoms include feeling tired all the time along with sleep disturbances and cravings for sugar and salt. Located atop the kidneys, the adrenal glands produce a number of vital hormones. If these glands are not productive, doctors might say you have “adrenal insufficiency.”

If you feel weak, tired, and are having trouble sleeping then you should check your cortisol levels. Imbalances in hormones can also cause extreme fatigue. These vital biomarkers can let you know if an underlying condition may be responsible. For example, hormones produced by the thyroid gland are responsible for regulating metabolism. If you feel tired all the time, it could also be because of an underactive thyroid or “hypothyroidism.”

Kyla Cards include a specific hormone panel designed to discover where you have imbalances. Along with checking your cortisol and thyroid levels, it will also detect any imbalances in your sex hormones including estrogen and testosterone. These often decline as we get older and an at-home blood test from Kyla can help you discover the best solution. 

Along with dietary changes, exercise is by far one of the best energy boosters. Before considering medical interventions like prescription drugs, start a modest exercise program. Just walking around the block or swimming a few laps can make a real difference. “When you exercise, you release hormones like adrenaline,” said Sabrena Jo, a senior director of science and research at the American Council on Exercise (ACE told Health.com. “This hormone actually tells our bodies to ignore feelings of pain and fatigue while enhancing blood flow to large muscles.” 

This energizing effect can last for hours. Kyla hopes to help you boost your energy for years. Kyla is focused not just on longevity but health span – extending your disease-free years as long as possible. In the future, it may be possible to extend your lifespan by more than a year for each year you are alive. This longevity escape velocity may soon be possible thanks to advances in technology and medicine. The Kyla app incorporates not only your at-home tests but also AI-generated actions that will increase the number of healthy, disease-free years you’ll enjoy in the future. Download the Kyla app today to enroll in Kyla’s Anti-Aging program and start living an energetic life tomorrow.

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