How Your Gut Health Is Connected To Chronic Fatigue

We’ve all been tired, it’s a universal experience. However, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is more than “just being tired.”

The affliction is a constant feeling of exhaustion that doesn’t go away, even when you’re well-rested. While not much is known, scientists have found some leads. One such lead is gut bacteria. 

According to the Earth website, there is a commonality between things such as gut bacteria and blood signatures.

“Instead of pointing to one weak organ or one missing nutrient, the evidence placed fatigue inside a wider network of body systems that no longer aligned,” according to the website.

This means it’s not as simple as “gut bacteria” or a single organ problem. As a result, there’s no singular lab test or silver bullet to fix the problem. This does give scientists some ideas to treat the disease, including potentially attempting to balance the body to get it back into a state of equilibrium. 

At this time, it affects an estimated 3.3 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control. However, as we learn about this affliction, it becomes less a sudden phenomenon and more a matter of diagnosis. 

The first step towards treatment of a disease is knowledge about how an illness affects the population. Sleep doesn’t work to alleviate symptoms, because “lower butyrate (a naturally occurring fatty acid)-producing capacity has been tied to fatigue severity, while altered amino acid pathways point to disturbed microbial chemistry,” according to the website.

There are ways to reduce fatigue. The usual diet and exercise, notably avoiding fast foods. While this by no means is meant to suggest an apple a day will keep the fatigue away, it’s more that a couple of steps can reduce symptoms that the afflicted have to deal with. 

Some good choices to go include: fiber from oats, beans, vegetables, and fruit, which supports bacteria that produce fatty acids that help the gut. These focus on feeding the good bacteria that can help with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 

None of these will be the perfect silver bullet cure-all, and care will still greatly help sufferers, but they can work to alleviate some of the worst of the effects involved.