Fatigue is a Symptom

Fatigue is a symptom of depression, trauma, and anxiety. Understanding how depression, trauma, and anxiety impact us physically can alert us to when our bodies are warning us that we are emotionally overwhelmed and need to focus on our mental health. Fatigue can be one of the first early warning symptoms that something is going on with our mental health. The emotional centers in the brain are closely connected to the sleep center which controls the ability to fall and stay asleep. When our emotional centers are overloaded, they borrow from our sleep center, and we tend to have one or all of the following symptoms: difficulty or an inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, and/or difficulty achieving and sustaining deep sleep.

There are 4 stages of sleep and during a good night’s rest. We will travel through light sleep, dreaming, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM) several times throughout the night. When we are struggling with depression, trauma, or anxiety, we may not be able to achieve deep sleep or transition out of light sleep or may wake up at the end of each cycle: preventing us getting the sleep we need to feel fully rested no matter how long we sleep. Stage one and 2 are 2 types of light sleep in which the brain begins to slow down and there is less activity in the brain. The depressed, anxious and traumatized brain will struggle to slow down and impact our ability to transition into deep sleep.

There are a variety techniques you can use to slow your brainwaves throughout the day and in the evening. There are of course wearable devices to track your brainwaves and give neurofeedback, and there is mediation. For those that meditation is not the answer, I suggest trying delta binaural beats or alpha binaural beats. These are soundwaves that, when listened to, chain brain waves. When you listen to two different sound frequencies played in each ear, it causes your brain waves to match the beats. For some, binaural beats can also improve mood and reducing depression and anxiety. I recommend checking a few different beats which are available on Spotify, YouTube, and most listening platforms to find the one that is right for you. Not everyone responds positively, so if it starts to feel bad stop. If it doesn’t work for you, it may be time to talk with a professional and unpack what is keeping you up at night.