To help better understand which category your fatigue falls into, we’ve called in our women’s health educator Ash who has generously shared her advice on how to distinguish between long covid and burnout and the ways you can look after yourself to combat the fatigue.

Here’s Ash…

Collectively we seem to be facing a new wave… but rather than the spicy cough, this time it’s exhaustion. I’m seeing it in the clinic, in friends and family, and feel it myself. 8 months into 2022, the fatigue is hitting hard. But what do we do about it?

Is it Long-COVID? Or am I just burnt out?

This is a common question I’m hearing at the moment. People know they’re feeling exhausted, but what they don’t know is whether it’s caused by lasting effects after having contracted covid, social burnout after 2 years of lockdowns, or just ‘the new normal’. Let’s look at ‘long-covid’ first

Long-COVID

Research and evidence on Long-COVID is still pretty limited, and likely will be for a while. It’s generally common knowledge amongst health professionals that the research is often years behind clinical practice. But what do we know? Although it’s got a different name, ‘Long-COVID’ actually seems to be presenting very similarly to something we have known about and have been seeing in clinical practice for years… Post-Viral Fatigue. And in fact there seems to be many patients who are receiving this diagnosis following a COVID-19 infection

Long-Covid Symptoms seem to be: 

• • Fatigue or extreme tiredness 
  • Cough 
  • Breathlessness
  • Joint or muscle pain 
  • Chest pain 
  • Headache or dizziness 
  • Brain Fog/Memory difficulties 
  • Sleep and mood disturbances

 (Australian Government Department of Health, 2022)

Now let’s have a look at ‘Burnout’

“…a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.” 

Hmmm… This sounds familiar… Take 2 years of the most unprecedented stress that many of us have ever experienced, add the fact that we’ve gone from social isolation to playing social catch up, and trying to live a ‘normal’ life that is still not quite normal. And for those of us who have had COVID (and likely a number of other unconfirmed illnesses this year spiking a large immune response) and you’ve got yourself a spicy cocktail for fatigue. So what can you do about it?

The fatigue is real

No, you’re not imagining that you’re feeling tired all the time, or at least much more tired than you can ever recall being before. Step 1. Let go of the expectation that you “should” be living a normal life. a. Despite appearances, the world is still very much NOT normal. and b. What even is normal anymore anyway? Not feeling up to all the social events you’ve been invited to this weekend? Don’t go. Taken on too much? Delegate. Feeling tired? Rest. It is okay to take what you need, and drop what you don’t feel up to.

What’s draining you?

First, identify which of the following loads is crashing you most, or which leaves you feeling the most exhausted

• • Physical (eg exercise) 
  • Cognitive (eg work or study)
  • Emotional (eg anxiety triggers)
  • Social (eg parties or seeing people)
  • Sensory (eg busy environments or shopping centres)
  • Creative (eg artwork or creative thinking)

Pace yourself

Pacing is a strategy used to reduce the overall load on the nervous system. Think of it as spreading your available energy, much like how a marathon runner would pace themselves in order to be able to complete the race. Once you identify which load (or loads, plural) is draining the most of your energy, you can put some things in place to help you feel better. This might look like reducing high intensity exercise and opting for some calming yoga.

I recommend ‘Ground Control’ or ‘Free your Spine’ with Cecily for some gentle yoga flows.

Other load softening tools might need to include reducing work hours or projects, or spacing out your social interactions a little more and scheduling more me-time.

Schedule more rest

In addition to ‘softening’ or reducing the loads that are crashing you most, ultimately something I think that many of us could do with some more of is true rest or relaxation time. Yes, whilst laying on the couch watching Netflix feels relaxing, it doesn’t exactly count here because you’re still being a little stimulated. Breathwork, meditation, grounding practices, yoga Nidra are all valuable tools for deep nervous system rest.

If you’re looking to meditate I recommend the ‘Yoga Nidra’ or ‘Body Scan’ meditations with Jamie, as well as his yin yoga practices.  Jamie’s ‘Yin Spinal Stretch sequence’, ‘Upper Body Yin practice’ and ‘Total Body Yin Practice’ are also great for tapping into your parasympathetic ‘rest & digest’ nervous system. You’ll find all of these meditations and yoga flows in the KIC app. 

The bottom line

Regardless of what’s triggered the fatigue (likely a spicy cocktail of chronic stress + large immune responses), the great news is that it’s treatable. The tough love news is that many of us are currently trying to function at a rate that frankly, is just unsustainable.

Ask yourself what it is that you’re feeling, and what it is that you need. Then give yourself permission to do the thing; be that rest, to slow down, or to ask for help. Know that professional support is out there too.