Completely exhausted all the time

mr_eddy

Anyone else finding themselves completely exhausted even when the first wake up?

I am currently working from home and whilst I have a active 6 month old my daytime is pretty sedentary but I am just totally drained literally all the time.

Walking up the stairs and I feel like I have just ran a 10k, I have been taking to doing my daily ride after the little one goes to bed around 7.30pm (literally no other available time) and just a simple 20 mile flat ride feels completely brutal. I am no no means a hard core roadie but not that long ago I was doing 40+ miles no problem

Not sure what can be the root cause, I eat a reasonable diet with a big breakfast (porridge) and usually something like spag bol or pasta for dinner and I am in bed by 9pm and asleep by 10pm so plenty of sleep (could it be too much sleep?)

Can't figure it out?

Any ideas ? Could it be riding at night?

webboo

Have you tried not riding for a couple of days.

mr_eddy

I could try a few days off but could 1 quick daily ride really make me this knackered ?

webboo

If you have not had a day off in weeks and if a quick daily ride means hammering it.
Then yes it will make you knackered.

mobile_rab-01

Small children are knackering. Don’t know about you, but my oldest didn’t sleep through the night until he was 13 months... I was pretty much a walking zombie during that time. Don’t beat yourself up, it could be anything... accumulated tiredness or a virus (not necessarily THAT virus). Rest up properly for a few days, drink lots of fluids and maybe consider a vitamin supplement (inc iron) then see how you feel?

fenix

Hang on. So you're absolutely knackered but carrying on with a daily ride ?

Od course take some rest.

pangolin

How is your 6 month old sleeping? You up much in the night?

joe2019

mr_eddy said:

Anyone else finding themselves completely exhausted even when the first wake up?

I am currently working from home and whilst I have a active 6 month old my daytime is pretty sedentary but I am just totally drained literally all the time.

Walking up the stairs and I feel like I have just ran a 10k, I have been taking to doing my daily ride after the little one goes to bed around 7.30pm (literally no other available time) and just a simple 20 mile flat ride feels completely brutal. I am no no means a hard core roadie but not that long ago I was doing 40+ miles no problem

Not sure what can be the root cause, I eat a reasonable diet with a big breakfast (porridge) and usually something like spag bol or pasta for dinner and I am in bed by 9pm and asleep by 10pm so plenty of sleep (could it be too much sleep?)

Can't figure it out?

Any ideas ? Could it be riding at night?

If walking up the stairs makes you feel like you just ran 10k, why would you even think of riding 20 miles?

You probably just need some rest, and having very young children is exhausting.

nickice

I have two young children and it can be exhausting but I suggest you get a blood test. You might have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (one of the symptoms is tiredness) or be anaemic (which can be a symptom of something else)

N0bodyOfTheGoat

The stress of this pandemic and/or the long recovery from having had it can both take their toll on you mentally and physically.

Both have affected me even though compared to some like my better half, my symptoms were quite mild.

mr_eddy

Yep I did not really take into account the mental aspect of lockdown etc. Maybe I am not accepting how tired having a young one can be, I think I will take a week of cycling and just do some longer walks with the missus and will see what happens. Ta

ugo.santalucia

Booze? How many units a week?

davep1

A big part of training is recovery, as someone said above if your daily ride means you going flat out, then you need a day or two a week off. I used to be more time pressured, so any time on the bike I thought I had to go at it hammer and tongs to get any improvement, and so I felt pooped all the time too.
Try different things when you're on the bike too. If you have a heart rate monitor, try riding your usual route with a lot lower average heart rate.
Covid has caused a lot of unseen stress in all of us, which affects how we sleep; it isn't just about hours in bed.

sungod

aside from the above, you say "...my daytime is pretty sedentary..."

i'm also working from home, with a ride almost every morning, typically an hour of hills and high intensity

but compared to before...

i'm not cycling to/from the office, not going up/down 20-30 floors by stairs days i'm in the office, not travelling, not walking around as much, nor carrying stuff around as much, and of course the gym is shut

...overall that's quite a drop in activity, also in variety, i'm definitely more lethargic, which i suspect is a result (maybe my natural laziness creeping up on me )

imo as the lockdown stretches out, if one is working from home it's necessary to build in more and varied exercise, with different things spread through the day

pblakeney

sungod said:

imo as the lockdown stretches out, if one is working from home it's necessary to build in more and varied exercise, with different things spread through the day

I find having the home office upstairs while the kitchen is downstairs helps. 😉

veronese68

pblakeney said:

sungod said:

imo as the lockdown stretches out, if one is working from home it's necessary to build in more and varied exercise, with different things spread through the day

I find having the home office upstairs while the kitchen is downstairs helps. 😉

Oh dear, if I lean back and stretch my right arm out my finger tips are in the kitchen. Can't ride at the moment and a neighbour delivered lemon drizzle cake this morning.
Maybe I should change my user name to Jabba.

masjer

Any nutritional deficiencies?
Lack of vitamin D can leave you feeling permanently exhausted (I know from experience). Outdoor athletes can still suffer as using sunscreen drastically lowers the amount of vit D the skin processes. Remedy- sunbathing even 10-20 mins a day (no sunscreen) or D3 pills 5,000-10,000 iu per day. 400iu is the RDA but this is too low to increase levels if deficient.
Magesium deficiency has the same/similar feeling. Also lack of vitamin B12 can leave you with anemia like symptoms (breathlessness) - essential to supplement on a vegan diet.

redvision

OP what is your diet like? Are you getting enough calories? Eating the right stuff?

shimanobottombracket

ugo.santalucia said:

Booze? How many units a week?

fekkin lods!

sam_h_1984

Always worth speaking to you Dr. even just to put your mind at ease.

But yeah as others have said, kids are bloody tiring even if they're occupying themselves. I find that giving anything 100% attention - which of course you give them - is pretty exhausting.

yes you could look to supplements but without seeing a Dr first that's always risky - if you have a vitamin D deficiency you'll miss it just by taking some random gear over the counter.

some use zinc, some magnesium, some vitamin D, hell could be lack of Iron...could just be you need more time to chill out. Don't have a daily ride as others have said.

But you don't want to go too far i.e. the less you do the less you'll want to do and it'll be a downward spiral.

Drs and bloodtest. anything else and you're self medicating and could be hiding something actually wrong.

mrfpb

A carb heavy diet is not good on sedentary days. Are you putting on weight?

I've been getting to the end of the day feeling too tired/lethargic/demotivated to go out. I started doing short HIIT session s (10 mins) a few days a week about 30-60 mins after getting up and having my first pot of tea, it's improved my mood a lot.

redvision

I still put my money on the OP not getting enough calories and actually under fuelling.

Cargobike

redvision said:

I still put my money on the OP not getting enough calories and actually under fuelling.

Agreed.
Porridge and spag bol, depending on the portion size, is hardly going to be enough to fuel the average adult throughout a relatively sedentary day, let alone cycling 20 miles several times a week in the evening.

I'm a big fella and need 2500 calories a day just to hit my basal metbolic rate (bmr), let alone the extra calories to ride my bike a few hours a day. Even if I reduced my weight to 14st I'd still need approx 1900 calories to meet my bmr needs and another 1000-1200 calories on top to cover my exercise needs.

Throw in a change of circumstances, wfh and having an active child around all day too and I think the OP my be underestimating how much energy in food he needs to consume.

Ben6899

Even if we just forget the kid and the turbo for a minute: anxiety; worry; and stress are exhausting things to deal with.

Hands up who has suffered any or all of the above at some point since mid- to late-March.

Three hands up here... ✋ ✋ ✋

mrfpb

Cargobike said:

redvision said:

I still put my money on the OP not getting enough calories and actually under fuelling.

Agreed.
Porridge and spag bol, depending on the portion size, is hardly going to be enough to fuel the average adult throughout a relatively sedentary day, let alone cycling 20 miles several times a week in the evening.

I'm a big fella and need 2500 calories a day just to hit my basal metbolic rate (bmr), let alone the extra calories to ride my bike a few hours a day. Even if I reduced my weight to 14st I'd still need approx 1900 calories to meet my bmr needs and another 1000-1200 calories on top to cover my exercise needs.

Throw in a change of circumstances, wfh and having an active child around all day too and I think the OP my be underestimating how much energy in food he needs to consume.

I, on the other hand, get by without breakfast even when I cycle to work (12 miles) and it took me a while in lockdown to realise I needed to cut the calories, and the poor diet was part of my poor mood.

ugo.santalucia

Cargobike said:

redvision said:

I still put my money on the OP not getting enough calories and actually under fuelling.

I'm a big fella and need 2500 calories a day just to hit my basal metbolic rate (bmr), let alone the extra calories to ride my bike a few hours a day. Even if I reduced my weight to 14st I'd still need approx 1900 calories to meet my bmr needs and another 1000-1200 calories on top to cover my exercise needs.

Maybe that's the reason why you are a "big fella"....

ugo.santalucia

As I had time to spare, once I looked at what I should eat in order to hit the RDA of all the main minerals and vitamins, as well as of course the need for protein, fibre and so on and without exceeding the RDA of the bad stuff. I worked out that it would require a huge amount of food and a daily intake of high density nutrients, like calf liver... the amount of calories required is astronomical and of course you can't get enough vitamin B whatever without exceeding the cholesterol and saturated fats target... basically these all recommendations end up contradicting each other... I have therefore worked out that if our ancestors were able to to live a healthy lifestyle without worrying about all this crap, or the fact that not living by the sea they were never exposed to any dose of Omega 3, it's probably not worth thinking about it.

Stay away from heavily refined and processed food, being that sugar or sausages... avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks... otherwise, eat what you feel without worrying about not having enough vitamin X or mineral Y...
Vitamin D deficiency is an issue, but that's not due to a poor diet, it's down to people spending too much (money) on properties and not spending enough (time) outdoors

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Something else to consider is not enough quality outdoor time, which as someone who has SAD for ~25 years, I'm very aware of but don't always help myself.

We have a back garden, but I've never felt comfortable using it more more than ~10mins at most, because it's overlooked by the other three flats in our block and as much as I'm sure they have better things to do that see what I'm doing in the garden, that feeling of being watched like the goldfish in the bowl really gets to me. In addition, something there really triggers off my hayfever badly spring to autumn, even if I've taken meds.

In that respect, doing a lot more cycling in the last few years has been great for getting me out when not at work. However, through a mix of needing to isolate, then the extraordinary heatwave through to the end of May and more recently a lot of rainy days, I've gone out far less and my brain often feeling really woolly as if we are still in mid to late winter.

mr_eddy

Sorry for the late reply all - Work has been a bit busy of late!

So update, the tiredness has got a bit better but still not gone. I found that contrary to what some have said is that I was actually eating more stuff that I did not really think about and carb heavy stuff too (I did a food diary for a few days). After reducing my caffeine intake and eating a bit more fibre I have found things have improved.

Also checked my weight and i have managed to put on 3KG since Xmas - A combination of lockdown (working from home so zero bike commuting) and our baby meaning I have to help out the missus (cant really take a day off to go riding).

So the new plan is to try and work out a way to get some miles in without extra burden on the missus.

That being said its still knackering. I have just accepted now that until the little one can have less naps (but longer duration) the notion of me popping out for a 90 min ride is just dead in the water.

Ta all.

ugo.santalucia

Chris Boardman had already two kids as he approached the pinnacle of his career. He was even using one of his kids' room as hypobaric tent for training, by taping all the doors and windows and reducing the oxygen with a pump... there are ways

Just saying...

joe2019

ugo.santalucia said:

Chris Boardman had already two kids as he approached the pinnacle of his career. He was even using one of his kids' room as hypobaric tent for training, by taping all the doors and windows and reducing the oxygen with a pump... there are ways

Just saying...

It was his job...