What is a Fatigue Management Plan?

A fatigue management plan should include a comprehensive lifestyle change. We all know we are what we eat, but we are also a product of other lifestyle aspects such as sleep, exercise, and stress.

So what should we be doing to formulate a fatigue management plan?

A comprehensive fatigue management plan involves taking a look at your lifestyle.  How a person sleeps, eats, what sort of stress you are under, and what sort of physical activity you are doing all have an impact on how much energy you are feeling.

Food and nutrition play a major role in this and the amounts of nutrients, included in meat, vegetables and other types of food will result in the body being able to support itself to produce energy or not produce in energy when this is lacking.  We’ve all heard about the seven servings of vegetables and fruit that all adults are supposed to be having, however, it is interesting to actually take note of how many servings we are actually having. We need particularly vegetables in our diet for the nutrients, antioxidants, and minerals that enable our body to function.

If a person is not sleeping well, they will be fatigued.  

Most people will require at least 8 hours of sleep per day.  Some people need more. Sleep has benefits that are not possible any other way, for example, effects on the immune system, effects on the bran, and effects on hormones.  So it is not a surprise that this is a fundamental part of a comprehensive fatigue management program.

Stress will produce free radicals through oxidative stress

These are harmful substances and not only are harmful to the body, but they also consume nutrients that are important for energy production.  Stress management and stress reduction are also imperative for fatigue management.
There is a scientific concept called hormesis, where a small amount of stress on the body will make it grow stronger.  Exercise and physical activity are a beautiful illustration of this happening.  A small amount of stress on the body will activate certain genes and this genetic expression will enable the body to build muscle and tissue and grow stronger.

So how do we implement a fatigue management plan?

The only way to implement such a plan is to start!  It does not really matter how we start, as long as it happens.  Small, basic steps each day will eventuate in a result in weeks.