Latest / The Well Unfiltered with Dr. Suzanne Vester / Season 1, Episode 7: Not Lazy, Just Depleted

Transcript

Season 1, Episode 7: Not Lazy, Just Depleted · The Well Unfiltered with Dr. Suzanne Vester

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Well Unfiltered.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Dr.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Seuss.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to be talking about um the word lazy.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that too often we hear somebody say, I'm so tired.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I must just be lazy.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hear that a lot in the office.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to push back a little bit on that word.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So lazy is when you have the energy to do something and you choose not to use it.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: You choose not to do the activity.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: You choose something else instead.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's lazy.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: What I see most often in the office is people who come in, they have a body that is running low on fuel.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's trying to keep things going anyway.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not laziness, that's depletion.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And when you don't have the reserves, which is something that I've spoken on multiple times, if you don't have the reserves, your body is not going to be able to sustain you and keep you going indefinitely.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not sleeping, you're not eating well, you're you're carrying too many things, you're not good at delegating, you're not good at saying no, whatever that is, that's not laziness.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually depletion.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I want to dive into a little bit today.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to spend a little bit of time talking about the difference between just choosing not to and not having the reserves to.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: But in real life, what can we do about it?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I address two kinds of tired.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I address lifestyle fatigue.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first one.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'd go a little bit deeper into those factors of like sleep, nutrition, those kinds of things.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about lifestyle fatigue first.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say you're up early, you're running on caffeine, um, coffee, energy energy drinks, you might skip lunch because you want to be more productive, all those things, right?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, what you're doing, um, oh yeah, and you're not sleeping very much, maybe four or five hours a night.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, what you're doing is you're asking your body to run off of adrenaline.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're asking your body to run off of the thing that is supposed to keep you alive if you're being chased by a tiger.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: But because of our high stress world, because of the situations we find ourselves in, we're running on that as our mainstay, not as the quick energy, the quick reserve that it's supposed to be used for.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what typically happens is people will just run wide open on adrenaline all through the week, Monday through Friday.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then the weekend comes and they get to rest.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of sort of fixes the problem right until Monday comes back around and it starts back over.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like you're on this never-end-ending hamster wheel.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to figure out what the pattern interrupt for that is going to be.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But before we can do that, in terms of like your lifestyle fatigue, we have to go into the second group just a little bit and just mention it because we have to look at what's underneath it.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So your sleep, you still wake up tired.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you go to bed, you you feel like you slept, but you're still tired.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not doing any kind of data tracking, which I've talked about over optimization as well, but if you're not doing any data tracking with your sleep and your body's ability to function and to do the things it needs to do while you're at rest, you might want to consider it.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go crazy with it because those numbers don't dictate whether or not you have a good day.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it's worth going into that and going, okay, why do I feel wiped out just doing the small things?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Why does, why does going and picking up my groceries make me exhausted?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Why does just doing the simple things like laundry dishes in my house, why does that make me just feel oh, just so, so tired?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So these are things that rest isn't really going to fix because it's deeper than just rest.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're in that second group, it's worth looking at what's underneath, not just pushing through and pushing harder, and I'm gonna get there one day and it's gonna be fine.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I will tell you very, very succinctly is if you don't slow down and give your body what it needs, your body will make you slow down so that it can get what it needs.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So just be mindful of that.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So depletion rarely shows up as one clear symptom.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's never just one thing, it shows up as a handful of small ones that you've probably gotten used to.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like boiling the frog.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you do it slowly, the frog is not going to really notice that it's being cooked.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: But if you were to dump a frog into boiling water, it's gonna jump right back out because it sees that as being dangerous.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing happens in your body.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Small shifts start to happen, and because they happen slowly, gradually over time, you probably haven't even really noticed them.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a couple of things.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you notice that you've needed caffeine to start your day and then more of it to get through the afternoon.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cravings for sugar or salt, especially in the mid-afternoon hours.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Cold hands or feet are always being the one who needs a sweater.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Hair that's thinning or shedding more than it used to, getting winded or sore more easily, waking up at 3 a.m.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: with your mind racing, feeling irritable or flat, either extreme, and not really knowing why.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So while none of these alone means that anything is wrong, when several show up together because they tend to travel in packs and they've been around for a while, your body is really giving you some signals that it's time to look for support.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the most common gaps I see are, and I've made a list so I don't forget any of them, are iron, B vitamins, vitamin D, magnesium, and protein.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna give you a little caveat on the protein angle.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Protein is being marketed right now really heavily again, and it's in everything.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your coffee, it's in your energy drink, it's in um, it's in your snacks.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not overdo the processed protein.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm just gonna leave that there.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a whole nother episode, but just be mindful that just because it says it has, you know, added protein doesn't necessarily mean it's helpful.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple of other things to think about are your thyroid and your blood sugar, because those both play a role um in your energy production, how you feel, how you think.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So does stress.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So when your body is working really hard to manage stress, it burns through your nutrition faster.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you could be taking a very quality multivitamin every day.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have several that I recommend if you're curious.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Please reach out.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it could be burning through it faster, especially with your water solubles like your vitamin C.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Got to be mindful of those because your body doesn't hang on to them.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's no reserve.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: It uses what it needs, it uses what it has available, and then everything else moves on down and gets eliminated.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you might need it more and then more often.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: So be mindful of that.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we would also want to talk about what people say, well, I can just push through.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've been pushing through for 20 years.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, congratulations, you're tired.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean that you should be pushing through.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Willpower alone is not going to make the problem go away.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to help get it resolved.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to make it go away.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's only going to make you feel worse.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let me say this very plainly.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: You probably don't need more discipline.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: You probably just need to get in and have some really good diagnostics.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've been told to just push through it, get more sleep, try harder, it's not a character flaw.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that that's not what your body needs in this moment.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Very rarely do I need people to push through harder.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: More often, I need for them to slow down and take a breath.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't matter if you're doing all the right things, if your nervous system is stuck in that fight or flight and it can't tell the difference, it doesn't matter how much sleep you get.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're still not going to be feeling optimal.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're not going to be feeling any better.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of asking yourself, like, what's wrong with me?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Start asking this.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: What is my body missing?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And what is it being asked to carry?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you know, for example, that it's it's sports season for your kids, you're all over the place, you're trying to manage all the things, be it, be it, you know, practice pickup, be it the games, get the uniforms washed, and just go, go, go, go, go, you'll probably find that you're eating out more frequently and you feel kind of rotten.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when you ask yourself the question, what is my body missing?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what is it being asked to carry?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Your body is missing whole food, real food, nutrition, and it's being asked to carry the weight of everybody's schedules, all of the remembering, all of the doing, which is a lot and can be stress, even though it doesn't feel like what you would consider to be typical.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to use it, quotes, stress.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you do?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the next question.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So a very simple way to begin is to get the basics checked.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you can ask your provider if you have one that you know and trust, to do some basic labs.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have one, reach out to me.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be happy to either refer you or do them in office.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to look for things like, you know, a full thyroid panel.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's always a good idea to know where you are.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: A CBC, get your ferritin, vitamin D, B12, and a fasting glucose or A1C.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can do both of those if you want.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So don't settle for things like your labs are normal without asking what the ranges are and what they mean for you.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the difference between a traditional provider and myself.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're not just going to look at the numbers and go, oh, well, they're within the normal range.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Great, you're healthy when you feel like trash.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at them and say, okay, for you, this might be normal for, you know, the average of the population, but for you, maybe you need it to be a little higher.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or for example, you might need something to be a little lower in order to feel your best.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: But the standard ranges, like I've said in in in different places multiple times, those standard ranges are pretty wide and you can still be inside of them and still be depleted.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't want to take the answer of your labs are normal, just because you fall within that range.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: We want to dive a little bit deeper and see what's really going on.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the second part of that, after you know kind of where you are, is you want to fix the foundational things that you can control.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a big part of it.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Fix the foundational things that you can control and start this week.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to eat good quality proteins at breakfast.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You want to drink water before you get your first coffee.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: You want to get outside in the morning light.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: You want to go to bed at a consistent time, even if you can't fall asleep right away.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go to bed, let's say you're going to set your bedtime for 10 p.m.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: and you find yourself routinely not falling asleep until 11, go to bed anyway.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, go to bed anyway.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Your body will get the hang of it and you'll figure it out.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to be patient.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the last part.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be patient.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime you're trying to fix something that's been going on for a while and you've just now noticed, there's a really good likelihood that it's going to take at least that long to get out of the ditch, maybe a little longer.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to give your body and your ability to do the things well, time.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that we don't ever want to do because we want it fixed yesterday.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you've got to be patient and you've got to give your body time.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Rebuilding can't be done overnight.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: It just can't.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So be patient.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've been telling yourself that you're just lazy, I hope you heard me when I said this today.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're probably not just lazy, you're probably very depleted.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Most people are.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're not failing.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Your body is not broken.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's just asking for some help.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times our go-to is silence the symptom and move on and push through.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: When what we really need to do is unpack the symptom and then figure out how to move forward.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about this in terms of the biblical narrative that I use in the office, scripture talks about how the Lord wants to give rest to the weary, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I do believe that includes the physical kind, not just the rest and inside of, you know, your relationship with Christ.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is also important and a topic for another day.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: But rest and nourishment aren't rewards that you earn after you've pushed hard enough.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're a part of how we're made to be restored, how we're made to be recovered and repaired.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if you need some help figuring all this out, because I know that's a lot, reach out.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to walk you through some preliminary steps.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times when folks come into the office, one of the big things that we do up front is we do lots of questions.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: The more questions I can ask you and answers I can get, the better big picture I have of what's going on in your life.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the best first next step becomes much more clear.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this sparked some thoughts in your brain and helped you understand that stop telling yourself you're lazy.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're not, you're just probably depleted.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And let's give ourselves some permissions to start unpacking that, start recovering from that, and get that foundation solid again.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, take care of the video.