One of the central problems in connection with most SPD related disorders is fatigue. Many patients experience daytime fatigue without apparent reason and despite good sleep. Besides exploring the deeper physiological reasons, it is important to map out when fatigue sets in. This will help analyzing possible triggers, and find ways to work around the fatigue in order to create a stable daily routine.
Temperature and Wakefulness
The core body temperature is the body’s main dial for the wake and sleep state. The higher the temperature is within the healthy range, the more awake and alert we are; equally, the lower it drops the more drowsy and sleepy we become. Below a certain threshold, the basal temperature, we inevitably fall asleep. This makes the body temperature the perfect benchmark for fatigue. No matter what the reason is, when there is fatigue, the core body temperature is lower than it should be.
Temperature Readings
Using a health watch for continuous temperature readings won’t produce perfect results. But more importantly than accuracy are averages over time, which minimize the impact of individual false readings. The goal is to compare the actual temperature curve with the one of a healthy person. This will tell when the temperature is too low, which helps to understand whether the fatigue is a regular occurance at the same time, or random and perhaps caused by specific external triggers.
Regular vs Random
Random temperature drops imply external triggers, because there is no reason for the body to suddenly reduce its core temperature without a trigger. These external triggers can be found out through simple exposure tests by removing all already known triggers followed by a deliberate exposure to the suspected trigger. This can be certain foods, temperatures, humidity, textures or physical exercise; overall everything, which is noticed by the body through its sensory system.
Regular occuring temperature drops – without those which are caused by external triggers at the same time every day – imply an inner-physiological process leading to the fatigue. These fatigue episodes are usually caused by hormone cycles, of which most are adapted to the 24 hour day, like thyroid hormones or cortisol, or to other relevant astronomical cycles like the moon, as the example of the female cycle shows.
Manipulating And Working Around the Temperature Curve
The identification of external triggers alone will be enough to remove them, except maybe dropping air pressure, which is a very specific problem on its own. Regular temperature drops are more tricky and may require hormone replacement, especially if this affects the thyroid. Dysfunctional hormone cycles like the one for cortisol on the other hand can be influenced by reducing caffeine intake and by supplementing with magnesium, which helps to regulate the hormone. Overall, each trigger and each cycle needs, but also has its own counter-measure, even if this can mean to shift the sleep cycle to a different time in order to bring the inner-physiological processes in alignment with the wake or sleep state.
Directly manipulating the temperature curve is another way of reducing fatigue, although one which is highly individual. The principle idea is that when the core body temperature rises, the wakefulness increases. This is the case irrespective of why the temperature increases. One major problem is that some methods can trigger other physiological reactions leading to even more fatigue, which is especially relevant for CFS/ME patients. More success promising is lowering the temperature to induce sleep. Overall though, as a patient suffering of severe fatigue, at least testing methods which can potentially increase the core body temperature won’t do more damage than already exists. The chances of finding a remedy may be small, but the potential upside tends to be still greater than the temporary fatigue in the case of an adverse reaction.