5 reasons you might be feeling extra tired this summer
Visitors enjoying the seaside on one of the hottest days of the summer in Fountainstown, Co. Cork. - Picture: David Creedon
The weather is glorious, a trip to the beach is on the horizon and life feels good, so feeling tired in the summer can seem almost unfair.
But you’re not alone, as according to experts, including Dr John Briffa, a medical doctor and author of , summer fatigue is very real.
There are different causes of summer fatigue that vary from person-to-person, ranging from dehydration to longer daylight hours, according to Briffa.
So if you’re experiencing inexplicable tiredness in the warmer months, here’s what might be causing it and how Briffa recommends you combat it.
This summer has been one of the warmest in memory for many. But with the chnage in weather, comes some downsides.
Temperature changes can affect the body’s ability to regulate itself, causing fatigue.
“The metabolism of generating energy tends to work best in a tight temperature range,” says Dr Briffa. “So if the body gets significantly cooler or warmer than that, even by maybe half a degree or so, it slows everything down.”
To beat heat fatigue, he suggests cooling hairless skin areas like the palms, forehead, and soles of the feet as they lower your body temperature the quickest.
“Get these areas cool – not freezing – because then the blood vessels clamp down, but use a cold flannel of about 15C.
“Or if you can’t submerge your body and happen to be by a river, pond or sea, just dipping your feet in is a lot better than doing nothing.”
Sun, sweating and not drinking enough fluids are all causes of dehydration that can escalate in the summer.
Tiredness is a sign of dehydration, along with other symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and sunken eyes.
Dr Briffa says: “Studies show that you only need very mild dehydration, maybe one or two per cent of your body weight for that to be reflected on things like your mental functioning.”
Most people wait until they feel thirsty to drink, but thirst is actually “a late sign of dehydration”, according to Dr Briffa.
If you’re unsure about your hydration levels, he recommends looking at the colour of your urine. “People need to drink enough fluid to ensure that their urine stays a pale yellow throughout the course of the day – think pinot grigio as a colour. Once it’s an oaky chardonnay or Lucozade colour, we’ve got a problem on our hands.”
With holidays, outdoor weather and longer days, drinking can increase in the summer and, along with other detrimental side-effects, alcohol affects sleep quality.
Though Briffa doesn’t want to caution people against drinking responsibly and moderately, he says: “The problem is a relatively small amount of alcohol can disrupt sleep to the extent that when you wake up in the morning, you’re significantly less well-rested than if you haven’t drunk.
“Most people are alright with a drink – like a moderate-sized glass of wine or beer, for example – but beyond that is usually where we start our problems, as once we’re at two, usually, people will not escape the effect of that on their sleep.”
Exposure to light at night can upset our circadian rhythm and ruin sleep and, in the summer, longer daylight hours can exacerbate this issue.
“The evenings are long in the summer, and that can impede our ability to get to sleep, and when the sun comes up early in the morning, it impedes our ability to sleep in,” Briffa explains.
“I wouldn’t encourage people to say, ‘It’s nine o’clock at night, and it’s still light, we better go inside’, but a good tactic is to protect yourself from some sunrise so you can sleep longer into the morning.”
For this, he recommends investing in blackout curtains or an eye mask to block out light.
In the summer, pollen levels surge, irritating hay fever sufferers, who may find their symptoms, such as blocked noses and itchy eyes, prevent quality sleep.
“It’s critically important that hay fever sufferers who can’t breathe through their nose unblock their nose so they aren’t forced to breathe through their mouths,” Briffa says.
“Most people breathe better through their nose, and if they’re forced to breathe through their mouth, they could be overbreathing through the night and be a bit under-oxygenated.”
For clear airways at night, Briffa recommends using a plastic nasal strip on the bridge of the nose to open up the nasal passages or purchasing a Neti Pot with saline water and pouring it through one nostril at a time.
App?
