Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert explains why we feel more exhausted over the holiday season

The year is winding down - leaving many of us to wonder why we feel more exhausted than ever.

The holiday season brings more stress, but one expert suggests there's more factors at play.

Naturopath and wellness expert explains why we can feel more exhausted - and offers up some self-care tips to boost energy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's time to talk wellness now. And this is probably
a pretty dumb question at this time of the year.
What are you feeling a bit died? I'm I think
everybody's sending a little bit tired. Anyway, help us on
its way erin O'Hara's with us. Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yes, it's that time of year where everyone's running to
the finish line.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
They are they have settled up and galloping towards Christmas.
But some people actually feel tired all the time. You
have you just think yourself eachy wind and I feel fatigued.
I'm just exhausted, and that is something that you've kind
of got to stop and go, oh, hang on a minute,
probably do something about this.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, some people are just exhausted all the time. And
there can be a lot of contributing factors to logoing fatigue,
and it can be kind of like first place, I
always look as sleep, and I know that might seem
crazy and something super simple, but actually sleep is obviously
going to affect your energy during the day, and some
people are getting plenty of sleep like they're getting enough

(01:10):
hours of sleep, but the quality of sleep is not great.
So even if they've had their eight or nine hours,
the wake up in the morning still exhausted, still tired,
still can't function for the next day. And there's lots
of reasons why we can get into these extreme fatigue
states and exhaustion. And obviously this time of year, it's
hard to kind of distinguish what's like burnout kind of

(01:31):
coming to the end of the year, but year maybe
extra stress and what is actually fatigue that's going on
and on due to maybe a medical condition or a
nutrient deficiency. Now, the first place is look at your
sleep quality and see how you sleeping. Are you sleeping
through the night, are you waking up in the night,
or you're having trouble getting to sleep. Now, if you're

(01:52):
waking maybe two or three in the morning, the most
common thing is looking at your stress levels. Waking in
those early hours in the morning can be indicated that
your stress levels are quite high and you've got an
imbalance between cortisol and malatone in waking up in those
early hours and then can't get back to sleep, and
that can be a hormonal imbalance with the stress hormones

(02:14):
or maybe even reproductive hormones can be a triggering factor
to that as well, So trying to get the sleep
quality corrected. And even if that's right, then if you're
still feeling exhausted, maybe do a little review of your
own diet and looking at what you've been eating. Nutrient
deficiencies and other Probably the most common reason for fatigue,
particularly iron deficiency. An iron deficiency, particularly for woman, much

(02:38):
bigger problems, special if they're mentating losing blood, So making
sure you're checking your iron levels. Maybe get a general
well being check up, whether it's the side of Christmas
in the new year, maybe if you're still feeling fatigued
after the holidays, maybe a good time to get a
check because a lot of people are.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Going, I'm always at this at this time of the year.
I've just got to get to Christmas and i can
stop for a little bit and I'll be fine.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Yeah, And that's a good thing to do. And then
utilizing the holidays if you're having a holiday over Christmas,
to really rebuild your energy levels, and with doing that
that can be a matter of pulling back on your
stress and all your commitments, which most people do on
a holiday, So not filling it with too many activities,
even if they are fun. So slightening the low, prioritizing

(03:22):
sleep and including some naps, which I'm a huge fan of.
Some naps I love a mat fatigue, great way to
pull you out of fatigue. It's the critical thing is
making sure you get the timing of the nap right.
So you're not sleeping for like three hours in the
daytime and then can't sleep at night. That's going to
have a huge effect. But you want to make sure
you keep those naps to sort of twenty to forty

(03:44):
minutes round the lunch time, so having a little cu
stuff to lunch perfect for rebuilding energy over the holidays,
and then you'll know at the end of the holidays
whether it's just the exhaustion at the end of the year,
whether there's something else going on. And if there is
something else going on, go to your general GPA, get
some check ups, maybe looking at iron B twelve, complete
blood count, checking if there's any anemia, maybe thigh rude

(04:06):
or reproductive hormones can be also other things that can
affect you energy levels.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
I love it compulsory nap. I think we'll instigate that
now family holidays. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Eron for more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks A B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio