| Homework 3 |
| 1 | Fatigue Jane Brody Fatigue Jane Brody 167 Despite the number of labor-saving devices and convenient means of transportation available today, fatigue is one of the most common complaints heard by doctors. When so few people do hard physical labor, why do so many people feel tired? In the following essay, noted health expert fane Brody tells us why. And she also tells us what we can do about it. Words to Know defense mechanism an involuntary mental mechanism that prevents one from dealing with uncomfortable feelings disorder a disease or ailment induced caused manifestation display metabolic of the physical and chemical processes involved in maintaining life pathological diseased or disease-related precipitate bring on, cause repressed suppressed, held back requisite needed tedium boredom .Fatigue is one of the most common complaints brought to doctors, 1 friends, and relatives. |
| 2 | You'd think in this era of labor-saving devices and convenient transportation that few people would have reason to be so tired. But probably^more people complain of fatigue today than in the days when hay was baled by handyand laundry scrubbed on a washboard. Witness these typical complaints: ? "It doesn't seem to matter how long I sleep?I'm more tired when 2 I wake up than when I went to bed." "Some of my friends come home from work and jog for several 3 miles or swim laps. |
| 3 | I don't know how they do it. I'm completely exhausted at the end of a day at the office." "I thought I was weary because of the holidays, but now that they're 4 over, I'm even worse. I can barely get through this week, and on the weekend I don't even have the strength to get dressed. I wonder if I'm anemic or something." "I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I've been so col- 5 lapsed that I haven't made a proper meal for the family in weeks. |
| 4 | We've been living on TV dinners and packaged mixes. I was finally forced to do a laundry because the kids ran out of underwear." The causes of modern-day fatigue are diverse and only rarely re- 6 lated to excessive physical exertion. The relatively few people who do heavy labor all day long almost never complain about being tired, perhaps because they expect to be. Today, physicians reportttiredness is more likely a consequence of underexertion than of wearing yourself down with overactivity^In fact, increased physical activity is often prescribed as a cure for sagging energy. |
| 5 | Kinds of Fatigue There are^three main categories of fatigue. These are physical fatigue, 7 pathological fatigue, and psychological fatigue. Physical. This is the well-known result of overworking your 8 muscles to the point where metabolic waste products?carbon dioxide and lactic acid?accumulate in your blood and sap your strength. Your muscles can't continue to work efficiently in a bath of these chemicals. |
| 6 | (Physical fatigue is usually a pleasant tirednessj, such as that which you might experience after playing a hard set of tennis, chopping wood, or climbing a mountain. The cure is simple and fast. You rest, giving your body a chance to get rid of accumulated wastes and restore muscle fuel. Pathological. Here fatigue is a warning sign or consequence of 9 some underlying physical disorder, perhaps the common cold or flu or something more serious like diabetes or cancer. Usually other symptoms besides fatigue are present that suggest the true cause. Even after an illness has passed, you're likely to feel dragged out 10 for a week or more. |
| 7 | Take your fatigue as a signal to go slow while your body has a chance to recover fully even if all you had was a cold. Pushing yourself to resume full activity too soon could precipitate a relapse and almost certainly will prolong your period of fatigue. Even though illness is not a frequent cause of prolonged fatigue, it's 11 very important that it not be overlooked. Therefore, anyone who feels drained of energy for weeks on end should have a thorough physical checkup. |
| 8 | But even if nothing shows up as a result of the various medical tests, that doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with you. 168 Chapter 5 Classification and Division Fatigue Jane Brody 169 Unfortunately too often a medical work-up ends with a battery of 12 negative test results, the patient is dismissed, and the true cause of serious fatigue goes undetected. As Dr. John Bulette, a psychiatrist at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, tells it, this is what happened to a Pennsylvania woman who had lost nearly fifty pounds and was "almost dead?so tired she could hardly lift her head up." The doctors who first examined the woman were sure she had cancer. |
| 9 | But no matter how hard they looked, they could find no sign of malignancy or of any other disease that could account for her wasting away. Finally, she was brought to the college hospital, where doctors noted that she was severely depressed. They questioned her about her life and discovered that her troubles 13 had begun two years earlier, after her husband died. Once treated for depression, the woman quickly perked up, gained ten pounds in just a few weeks, then returned home to continue her recovery with the aid of psychotherapy. |
| 10 | Psychological. Emotional problems and conflicts, especially de- 14 pression and anxiety, are by far the most common causes of prolonged fatigue. Fatigue may represent a defense mechanism that prevents you from having to face the true cause of your depression, such as the fact that you hate your job. It is also your body's safety valve for expressing repressed emotional conflicts, such as feeling trapped in an ungratifying role or an unhappy marriage. |
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