Chronic Fatigue and Asthenia: Where to Begin

When there is no energy from the very morning, when tasks get put off for years and a person "gets up and still can't, still doesn't want to," it's important not to rush into psychological explanations. Dr. Saulitis insists: the very first thing is to rule out an organic, bodily cause. A tired body with "drained batteries" simply cannot function normally.

Asthenia as the First Cause

The doctor names asthenia as one of the two main causes of procrastination. It is a state where a person is exhausted, has worked long under various loads, and simply has no strength. Getting up in the morning is hard; a cup of tea later it's still "I can't yet, I don't want to yet." This is not laziness or character: the batteries are flat, and so everything gets postponed.

What to Look For First

Many bodily processes can hide behind fatigue. The doctor lists what must be excluded: disorders and infections (he names encephalitis, Lyme disease, hepatitis, tuberculosis), autoimmune processes, intoxication of the body, vitamin deficiencies, anemia, thyroid problems. He adds chronic stress, which also "produces asthenia." Separately he notes: if someone has long been smoking weed or otherwise poisoning the body, the head physically won't work — and that is not procrastination in the psychological sense, but a physical inability to do anything.

Sleep as a Separate Item

The doctor always checks sleep. If a person has long gone without proper sleep, without rest — it's clear there's nowhere for energy to come from. It may not even be called procrastination in the full sense, but that's exactly why he stresses: rule out fatigue and sleep loss first.

What Normal Looks Like

To know which way to move, the doctor offers a benchmark — the child's norm. A healthy person has interest in the morning: fishing ahead, mushroom picking, an excursion, meeting good company. "You go to bed and can't wait for the morning" — that's a living sign the body is in order. Over the years this is often lost, and a persistent loss of such interest is a reason to look closely at one's state.

Practice: First Steps

1. Get basic blood tests. The doctor names: a general blood count, liver panel, inflammatory markers — to see whether there is pathology.
2. Check the thyroid. This is an "elementary thing" he recommends always looking at.
3. Assess your sleep. Ask yourself honestly: how long since you truly rested and slept enough.
4. Account for intoxication and loads. Prolonged stress and toxic effects on the body also drain strength.
5. Compare with the norm. Is there any interest in the coming day in the morning — or has it been gone for a long time.

Only after the "organic bodily" background is cleared does it make sense to move on to psychological causes.