New Scientist: "Tired all the time? Why fatigue isn’t just.." Anybody able to access this article?

[AndyPR]

YOU’RE in bed by 11, having had a busy, productive day. After a full night’s sleep you wake up naturally and feel… exhausted.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey of over 20,000 people by researchers at Radboud University in the Netherlands, about 30 per cent of visits to doctors involve complaints about being tired all the time. Some 20 per cent of people in the US report having experienced fatigue intense enough to interfere with living a normal life. This hits us in our pockets, too: workers who are unproductive because of fatigue cost US employers more than $100 billion a year.

It’s perhaps surprising, then, that we are only now beginning to work out what fatigue actually is. Until recently, daytime tiredness was presumed to be nothing more mysterious than simple physical exhaustion or feeling the need to sleep – the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 35 per cent of people are short on sleep. Combine that with the fact that tiredness is subjective and therefore difficult to measure, plus the subject falls somewhere between studies of the body and mind, and it’s small wonder fatigue has largely escaped scientific scrutiny.

Since tiredness accompanies so many common diseases, not to mention ordinary ageing, a better understanding of its causes could improve quality of life for pretty much everybody. A handful of researchers are now trying to figure out the causes, and possible fixes. Although it’s early days, a few clues are emerging.

One cause, we might ...

And that is all that is available without an account. Anybody able to access the rest of it?

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23230950-400-getting-a-fix-on-fatigue/

 

[taniaaust1]

it sounds and looking at its title like a standard fatigue article rather then one which is refering to ME/CFS

 

[JohnCB]

I can access the magazine through the local county library that has an arrangement with Zinio.

However the current version at the library is dated 8 October 2016. This edition shows your article as an upcoming feature, so probably in the 15 October edition. From past experience (I hadn't looked for some time until today) it may be another day or two before it is available. It is however not straightforward to copy stuff out of Zinio processed magazines.

@AndyPR You are in the UK, I believe. Does your county library do this service? Here I use my library card number and a PIN number I got by phoning the library to give me e-library access to ebooks and online magazines. If you haven't already looked, I do suggest that you find out.

If you don't have any joy, send me a message back-channel and I will have another look if I can access it but as I said above, I seem to remember it is not easy to copy it this way. I would be reluctant to copy a whole article online but would consider it for a one off private copy if you are not planning to distribute it online..

 

[AndyPR]

it sounds and looking at its title like a standard fatigue article rather then one which is refering to ME/CFS

Sorry, yes, forgot to mention that I have no proof that it contains anything at all about ME, just curious/suspicious about what the rest of it says.

I'll check into that @JohnCB , thanks for suggesting it.

 

[Hip]

I can access the magazine through the local county library that has an arrangement with Zinio.

The New Scientist magazine is found for sale each week in most newsagents that have a reasonable selection of magazines. I will have a look out for the 15 October edition if I can get to a newsagent.

 

[maddietod]

I'm a subscriber.

The article talks about circadian rhythm disruption first.

Then there's a lengthy section about inflammation and body fat, and conjecture about increased levels of cytokines making you feel tired. Inflammation is also increased by a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and normal stress.

Next we get a discussion of low dopamine, and depression making us feel drained.

I don't think any of this is useful to us. They were, however, clearly talking about pervasive fatigue in the general population. They were not talking about people who are ill.

 

[AndyPR]

Awesome, thanks @maddietod , given what was said in the teaser section I was curious where the article was headed.