Need to Recharge? New Book Offers Four-Step Fatigue Remedy

Linda Hawes Clever, M.D., outlines a four-step prescription for fatigue.

During this time of year, well-meaning people always tell us we look tired. In need of a winter recharge, The Fatigue Prescription (Viva Editions, 2010) — promising to renew energy, health and life — by Linda Hawes Clever, M.D., caught our eye. “Many devoted, capable people with plenty of good things going on and lots to look forward to are felled by fatigue,” Clever notes in the book’s introduction.

Fatigue often stems from juggling many responsibilities or from too much sorrow — Clever was inspired to come up with her prescription after a tough time in her own life: Over the course of a year, her parents died, her home was burglarized, she lost two jobs and her husband was diagnosed with cancer. The book, with easy-to-use workbook aspects, such as questionnaires, helps pinpoint the sources of your fatigue and how to make a fresh start.

To find out if you could benefit from renewing, take the RENEW-O-Meter online test or in the book (we found we’re an all-star juggler who could use some help). Clever, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and founder of RENEW, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people find purpose and positive direction, outlines the remedy in four steps. The first, awareness, assesses the nature of the fatigue, as well as the external and internal causes. Reflection calls for thoughts upon good things, people, experiences and priorities in your life and allows for the organization of helpful resources. Conversation means feedback and observations from loved ones; Clever also provides tips for good conversation. In the final step, plan-and-act, you decide on purpose and strategy for renewal, by breaking things down into small steps, and reorganizing and ridding yourself of clutter.

Perhaps one of the most surprising tips for dealing with fatigue is the necessity to welcome change. “It may seem counterintuitive, but resisting change, brings fatigue,” Clever says. Taking risks to get out of your comfort zone are part of managing fatigue. “Comfort can become tiresome,” Clever notes. “You may ignore your goals and values in order to stay comfortable.” Venturing out of your comfort zone can be as simple as increasing self-awareness. For example, Clever mentions someone who kept track of when he sighed to pinpoint his source of fatigue. It turned out that he was “on overload,” and once he spoke with colleagues about managing his workload and taking the scenic route home from work, he found himself sighing a lot less.

We’re ready to banish our fatigue! What do you do to recharge in the winter months?

Tags: California, cancer, clinical professor, Elasticity, energy, fatigue, founder, Fracture mechanics, online test, Physics, professor of medicine, University of California, University of California San Francisco