Exhaustion has become a national problem. Millions of Americans say they feel tired nearly all the time. Along with fatigue come a lot of physical and emotional problems, including headaches, difficulty concentrating, depression, upset stomachs, sore muscles and joints, reduced sexual desire, and even memory loss.
Was chronic fatigue a problem for Native Americans? Medical historians say no. Native Americans lived active, spiritually meaningful lives, and went to sleep and arose with the sun—a far cry from the hectic lives many of us lead today.
Part of the problem is that Americans are working longer hours than ever before. We leave the house early in the morning to go to stress-filled jobs, and often don’t return until late at night. More and more people report working evenings and weekends just to keep up. Then there are all the emotional stresses—paying the mortgage, taking care of children or aging parents, and keeping the house in order. Basically, we don’t get enough sleep to recharge our batteries, and even when we do sleep we often trudge through the day feeling exhausted.
It’s a challenge for most of us, of course, to return to a much simpler way of living. However, many of the secrets of the Native Americans can still be used today to quickly restore lost energy.
Take one day at a time. That may sound like a cliché, but it really goes to the heart of the Native American philosophy and way of life. Many Native American tribes lived day-to-day because the demands of daily survival gave them little choice. It was a difficult life in many ways, but because they were focused on the here and now, they didn’t burn all their energy worrying about tomorrow.
Modern Americans would do well to take a lesson from this. Because we’re not coping with daily survival, we have the “luxury” of worrying about things in the future. We often feel overwhelmed by things we can’t predict and may not be able to do anything about, according to David Sheridan, Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
It’s not easy for people today to let go of long-term worries and focus instead on the moment, but it’s worth trying, says Dr. Sheridan. Living life as though every day on Earth were your last makes it possible to see what’s really important. At the same time, it allows you to concentrate your energy on things that make the biggest difference right now. When you take care of the details, says Dr. Sheridan, the bigger issues often take care of themselves, and this can leave you with much more energy than you had before.
Exercise lightly and often. In the last few years, more and more Americans have begun taking up exercise—and nearly just as many will give it up. The problem with “formal” exercise is that unless you really like biking, lifting weights, or what-have-you, it’s hard to stick with it. A better approach, experts believe, is simply to incorporate physical activity throughout your day. That’s what the Native Americans did, and their health and vigor proved it works.
An active lifestyle (as opposed to a formal exercise plan) merely means keeping your body moving. This can be as simple as walking to the store on the corner instead of driving. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Raking the yard instead of hiring a neighborhood teen to do it. Even if you’re only physically active for a total of 30 minutes a day, your metabolism will run faster all day long and you’ll rediscover the energy you’d forgotten you had. As a bonus, experts have found you don’t have to get your exercise all at once for it to be effective. Staying active for 10 minutes at a time, and repeating it three times a day, is just as effective as exercising in a 30-minute block.
Sleep regular hours. Sure, it’s easier said than done, but it’s worth making the effort to get more shut-eye. Americans today don’t get anywhere near enough sleep. We stay up late to watch TV, work at the computer, or tackle paperwork, but the alarm rings just as early the next morning. We try to “catch up” on weekends, but the body just doesn’t work that way.
In some ways it was a lot easier for Native Americans to get enough sleep than it is for us. They didn’t have electricity, cordless phones, or teenagers with drivers’ licenses to worry about. The end of their day was marked by the setting of the sun, and sleep just came naturally.
We would do well to follow their example more closely. At the very least, we should try to be consistent in the amount of sleep we get, says exercise physiologist William Fink of Ball State University. For most people, this means six to eight hours of sleep, not just during the week, and not just when it’s convenient, but all of the time. If we would commit to sleeping regular hours, we’d find that our energy levels would naturally climb.
Regardless of how much you sleep at night, you may find that daytime naps are a great way to regenerate your energy, too. Unfortunately, most Americans are reluctant to nap because they feel they’re not being productive enough—but the body really isn’t designed to sleep only at night. Napping is one of the best ways to give your body the rest it needs, says Rick Rice, M.D., Professor of Family Medicine at Ohio State University. Native Americans did it all the time.
Take time to eat well. As part of our usual time crunch, we often forget how important it is to eat well. Fast food may be convenient, but it doesn’t give your body everything it needs to perform at peak capacity, and snacktime sweets high in sugar can leave you feeling tired and sluggish. This is another area in which Native Americans were way ahead of us. They ate a very nutritious diet, filled with whole grains, beans, and small amounts of lean meat. Doctors have found that when people switch to a more “natural” diet, they often report feeling more energetic.
Go hot and cold. Native Americans amazed early European settlers with their custom of taking hot steam baths followed by a plunge into an icy river or lake. It was invigorating, to say the least.
Centuries later, a Bavarian herbalist, Sebastian Kneipp, perfected the technique and achieved worldwide fame for using this technique as a treatment for recurrent fatigue.
Unlike the Native Americans, you don’t have to construct a sweat lodge or live in the woods to practice hot-and-cold treatments. All you have to do is take a long, hot shower, followed by an invigorating cold splash. You’ll discover for yourself how quickly your energy levels can climb, and you may find that they stay elevated for hours afterward.
Try the energizing herbs. Research has shown that a number of herbs that Native Americans used to increase energy actually increase the body’s metabolism. According to Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., author of The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine, ginseng, ginger, and peppermint, taken separately or together as a tea, can quickly jump-start energy and reduce fatigue. You can brew fresh tea or use herbal tinctures or supplements, available in health food stores.
This fatigue treatment article is taken from :
Healing Secrets of the Native Americans - Porter Shimer
