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Boost Your Energy Naturally

Alicia had no energy. Even though she averaged eight hours of sleep a night, she woke up tired and had to rev herself up on caffeine to get through the day. At night, she fell into bed completely exhausted, sometimes as early as 7:30. Granted, she was burning the candle at both ends. An aspiring actress, Alicia would go straight from her job to acting classes three evenings a week, and she often drove several hundred miles on weekends to auditions. But she had always led a hectic life. This debilitating fatigue was new, and it was making her cranky, frustrated, and depressed. 

We see patients like Alicia at the Whitaker Wellness Institute almost daily. In fact, the number one complaint to physicians in this country is fatigue. Conventional doctors may order blood tests looking for the obvious causes and suggest their patients get more sleep, perhaps even offering sleeping pills. But they generally overlook two common deficiencies that, when rectified, dramatically improve energy and quality of life: vitamin B12 and thyroid hormones. 

A Micro Nutrient With Major Benefits

Every morning at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, participants in the weeklong Back to Health program line up for a pre-breakfast "energizer." No, it's not a steaming cup of coffee. It's a vitamin B12 shot, a neglected but extremely valuable therapy that increases energy, improves mood, and sharpens memory. 

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) plays a role in many crucial processes, including energy metabolism, immune function, and the synthesis of DNA, red blood cells, and the myelin sheaths that insulate nerve cells. This vitamin is also necessary for the regeneration of folic acid, another B vitamin required for healthy brain and nervous system function. 

Yet B12 deficiencies are common. As we get older, our ability to absorb this nutrient from food becomes impaired due to declining levels of hydrochloric acid and a compound called intrinsic factor in the stomach. The classic sign of a vitamin B12 deficiency is pernicious anemia. However, this serious blood disorder typically develops only after five or six years of deficiency. In the meantime, more subtle but equally devastating damage can affect the brain and nerves, causing sometimes permanent loss of function. 

Early symptoms of B12 deficiency include fatigue, memory loss, confusion, depression, and nerve problems such as numbness, tingling, or burning. In the elderly, the impaired mental function that results from a vitamin B12 deficiency can mimic Alzheimer's disease. I wonder how many patients with a treatable nutritional deficiency are languishing in nursing homes, misdiagnosed with an irreversible brain disorder. 

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