I've been doing regular exercise (running & swimming) for many years now, so I'm used to it, but the last few months I have been getting very fatigued afterwards. My performance is impaired too (slower generally).

If I run or swim in the morning and I have nothing else on later in the day I will usually end up falling asleep. This is strange for me as I have always previously found exercise energising.

I have had bloods run and the only thing that can back was low Vit D, I've been on supplements for 6 weeks now. The other med I'm on is Zoloft (5 weeks) - the fatigue predates going on this, and does seem to have improved a little on this med but not totally.

My BMI is low end of healthy range and has been that way for years, so no change there.

Anyone else experience this? Any thoughts?

[Skeezyks]

Hello prefabsprout: You don't say how old you are so I don't know if that could be a factor. I'm an older person & my exercise consists primarily of walking, which I do a lot. I'm no longer on antidepressants. When I was, they always made me more easily tired. But from what you wrote this is apparently not a problem for you.

I walk outdoors in all kinds of weather. And I live in the upper Midwest (U.S.A.) where winters can be tough. Walking in the cold, in snow, on ice & in strong winds tires me out noticeably. My BMI is also at the low end of the healthy range. I have been heavier in years past. I watch my diet carefully in order to keep my weight down where it is today. I have wondered sometimes if I perhaps should be eating more than I do. But I choose not to. I'm almost always hungry. But I have trained myself to ignore this for the most part.

Two other things occur to me. One relates to sleep. For a variety of reasons I have quite a bit of difficulty sleeping. And I believe this contributes to the high level of fatigue I experience pretty-much every day. There was an interesting article regarding sleep in our local newspaper recently. Essentially what it was saying is it's not enough just to sleep. What is important is that a person get sufficient amounts of "quality" sleep... in other words deep levels of sleep because it is during these periods of deep sleep that the body repairs & restores itself. So a person can be sleeping a lot & still not getting the kind of sleep that will allow the body to heal.

The other thing I wonder about is if it is possible you're exercising the same muscle groups too often. I'm no expert, but as I understand it, exercise tears up the muscles & it is the healing that takes place following the exercise that hardens them. (Here again, much of this takes place during periods of deep sleep.) This healing process can take a couple of days or so. So if you're working the same muscles every day, day-after-day, perhaps you're not giving those muscles time to heal. This is where cross-training can be beneficial since different types of exercises exercise different muscle groups.

Anyway, these are the sorts of things that come to mind. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply Skeezyks, that has given me a few things to think about.

I'm in my mid years and have wondered whether my age is a factor, certainly when I'm tired I feel every bit of my age in these old bones and muscles.

Cold weather - well it's not as cold here as your place (brrr!) but I do think cold and wind has an impact on me, roll on Spring.

Sleep is an excellent point, I do sleep okay but often wake needing the bathroom, this is not something that used to happen before. I drop off again no bother but the sleep is broken so maybe not as deep.

Muscle groups - yes, you could very well be right there. My GP actually suggested a lay off from running to rest that muscle group, but I haven't done this as so much of my life revolves around this activity. I have an event coming up so now is not a good time to rest, but once that is out of the way I'll take a week out and just swim.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful consideration, I really appreciate that Skeezyks - keep up your walking, I enjoy that too, it's a wonderful low impact exercise.