Faster recovery with vitamins?
A busy period with a lot of stress, a reduced resistance, an unstable day and night rhythm: it all has an impact on your body, often resulting in fatigue. Can vitamins and minerals play a role in recovery?
85 percent of the Dutch sometimes feel tired. In 47 percent of the Dutch the fatigue lasts longer than a day, in 16 percent it is even constantly present, according to research. The consequence? Listlessness, difficulty getting out of bed and loss of concentration.
Recover from fatigue
When the fatigue has built up over a longer period of time, the body also needs longer to recover. Think of fatigue and a lifeless feeling due to stress, psychological complaints or a shortage of vitamins and minerals as a result of a (long-term) poor diet.
Many people wonder whether vitamins and minerals – possibly in supplement form – can promote recovery from fatigue. Although vitamins and minerals do not provide energy themselves, they do play an important role in energy metabolism. For example, magnesium is needed to properly process calcium, and vitamin C is needed to properly absorb iron. So the answer is yes: you need them to get energy from your food.
250 grams of vegetables
This means that a healthy and varied diet is extra important for people with chronic fatigue complaints. And such a healthy diet, according to the Guidelines for Good Nutrition of the Health Council, includes at least 250 grams of vegetables every day and to eat 2 servings of fruit per day. From the Food Consumption Poll However, the RIVM shows that the Dutch consume much less than the recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals. And a deficiency can have repercussions on energy metabolism.
Food pattern under the microscope
Several studies show that it is worth taking a critical look at their diet for people with fatigue. Even a slight deficiency of vitamins and minerals can play a role in them. This mainly concerns the B vitamins, vitamin C and the minerals calcium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, copper, magnesium and manganese. But a lack of vitamin D can also cause fatigue.
What’s in it?
| B vitamins | Milk and milk products, meat (products), vegetables, fruit, eggs, bread, potatoes and grain products. |
| Vitamin C | Vitamin C is found in fruits, vegetables and potatoes, especially in cabbages, citrus fruits, kiwis, berries and strawberries. |
| Vitamin D | Fatty fish. Meat and eggs also provide some vitamin D, but a lot less. In the Netherlands, vitamin D is also added to low-fat margarine, margarine and baking and frying products (but not to oil). Butter naturally contains vitamin D, but much less. Vitamin D may be added to other products; this mainly happens with dairy products. |
| Calcium | Calcium is found in milk, milk products, cheese, (green) vegetables, nuts and legumes. |
| Phosphorus | Phosphorus is found in milk, dairy products, cheese, fish, meat, legumes and whole grain products. |
| Iodine | Iodine occurs naturally in seaweed, sea fish and eggs. Added iodine is found in iodized kitchen, table and diet salt, baker’s salt, bread baked with baker’s salt and some meat products. |
| Iron | Iron is mainly found in beef and lamb, wholemeal bread, broccoli and green beans. Heme iron is only found in animal products and is more readily available to the body than non-heme iron from plant products. |
| Buyer | Copper is found in vegetables, fruit, meat, bread and other grain products, and cocoa products. |
| Magnesium | Magnesium is found in bread and grain products, vegetables, milk and dairy products and meat. |
| Manganese | Manganese is found in whole-wheat bread and whole-grain cereal products, tea, vegetables and fruit. |
Tips for fatigue
- Eat at least 250 grams of vegetables and 2 pieces of fruit daily to get enough vitamins and minerals. If you have trouble reaching these amounts on a daily basis, a supplement can prevent shortages and provide extra energy in case of fatigue.
- Watch your vitamin B12 level. Vitamin B12 (cobalamin), a water-soluble vitamin, is only found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, fish, milk and eggs. Vegans in particular are at risk of a too low intake of vitamin B12, resulting in fatigue. The Health Council therefore advises this group to take extra vitamin B12. Even when you take antacids, your vitamin B12 level can be on the low side. Sufficient stomach acid is necessary to absorb B12 from the diet.
- A deficiency of vitamin D can cause fatigue. Vitamin D is mainly obtained from direct sunlight. A long winter with little sunlight can cause shortages. If you also eat little fish and no low-fat margarine and margarine, it is difficult to get enough vitamin D. Children up to the age of 4, people with a dark skin color, people who don’t go out much every day or wear clothing that covers the body outside such as a burqa, chador or headscarf, pregnant women and the elderly are advised to take extra vitamin D in any case.
- Take your time. It takes a long time for a shortage to arise, but it takes at least the same amount of time for those stocks to be built up again. A supplement is recommended daily over a period of 2 months to optimally provide the body with the necessary vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
- Not only vitamins and minerals need time; your body also needs time to recover. Your body is not designed to be under constant stress and needs time to recharge the battery. Therefore alternate exercise with relaxation every few hours and try to take sufficient moments of rest.
- Stress eats up energy. If you suspect that stress is the cause of your fatigue, tackle the cause. Find out where the tension is coming from and work on it. Make sure you get enough rest, start exercising (again) and call in help if necessary.
- The better you sleep, the sooner your fatigue symptoms disappear. Have a regular sleeping pattern.
- A ‘quick fix’ is not possible. Fatigue is not solved with energy drinks or locks of coffee. Eat healthy and varied and as little as possible from packages and bags. Avoid refined sugars and alcohol and nicotine. The peace that these products provide is short-lived.
- For some people, mindfulness training or yoga can offer a solution to create the necessary peace of mind and body.
Are you still struggling with fatigue? Then go to the doctor. He or she can do blood tests to discover possible deficiencies (such as iron deficiency), to rule out diseases (Pfeiffer’s disease, for example) and refer you to a specialist if necessary.
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