Suspicious of a few of these causes in relation to your own daytime snoozes?
The good news is that all 3 of these causes are simple to test, and can help to rule in or out so you can have some conclusive answers, and start to peel back the layers that may be getting in between you and feeling your best!
Iron panel, including reserve iron capacity
Deep-dive thyroid panel
Adrenal function tests, including cortisol as a blood test, or a more specialized saliva or urine evaluation of cortisol (and other sleep/wake/stress master hormones) graded at different points throughout the day.
To note: Ferritin - an iron storage marker which also doubles as an inflammatory marker in the blood - recently underwent an audit, with subsequent lab range changes. What does this mean? Standard lab ranges are set by taking "healthy" people between the ages of 20-80, testing their blood, and then setting a typical range based on these values.
Until recently, the ferritin range cut-offs were overly generous, so women with a ferritin value of let's say 14 were told by the lab and their doctors that their iron levels were within normal range, and there was no need to intervene.
As of mid-2024 in Ontario, labs have upped their standards for iron status, and ferritin levels under 50 get flagged as "suboptimal" iron stores for women. Overall, this is good news for patients with fatigue, women with heavy periods, vegetarians and those looking to feel their best.
Although we rely heavily on lab testing to tell us about our health status, no lab test is perfect, and as we know, medical knowledge and therapies are constantly improving and changing.
The lesson: trust yourself first. If you can't make it through the day without an afternoon coffee or brownie, or you're napping under your desk at 2pm, there's probably a testable reason for it. I hope you found this helpful :)
~Dr. Erin, ND
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