Are High Triglycerides Making Me Tired?

Having high triglycerides alone don't make you tired, but conditions such as diabetes or thyroid disease that raise triglyceride levels, can make you feel drained and tired.

Prompt treatment of these medical problems, paying stricter attention to what you eat and eliminating bad help habits will lower triglyceride levels, and eliminate fatigue.

Triglycerides

• Triglycerides are fats in your blood. Any calories not needed immediately after eating, are converted into triglycerides and stored in your fat cells. When you need energy between meals, hormones release triglycerides. Regularly eating more calories than you burn, may result in high triglycerides.

Diet

• If you're overweight, the movement of the diaphragm is restricted, and so is your breathing. Not being able to take full, deep diaphragmatic breaths means less oxygen is transported to your tissues, and you feel tired and sluggish.

  Losing weight will significantly lower triglyceride levels; you'll feel more energetic and reduce your risk of developing diabetes.

  Eat a fiber-rich diet of foods such as bran cereals, peas and beans, and aim for five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

  Enjoy fish at least twice a week, cook chicken without the skin, and buy lean cuts of meat.

  Choose canola, corn, safflower, soybean and olive oil to cook with and liquid or tub margarine for spreads.

Lifestyle Changes

• Exercise sends more oxygen to the body, and this release of oxygen makes us feel alert and energized. Staying physically active eliminates that tired feeling.

  Start an exercise program to raise levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and decrease triglycerides. Ride a bike, take a walk or join a sports team. Exercise stimulates various chemicals in the brain, which leave you feeling happy and relaxed.

  Smoking cigarettes causes excessive blood fats, and when compared with nonsmokers, smokers had much higher serum concentrations of triglycerides. Smoking reduces the levels of "good "HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides stay in the blood instead of being excreted by the liver, leaving you tired and sluggish.

  Drinking alcohol slows down brain activity, and depending on how much alcohol was consumed, can cause slurred speech, memory loss and weakened muscles, causing fatigue.

  If you stop drinking, high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels will go down.

Medication

• Prescription medication can be prescribed to bring down triglyceride levels if diet and lifestyle changes are not effective.

Prevention

• Regular checkups can reveal a high triglyceride problem before it becomes serious. According to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), all healthy adults should obtain a lipoprotein profile that measures total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides---at least every five years.