Deepak Chopra Md - Boundless Energy: The Complete Mind/Body Program for Overcoming Chronic Fatigue

Contents

PRAISE FOR

BOUNDLESS ENERGY

"A new medicine is in the making, one in which mind, consciousness, meaning, and intelligence play key roles. One of the architects of the new medicine is Dr. Chopra, a credentialed, respected physician who has paid his dues as a modern doctor."

LARRY DOSSEY, author of Healing Words and The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things

"Deepak Chopra is being hailed as a modern-day Hippocrates for his novel approach of combining ancient healing traditions with modern research."

IRV KUPCINET, Chicago Sun-Times

"We cant help wishing he lived close enough to make house calls."

JUDITH HOOPER, New York Times Book Review

"Dr. Chopras writing has great beauty, great power, great delight, and much common sense."

COURTNEY JOHNSON, author of Henry James and the Evolution of Consciousness

"Dr. Chopra presents us with information that can help us live long, healthy lives."

BERNIE SIEGEL, M.D., author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles and 101 Exercises for the Soul: A Divine Workout Plan for Body, Mind, and Spirit

FATIGUE, ENERGY, AND THE QUANTUM MECHANICAL BODY

Fatigue is the absence of physical, intellectual, and emotional energy, and chronic fatigue is a prolonged absence of this energy. As someone living in contemporary Western society, however, you probably have no need for a definition of fatigue. Youre likely to be quite familiar with the problem already. In fact, theres an excellent chance that youre living with chronic fatigue right now.

Despite the fact that fatigue is widespread in modern life, it really is a unique phenomenon when seen in the context of nature as a whole. After all, nature abounds with energy and purposeful activity. Birds awaken early, sing, tirelessly build their nests, and gather food for their young; squirrels bound up tree trunks and jump from branch to branch; and in spring, the grass and the flowers almost seem to leap from the earth with exuberance and vitality.

This astonishing energy is present not only in the biological world but in the physical universe as well. Waves crash against the shore; rivers rush toward the sea with incredible power; the wind howls, pushing everything before it; the earth spins on its axis and circles the sun at incredible speed; and the sun itself is continually producing unimaginable amounts of heat and light. Physicists tell us that the universe is nothing other than one dynamic, pulsating field of overwhelming energy.

Its puzzling, isnt it? With so much energy throughout nature, how can anyone possibly feel fatigued? Why is fatigue a daily experience for millions of people? Why, for many of them, is it the dominant experience of their lives?

The discrepancy between the prevalence of chronic fatigue in our society and the abundant energy in the natural world creates a troubling paradox. But it can also provide an important clue for finding the real answer to chronic fatigue. In this book youll learn many techniques for reestablishing the connection between yourself and nature; more specifically, youll learn how to uncover the natural sources of energy that are already within you.

Before going into the solutions, lets look more closely at the problem of fatigue in our society and get some idea of its scope.

Fatigue is one of the most common complaints that people bring to doctors. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 24 percent of patients who were randomly surveyed in the waiting room of a general medical clinic complained of chronic fatigue. Women reported a higher rate of fatigue than men28 percent were fatigued compared to 19 percent of menbut the incidence in men was still almost one in five.

While theres no doubt that fatigue is a constant presence in the lives of millions of Americans, it is also one of the most elusive complaints for a physician to evaluate, and only rarely can a definitive cause be isolated. This is not to suggest that you shouldnt have a medical checkup if youre experiencing persistent, deep fatigue that has lasted for several weeksthere may be a clear-cut, easily treatable cause such as anemia, a thyroid problem, hepatitis, diabetes, mononucleosis, kidney problems, or another chronic health disorder. I recommend a physical exam to rule out these possible causes, but I also want to emphasize that for the overwhelming majority of people complaining of chronic fatigue, no specific physical cause can be discovered. Indeed, this may be the single most important finding in all the many studies that examined the problem.

For the purposes of this book, chronic fatigue means a noticeable lack of energy that has been present for one month or more. This is very different from acute fatigue, which is usually brought on by the demands of specific situations, such as cramming for an exam or rushing to meet a deadline at work. Acute fatigue generally disappears with the passage of time and some extra rest. People who are chronically fatigued continue to feel tired no matter how much rest they get. In fact, it is quite common for chronically fatigued people to feel tired immediately upon waking up in the morning, and even more tired after they get up and about. Clearly, sleep alone is not sufficient to solve the problem of chronic fatigue.

To sum up, then, we can define chronic fatigue as fatigue that has lasted for at least one month, that is present every day or almost every day, and that is not cured by sleep or rest.

THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION AND CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

Despite the widespread incidence of chronic fatigue throughout the population, the magnitude of its impact on normal life is probably underestimated by many people. Studies have shown that chronic fatigue can be every bit as debilitating as serious medical disorders such as untreated thyroid disease or a recent heart attack. This is even more remarkable in light of the fact that the overwhelming majority of people with chronic fatigue do not have a clear physical cause for their problem.

In the absence of such a cause, it has become clear that most chronic fatigue is strongly influenced by emotional and psychological factors. For example, studies have found that up to 80 percent of chronically fatigued people score higher than normal on psychological tests of depression or anxiety. This brings up a very important ideathe mind/body connectionwhich will be a central theme of this book. Your mind and your emotions can be major sources of energy or major wasters of it, and the choice is entirely yours. We will explore this concept in detail in the pages that follow.

Before going any further, however, its important to mention a subgroup of people who have an especially severe version of fatigue which has come to be known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. CFS is a specific disorder that was first recognized medically in the mid-1980s. Although there is currently no firm agreement among health care professionals regarding the cause of the problem, there is evidence that suggests viral infection and malfunction of the immune system may be involved.

Data from the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that true Chronic Fatigue Syndrome affects between 100,000 and 250,000 adults nationwide. These people experience a type of fatigue that is sufficiently intense and persistent to reduce normal daily activities by at least 50 percent for a minimum of six months, and it also includes specific physiological symptoms that distinguish CFS from a simple lack of energy. CFS patients often sleep twelve hours a day or more, yet they have great difficulty performing routine tasks, due to exhaustion. Individuals with the usual kind of chronic fatigue can generally manage to push themselves through their daily activities, but people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are truly disabled by their disorder. CFS also commonly includes physical symptoms such as low-grade fever, recurrent sore throat, painful lymph nodes, muscle aches or weakness, joint pains, and headaches. Sleep seems unrefreshing, and there may also be problems with concentration and short-term memory.