What do we mean when we say someone looks lethargic? What is lethargy? This word gives us an imprecise description of the feeling of slowness, tiredness or lack of energy. It could include fatigue, tiredness, drowsiness or listlessness. There could be many causes to these symptoms.

Some of the probable causes are:

• Drugs induced

• Diseases

• Age or Organ Dysfunction

• Lifestyle

• Functional

Drugs Induced: Alka-Mints, Atrofen, Calci-Mix, Calcilac Calcite-500, Corax, Dia-check,  Edecrin, Enduron, Esidrix, Glycate, Hygroton, Kalcinate, Lasix, Lorazepam, Lozol, Maxzide, Medilium, Novo-Clopate, Novo-Poxide, Oretic,Os-Cal 500, Pharmacal,  PMS-Baclofen, Prolixin, Renese, Reposans-10, Serax, Thorazine, Thorazine, Valrelease and Zaroxolyn  are some of the hundreds and hundreds of drugs that can cause lethargy.

Diseases: Bacterial digestive infections, hepatitis, meningitis, typhoid, Reye’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, acute disseminated Encephalomyelitis, bacterial digestive infections, Chagas disease, Discitis, Encephalitis Enterocolitis, Hydrocephalus, Lactic Acidosis, Lassa fever, Lyssavirus, Marasmus, Meningococcal disease, Multiple endocrine neoplasia, Mycobacterial infections, Myxedema, Neuroblastoma, Nocardiosis, Opsoclonus Myoclonus, post streptococcal glomerulonephritis, Sarcoidosis, Vibrio, Viral digestive infections and Worm conditions

Age or Organ Dysfunction: spleen, kidneys, lungs, liver or heart, menopause etc

Lifestyle: Over work, sedentary lifestyle, stress, insufficient rest or sleep, unhealthy diets or nutrition insufficiency.

Functional: Food poisoning, iron poisoning, lithium toxicity, Kwashiorkor (insufficient protein in diet)

Causes

The root cause of lethargy lies within our body. It could be a sign that our body energy flow has been disrupted due to too many organs dysfunction. When these organs are not functioning according to their given duties, the body show signs of disrupted energy flow: lethargic syndrome.

A fundamental TCM principle states that every living organism contains a life force that circulates continuously throughout it until death. In humans, this life force, which connects with our internal organs, circulates throughout our energy channels to give us life and energy. Basically good health is regarded as the smooth and unobstructed flow of this energy throughout the body. When this energy is obstructed, illness results. Health condition, environmental, dietary and lifestyle factors such as nutrition, work and stress, may affect the flow and therefore our health.

TCM view our body’s 5 main organs (heart, lungs, kidney, liver and spleen) as the most important organ system in the body. They form a complex system that helps to keep our body healthy. Majority of diseases can be traced back to the dysfunction of one of these organs or a combination of these organs and its inter-connected systems. As a result the energy flow is not smooth and vibrant.

Lets look at one example. The organ mostly affected by emotional stress (which can lead to lethargy) and drugs is the liver. One of the primary functions of the liver is to store and purify blood and to detox our body from harmful materials. If the liver is affected then the flow of energy would be affected. In TCM theory, the liver is paired with the gallbladder in a “symbiotic” relationship. What affects the liver function can also affect the gallbladder function. The gallbladder energy meridian runs across the shoulders, up the neck and over the sides of the head.  This explains why sufferers of stress often complain of stiffness in the neck and shoulders. In extreme cases they might have headache. The reason is because the energy is not flowing freely. And the result is stiffness (blockages) and pain. Stress and drugs can affect our organ system. Organ deficiency result in lethargy.

A deficient lung can cause lethargy. A dysfunction lung and spleen can also cause lethargy. Weak kidneys can cause lethargy. A dysfunction kidney, liver and lungs system (insomnia) can cause lethargy. A dysfunction stomach and spleen system (our digestive system) can cause lethargy. A dysfunction cardiovascular system can cause lethargy.

Prevention

In order to prevent our body's systems from been damaged it is up most important that we take care of our health. Diseases, the side effects of drugs and careless lifestyle are path ways that eventually cause our body to be permanently affected. Once damaged it is not easy to rejuvenate the system back to functioning order again as each system is a complex network of delicate functioning linkages. One of this linkages is the "symbiotic" lung spleen relationship. A dysfunction spleen would affect the health and function of the lung because the functions of the spleen is to produce lymphocytes (one of the two major type of white blood cells) and since the lung is the only internal organ that is always expose to the outside environment, if the defense mechanism is down (spleen inability to produce lymphocytes) then it is lightly that as a result of weak spleen, the person could always suffers from cold and flu.

Therefore it is important to ensure that the 5 organs system are always kept in a healthy condition. One ancient herbal sage once said "It is better to make weapons before the wars start". Another person put it differently, saying, "It is no use to try and buy an umbrella when the rain has begun". As the saying goes "Prevention is better then cure" therefore it is only wise that we should keep our engine system running smoothly. This leads us to the concept of Restorative Immunology.

In our busy lifestyle it is not always easy to try and keep ourselves healthy because to prepare nutritious food can take a long time. Many of us do not have the time and we opt for instant food that often lack the nutritional content that our body needs. As the years go by, lack of nutrition, stressful life, sedentary lifestyle and quickie "healing" synthetic chemicals (plus all the side effects) take their toll on our bodies. Too often the slow changes (in the wrong direction) within our bodies go unnoticed. We ignore the symptoms like tiredness, lethargy and lack of energy. Slowly we find it difficult to wake up in the morning. One fine day doctors say you have cardiovascular problems or that your sugar level is too high or that he detects protein in your urine. Once doctors can detect the disease, it means your health is already very bad.

But life and health do not have to be that way. In fact a little knowledge of natural healthcare and prevention on our part goes a long way in preventing and reducing the enormous cost of damage to our body. If we can keep our 5 organs in general good health we can prevent a lot of diseases and headaches.

Restorative Immunology is taking herbs rich in phytonutrients that we do not normally get in our daily diet to rejuvenate all our 5 organs. These nutrients are essential to our good health. Prevention is cheaper than cure. A few capsules each day would keep the headaches and doctor away. Radix Panax Notoginseng, Radix Polygonum Multiflorum, Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza, Folium Perilla Frutescens, Semen Sinapis Alba, Poria Cocos Wolf, Fructus Schisandra Chinensis, Radix Glycyrrhiza Glabra, Radix Pinella Ternata and Rhizoma Zingiberis are generally used to improve the functions of the organs. Radix Panax Notoginseng, Radix Polygonum Multiflorum and Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza are traditionally used as longevity herbs. They are also used to improve blood circulation.