Every second, thousands and thousand of chemical reactions take place inside our body. Inside every cell, nutrients that we absorb from food, and the oxygen we breathe is combined and transformed to create new substances that we need to live.
Other chemicals travel through our blood and other fluids and react with receptors, free molecules, and even microorganisms. All these reactions and processes are called metabolism, and our body needs to control the pace and intensity of these changes so we can live. Metabolism is controlled by hormones produced in our thyroid gland, located inside our throat.
When we have too much or too little thyroid hormones circulating in our blood, our metabolism will be negatively affected, and we will develop a series of symptoms over time. Hypothyroidism is a syndrome caused by insufficient thyroid hormones; it is easily treatable, but must be diagnosed first. Here is a list of symptoms of hypothyroidism.
1. Fatigue
One of the main consequences of decreased metabolism is a lack of energy. We obtain our energy through chemical reactions in which we consume substances like sugars and fat and release the energy trapped in their molecular bridges.
A decreased metabolism means that less energy will be available for our use at any time, so we will feel weak and tired. This feeling of fatigue isn’t caused by lack of sleep, excessive exercise or effort, or mental stress. We do have the energy we need inside of our cells, it is just that our body isn’t working fast enough to recover it and put it to use.
We might feel sleepy, tired, or inclined to sleep more, even if the quality of our sleep itself isn’t affected. We might also experience some degree of physical weakness as if our muscles didn’t have the strength to perform our everyday tasks.
