Anemia is something I've gotten to know well partly because I've been anemic on and off during my life. I remember going to get my finger pricked at the hospital quite often as a child. I also know it because so many women are anemic especially the pregger ones or the ones who are peri-menopausal or who are in the middle of the big change.
What does anemia have to do with exercise you ask?
A drop in athletic performance or a general feeling of fatigue may indicate you are suffering from anemia, a condition in which the production and amount of your red blood cells is below normal. Red blood cells which carry oxygen from the lungs to muscle tissues and organs are synthesized in the bone marrow Each cell lives for about 120 days in the circulation.
An adequate supply of these red blood cells is essential to physical activity and overall well-being. A low red blood cell count means less oxygen is being delivered to performing muscles. Because oxygen is essential to burn the calories used by muscles in aerobic exercise, this can have a direct effect on your ability to perform.
Taken from When Tired Blood Slows You Down
Whenever someone is experiencing fatigue that just doesn't go away, I always send them to their doc for a check up and blood work. If it's anemia it's easy to fix. If it's other health issues or depression like stuff, that's more complicated. I almost want a client to find out they're anemic vs. something else or nothing at all. The improvement in one's energy level when anemia is addressed can be huge.
Women who are experiencing repeatedly heavy periods ought to get blood work done. But honestly, I don't believe that getting checked once a year is enough when women are experiencing peri-menopausal like heavy periods. A few months of seriously heavy periods especially for people who don't eat enough iron in their diet (most of us really) can quickly put someone over the edge.
Just the other day, one of my fabulously energetic clients who is peri-menopausal found out she's very anemic. I was like "Shit! What are you going to be like when you're not anemic!?"
So when I came across this little puzzling article on the New York Times Well Blog I thought many thin blooded folks would find it interesting.
The Claim: A Craving for Ice Is a Sign of Anemia
In recent years, cravings for ice have emerged in the medical literature as a puzzling and increasingly documented sign of anemia, especially its most common form, iron deficiency anemia. Scientists don’t fully understand the link, but some suspect that compulsive consumption of ice — called pagophagia — relieves inflammation in the mouth brought on by iron deficiencies.
I don't normally eat a tray of ice before I go to bed but the funny thing is that this particular anemic client mentioned above kept on talking about getting water with ice at the movie theatre like it was a special treat. Hmmm....
Here's a bit more info on anemia and exercise taken from When Tired Blood Slows You Down
One common cause of anemia in women is the lack of iron in their diet. Women need nearly twice as much iron as men (18 milligrams/day compared with 10 mg/day) because of menstrual blood loss.
Heavy exercise may also increase iron needs by up to another 1 to 2 milligrams day. This may be caused by a combination of factors, including iron loss in sweat, blood loss from the urinary tract or gastrointestinal system and the breakdown of the red blood cells in the circulation from heavy foot striking (foot-strike hemolysis).
So if you're craving ice like it's ice cream, maybe it's time to get poked.
Oh and speaking of blood, True Blood got renewed for a fourth season. I'm hooked. I've often wondered if Sookie is anemic with all that blood sharing and why Bill doesn't feed her a huge steak after he eats.
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