Fatigue in Older Adults

Fatigue is a feeling of weariness, tiredness, or lack of energy. It can be a normal response to physical activity, emotional stress, boredom, or lack of sleep, but it can also signal a more serious mental or physical condition.

Everyone feels tired now and then. If you feel tired continuously for multiple weeks, you may want to see your doctor, who can help discover what’s causing your fatigue and identify ways to relieve it.
What causes fatigue?


Sometimes, fatigue can be the first sign that something is wrong in your body. For example, people with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful condition that affects the joints, often complain of fatigue. People with cancer may feel fatigued from the disease, treatments, or both.

Many medical problems and treatments can add to fatigue. These include:Having medical treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, or recovering from major surgery
Infections
Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, thyroid disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Untreated pain and diseases like fibromyalgia
Anemia
Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders
Recent stroke
Parkinson’s disease
Taking certain medications, such as antidepressants, antihistamines, and medicines for nausea and pain

Talk with your doctor about any concerns you may have about fatigue and your health condition. Treating an underlying or known health problem may help reduce fatigue.
Parkinson’s disease and fatigue


Fatigue can be a non-movement symptom of Parkinson’s disease. It is common early on in Parkinson’s, but a person can experience fatigue at any point during the disease. If you or someone you know with Parkinson’s is experiencing fatigue, it’s important to talk with your doctor.

Emotional exhaustion: Can emotions cause fatigue?

Do you worry about your health and who will take care of you? Have you recently lost a loved one? Or have you lost your mobility and independence? Emotional stresses like these can take a toll on your energy. Fatigue can be linked to many conditions, including:Anxiety
Depression
Grief from loss of family or friends
Stress from financial or personal problems
Feeling that you no longer have control over your life

Not getting enough sleep can also contribute to fatigue. Regular physical activity can improve your sleep, help reduce feelings of depression and stress, and boost your mood and overall well-being. Yoga, meditation, deep breathing, and stretching may help reduce stress and anxiety and help you get more rest. Therapy or certain medications may also help relieve anxiety and depression that may be contributing to fatigue.

Talk with your doctor if your mental health seems to be affecting your sleep or making you tired.
What is chronic fatigue syndrome?


Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a condition in which fatigue lasts six months or longer and is not related to other diseases or conditions. People with CFS experience symptoms that make it hard to do daily tasks like dressing or bathing. Along with severe fatigue that doesn’t get better with rest, CFS symptoms can include problems with sleep, memory and concentrating, pain, dizziness, sore throat, and tender lymph nodes.

Lifestyle habits and fatigue

Some lifestyle habits can make you feel tired, such as:Staying up too late. A good night’s sleep is important to feeling refreshed and energetic. Try going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
Having too much caffeine. Drinking caffeinated soda, tea, or coffee, or even eating chocolate, can keep you from getting a good night’s sleep. Limit the amount of caffeine you have during the day and avoid it in the evening.
Drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that changes the way you think and act. It may also interact negatively with certain medicines.
Getting too little or too much exercise. Regular exercise can help boost your energy levels. Overdoing it without proper rest can cause stress and lead to fatigue.
Boredom. If you were busy during your working years, you may feel lost about how to spend your time when you retire. Engaging in social and productive activities that you enjoy, such as volunteering in your community, can help maintain your well-being.
Tips to feel less tired

Making changes to your lifestyle may help you feel less tired, for example:Exercise regularly. Almost anyone, at any age, can do some type of physical activity. If you have concerns about starting an exercise program, ask your doctor if there are any activities you should avoid. Moderate exercise may improve your appetite, energy, and outlook. Some people find that exercises combining balance and breathing (for example, tai chi or yoga) improve their energy.
Try to avoid long naps (over 30 minutes) late in the day. Long naps can leave you feeling groggy and may make it harder to fall asleep at night. Read A Good Night’s Sleep for tips on getting better rest at night.
Stop smoking. Smoking is linked to many diseases and disorders, such as cancer, heart disease, and breathing problems, all of which are associated with fatigue.
Ask for help if you feel swamped. Some people have so much to do that just thinking about their schedules can make them feel tired. Working with others may help a job go faster and be more fun.
Participate in activities you enjoy. Socializing with friends and family or volunteering in your community can help you feel more engaged and productive throughout the day.
Eat well and avoid alcohol. Eating nutritious foods can give you energy throughout the day. Staying away from alcoholic drinks can help you avoid negative interactions with medications.
Keep a fatigue diary. This can help you find patterns throughout the day when you feel more or less tired. It can also help you plan out activities that may give you more energy.
When should I see a doctor for fatigue?

If you’ve been tired or been experiencing low energy for several weeks with no relief, call your health care provider. They will ask questions about your sleep, daily activities, appetite, and exercise, and likely provide a physical examination and order lab tests.

Your treatment will be based on your history and the results of your exam and lab tests. You may be prescribed medications to target underlying health problems, such as anemia or abnormal thyroid function. Health care providers also may suggest therapy or certain medications to help reduce depression, anxiety, or other emotional contributors that are associated with fatigue. They may also advise that you eat a well-balanced diet and begin an exercise program.

SOURCE:

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/fatigue/fatigue-older-adults(accessed 24.7.26)

'Do we really want experiences mediated by algorithms and swipes?'

Jonathan Day reviews 'UberTherapy' by Elizabeth Cotton.

13 July 2026



Iintend this review to read like one of those letters that you find lost within the drawer of old furniture, that will likely end up at an auction, or house clearance. Upon buying the furniture, you discover this review like unearthing a time capsule. UberTherapy is a book on the sociology of therapy conceptualised within industrial relations. The book offers an insight into a zeitgeist we'll be reminded of when our grandchildren ask us about RealTherapy™ – 'so you used to meet a human therapist in-person, that's wild!' Followed by 'and you used to holiday where!?' [a location that is now unhabitable due to the consequences of the climate emergency].

I hadn't initially intended to start this review with doom, but then again, my copy was addressed directly to me by Elizabeth with the words 'it won't make you rich or happy'. My initial associations questioned whether Elizabeth meant the book, or my personal motivations to inhabit therapyland as both a patient and as a qualified psy-professional; had some kind of teletherapy taken place? A more relevant question might be, knowing that I would be neither rich or happy, why did I proceed to read the book? For me, I think the issues raised by UberTherapy cannot be denied or turned away from. Even if you, dear reader, do not currently work for or subscribe to a digital or uber-ized solution for your existential difficulties in living, you or a loved one may do tomorrow. So, I read on.

The prologue is a personal positioning, and makes clear that the book's project is not aiming to name, shame or indict those working in or making use of digitised intimacy. The prologue is emotive in how the personal and the political are intentionally linked, even though we might hope our consulting rooms can ward off the outside, something which psychotherapy has grappled with since its inception. Elizabeth certainly argues that projects like UberTherapy and Surviving work can instigate collaboration and solidarity rather than alienation and withdrawal from social life. This reminded me of the hope of co-operative initiatives and anarcho-syndicalism. However it remains unclear whether grassroots solidarity and organising like artisans can survive the forces and vast resources of capital. We are already witnessing the coercion of labour around a mass e-commerce model, hosted by platforms operated by ambitious technofeudalists (Varoufakis, 2023) marketing self-care rather than mutual aid.

I found the chapter titled Angerland to be a useful introduction to the forces and systems at work. Many patients and practitioners will be aware of these forces, but may not frame their experience within industrial and employment relations. Arguably this is the product of a workforce subject to sedition and alienation. Elizabeth effectively provides an overview which even those living off the grid can understand. What follows is the growth of the 'homo consumens' (Fromm, 1976:153) and Elizabeth holds a mirror up to us, and, how we manically try to escape from the facts of life through the phantasy of auto-intimacy (Zeavin, 2021). This poses the question; do we really want experiences mediated by algorithms and swipes? Or can we tolerate the frustrations and inconveniences of human interaction which constitute genuine relatedness?

A personal preference may be Elizabeth's style. Personally, I can appreciate sardonic comedy, and the lightening of the mood by referencing cultural phenomenon such as dating-app inspired interactions with various platforms. Some psychoanalysts say comedy and creative outputs are two resources to sublimate the angst is being alive.

In terms of my constructive critique of the book, Elizabeth is evidently invested in conserving the kind of help that helped her, namely, psychoanalytic/dynamic/ depth-orientated therapies – a set of ideas she revisits throughout the book. At various points she uses psychoanalytic ways of thinking to consider the dynamics enacted by UberTherapy. Yet I interpreted some ambivalence, such as chapter four, 'do you have to be a rich man to be a therapist?'. We know that few people ever make it to an psychoanalyst's consulting room... Whilst I too am sympathetic to depth approaches, I do wonder, what would happen if we just do away with psychotherapy all together? (Smail, 2018; Masson, 2012). Elizabeth goes some way in one of the later chapters RealTherapy™ to outline the potential emancipatory power of collective action, informed by Paolo Friere's approach to pedagogy and community capacity-building over bourgeois foreclosure.

To end, sometimes my book club ends with a pledge of action, so the last month's reading doesn't become an expensive paper weight. So, my pledge is to try and have a conversation about this book in my workplace. I might be referred to an EAP moodsplainer to 'manage' my feelings. Worse still, as I write I may be under the watchful gaze of the mental health 'first-aiders'.

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/do-we-really-want-experiences-mediated-algorithms-and-swipes(accessed 21.7.26)

Ζήλια και ερωτική σχέση: όταν ο φόβος συναντά την αγάπη

Η ζήλια είναι ένα συχνό και έντονο συναίσθημα στις ερωτικές σχέσεις. Πολλοί τη θεωρούν ένδειξη αγάπης ή πάθους, όμως στην πραγματικότητα συνδέεται περισσότερο με τον φόβο απώλειας και την ανασφάλεια παρά με την ίδια την αγάπη. Πρόκειται για ένα σύνθετο συναίσθημα που περιλαμβάνει άγχος, θυμό και αίσθημα απειλής, όταν πιστεύουμε ότι κάτι ή κάποιος μπορεί να «απειλήσει» τη σχέση μας.

Ψυχολογικά, η ζήλια ενεργοποιείται όταν αμφισβητείται η εικόνα που έχουμε για τον εαυτό μας μέσα στη σχέση: αν είμαστε αρκετοί, αν αξίζουμε να μας επιλέγουν, αν μπορούμε να εμπιστευτούμε τον άλλον. Γι’ αυτό και συχνά δεν σχετίζεται τόσο με την πραγματική συμπεριφορά του συντρόφου, όσο με εσωτερικές ανασφάλειες, χαμηλή αυτοεκτίμηση ή παλαιότερες εμπειρίες απόρριψης και προδοσίας.

Σε ήπιο βαθμό, η ζήλια μπορεί να λειτουργήσει ως σήμα ότι χρειαζόμαστε περισσότερη επικοινωνία ή επιβεβαίωση. Όταν όμως γίνεται έντονη και επίμονη, μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε καχυποψία, ανάγκη για έλεγχο, περιορισμό της ελευθερίας του άλλου και συχνούς καβγάδες. Τότε, αντί να προστατεύει τη σχέση, αρχίζει να τη φθείρει, δημιουργώντας έναν φαύλο κύκλο έντασης και απόστασης.

Σημαντικό ρόλο παίζει και ο τρόπος που σχετιζόμαστε συναισθηματικά. Άτομα που φοβούνται έντονα την εγκατάλειψη τείνουν να ζηλεύουν περισσότερο και να ζητούν διαρκή επιβεβαίωση, ενώ άλλα μπορεί να αντιδρούν απομακρυνόμενα, κάτι που συχνά εντείνει ακόμη περισσότερο τη ζήλια του συντρόφου. Έτσι, η ζήλια δεν είναι απλώς προσωπικό ζήτημα, αλλά επηρεάζει και τη δυναμική του ζευγαριού.

Το κρίσιμο σημείο είναι η διάκριση ανάμεσα στο συναίσθημα και στη συμπεριφορά. Το να νιώθει κανείς ζήλια είναι ανθρώπινο. Το να ελέγχει, να κατηγορεί ή να περιορίζει τον άλλον, όμως, βλάπτει την εμπιστοσύνη και τον σεβασμό, που είναι βασικά στοιχεία μιας υγιούς σχέσης. Η ανοιχτή επικοινωνία, με έκφραση συναισθημάτων χωρίς κατηγορίες, μπορεί να βοηθήσει σημαντικά στη μείωση των παρεξηγήσεων και στην ενίσχυση της συναισθηματικής ασφάλειας.

Ο ρόλος της ψυχοθεραπείας

Η ψυχοθεραπεία μπορεί να παίξει καθοριστικό ρόλο στη διαχείριση της ζήλιας, γιατί βοηθά το άτομο να κατανοήσει τις βαθύτερες αιτίες του συναισθήματος και τα μοτίβα που επαναλαμβάνονται στις σχέσεις του. Μέσα από τη θεραπευτική διαδικασία, ενισχύεται η αυτογνωσία, βελτιώνεται η αυτοεκτίμηση και αναπτύσσονται πιο λειτουργικοί τρόποι επικοινωνίας και συναισθηματικής ρύθμισης. Σε επίπεδο ζευγαριού, η συμβουλευτική μπορεί να βοηθήσει τους συντρόφους να χτίσουν εμπιστοσύνη και να αντιμετωπίζουν τις δυσκολίες ως κοινή πρόκληση και όχι ως προσωπική επίθεση. Έτσι, η ζήλια παύει να είναι απειλή για τη σχέση και μπορεί να μετατραπεί σε αφορμή για προσωπική και συναισθηματική εξέλιξη.



Ηλίας Κασσάρας
Ψυχολόγος MSc, MSc, PhD
Γνωστικός & Συμπεριφορικός Ψυχοθεραπευτής

ΠΗΓΗ:

https://www.askitis.gr/zilia-kai-erotiki-schesi-otan-o-fovos-synanta-tin-agapi/(accessed 13.7.26)

Do geopolitical events affect red card decisions?

New research investigates through the lens of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

06 July 2026

By Emma Young



As the World Cup continues, there have been controversies over some refereeing decisions and even allegations of bias. No matter the football competition or the country in which a match is being played, referees are obliged to follow a common set of rules, which are designed to ensure neutrality and uniformity in their decision-making, note the authors of a recent paper in the Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics.

However, referees are human, and there is evidence that certain factors can influence their thinking, with work finding that decisions on red and yellow cards tend to favour home teams, for example. For their study, Desirè De Luca at the University of Calabria, Italy, and colleagues set out to explore whether major geopolitical events — in this case, the Russian invasion of Ukraine — might affect high-level football refereeing decisions, too.

The researchers first created a data set from official UEFA match reports and score sheets for 3,187 matches played in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League between the 2015 and the 2024 season. A total of 2,184 of the matches were played before the start of the Russia–Ukraine war on 24 February 2022, and 1,003 came afterwards. For each match, the researchers noted the nationalities of the players and referee, as well as who received any red or yellow cards or had fouls awarded against them.

Referees are assigned by UEFA's central Referees Committee using strict criteria aimed at ensuring neutrality in a match, the team notes. However, when they compared data from before and after the outbreak of the war, they noted a distinct difference. Though Russian players were no more likely to receive a yellow card after 24 February 2022, compared with before, they were 34% more likely to be given a red card. Red cards are rare. But, given that the player is then sent off, and cannot be substituted, this difference for Russian players is meaningful, the researchers note.

Overall, these results suggest that while the outbreak of war didn't change how referees punished more minor rule infringements, when it came to decisions that involved the highest level of personal discretion, and the most severe sanction, they did. The team did not see any difference for Ukrainian players, so the change did not seem to reflect any general 'anti-war' referee sentiment, they add.

The team then looked at whether referee nationality was linked to the changes in red-card decision-making in relation to Russian players. They found that German, Polish, and Turkish referees didn't alter their red card behaviour after the outbreak of war. The data on Ukrainian referees was not clear-cut. However, English, Italian, and French referees were more likely to give red cards to Russians after the war began. The finding that the red shift was mostly explained by decisions from referees from some countries that publicly aligned themselves with Ukraine suggests that geopolitical differences may have influenced their behaviour, they write.

"Geopolitical conflicts are increasingly recognised as factors that can shape individual behaviour even within formally neutral and highly regulated environments," the team notes. Understanding whether and how these biases arise is crucial for understanding the broader impact of political conflict on individual behaviour, they add. This new work suggests that even referees in tightly regulated international sports competitions are not immune.

SOURCE:

https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/do-geopolitical-events-affect-red-card-decisions(accessed 13.7.26)

Βίντεο: Οι προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζει η Ελληνική ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ κοινότητα

https://voiceup.avmag.gr/%ce%b2%ce%af%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b5%ce%bf-%ce%bf%ce%b9-%cf%80%cf%81%ce%bf%ce%ba%ce%bb%ce%ae%cf%83%ce%b5%ce%b9%cf%82-%cf%80%ce%bf%cf%85-%ce%b1%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%bc%ce%b5%cf%84%cf%89%cf%80%ce%af%ce%b6/


Το Γραφείο του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου στην Ελλάδα συνδιοργάνωσε τη Δευτέρα 16 Μαΐου στις 18:00 ανοικτή εκδήλωση στο πλαίσιο των δράσεων για τη Διεθνή ημέρα κατά της ομοφοβίας, αμφιβοβίας, ιντερφοβίας και τρανσφοβίας (17/5) με την ομάδα υλοποίησης του έργου LGBTQI+ Voice Up: Project Greece.

Στο πλαίσιο της εκδήλωσης παρουσιάστηκαν οι κεντρικές δράσεις του προγράμματος και διεξήχθη συζήτηση με εκπροσώπους οργανώσεων της ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ κοινότητας με συντονιστή τον αρχισυντάκτη του περιοδικού Antivirus Βασίλη Θανόπουλο. Στη συζήτηση συμμετείχαν οι: Άννα Απέργη (Σωματείο Υποστήριξης Διεμφυλικών), Αλέξανδρος Διακοσάββας (Αρχισυντάκτης LiFO, curator του Upfront Initiative για τη συμπερίληψη στο χώρο εργασίας), Τζωρτζ Κουνάνης (LGBTQI+ Employment Support Group), Χάρης Κούντουρος (Γραφείο ΕΚ στην Ελλάδα), Στέλλα Μπελιά (Οικογένειες Ουράνιο Τόξο), Νικόλας Μαλανδράκης (LGBTQI+ Voice Up: Project Greece) και Νικολέττα Πικραμένου (Intersex Greece).

Δείτε το βίντεο από την εκδήλωση στο οποίο εκπρόσωποι οργανώσεων της ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ κοινότητας συζητούν για τα προβλήματα και τις διακρίσεις που αντιμετωπίζουν μέχρι σήμερα τα ΛΟΑΤΚΙ+ άτομα στην Ελλάδα.

ΠΗΓΗ:

https://voiceup.avmag.gr/%ce%b2%ce%af%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b5%ce%bf-%ce%bf%ce%b9-%cf%80%cf%81%ce%bf%ce%ba%ce%bb%ce%ae%cf%83%ce%b5%ce%b9%cf%82-%cf%80%ce%bf%cf%85-%ce%b1%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%bc%ce%b5%cf%84%cf%89%cf%80%ce%af%ce%b6/(accessed 10.7.26)