Chronic fatigue syndrome is as tiring as it sounds. It causes bodily pain and never ending exhaustion. But up till now nobody really had any solid ideas about what caused it, meaning we couldn’t prescribe many effective treatments, instead relying on getting a good balance of rest, sleep, and activity.

But now researchers from America and Italy have found some clues as to the cause of CFS. From their research they believe that a small part of the brain linked to fatigue, called the basal ganglia, becomes inflamed when our body fights off viruses.

This means that the basal ganglia can’t function properly, and we become lethargic and lose any motivation to move, and the more inflamed it becomes the worse our fatigue gets.

This is bad news for the basal ganglia, who will have to continue to take a bashing for a little longer. But on the flip side, this research means help could be on the way, paving the way for treatments which block inflammation and help the basal ganglia to work properly, potentially alleviating some of the debilitating fatigue that CFS brings.

This research could also help many other conditions like depression and cancer, where loss of motivation and constant tiredness is common. This is one to look out for.

Faye Prior (Researcher)

Source

http://news.emory.edu/stories/2014/05/chronic_fatigue_syndrome_brain_imaging/campus.html