Your body is telling you

Psychosomatics of anemia

You’re always tired, your head spins, your hair is falling out, and you think you’re just not sleeping enough. Sometimes low hemoglobin is behind it.

Aizhan LiAuthor of the Ladder method
Updated 20 October 2026

What psychosomatics says

In psychosomatics, anemia is linked to devaluing yourself in what you do. “I can’t cope with all this anymore,” “Whatever I do, it’s not enough.” Your strength runs low exactly when you demand the most from yourself.

Another theme is living a life that isn’t yours. You’re doing work that isn’t yours, living by someone else’s rules, carrying what you feel is unfair, and there’s no time or right left for your own life. Sometimes this repeats in a family from generation to generation: the women of the family live for others.

It’s as if your body saves its strength because it only gets spent on other people’s tasks. Psychosomatics helps you see where you gave up your own life, and take back your right to it.

Quick check: what may be behind it

Where do you feel “I can’t cope anymore”?
What in your life isn’t really yours to do?
What would you do if you lived for yourself?

What it is

With anemia, your blood has too little hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen around your body. According to the clinical protocol of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan (2017), women are considered anemic when hemoglobin is below 120 g/L.

In women, the most common kind is iron deficiency anemia: there isn’t enough iron to build hemoglobin. The protocol names the main causes: heavy or long periods, pregnancy, and too little iron in food, including on strict diets and vegetarian diets.

According to the World Health Organization (2025), in 2019 about 30% of non-pregnant women aged 15 to 49 had anemia, that’s 539 million women, along with 37% of pregnant women. Its main cause worldwide is a lack of iron.

Anemia is diagnosed only with a blood test: hemoglobin, ferritin, iron. Taking iron “just in case” without a test isn’t a good idea. And if your periods are very heavy, it’s important to find the cause with a gynecologist.

How it shows up

Weakness and tiredness even after sleep
Dizziness or blacking out when you stand up
Shortness of breath and a racing heart with light effort
Pale, dry skin, cold hands and feet
Brittle nails, dull hair that falls out
Cravings for chalk or ice, a pull toward strange smells

If you faint, struggle to breathe at rest, your stool turns black, or bleeding is very heavy, see a doctor the same day or call an ambulance.

A general practitioner will order a blood test. If heavy periods are the cause, you’ll need a gynecologist, and sometimes a gastroenterologist.

Frequently asked questions

Can stress lower your hemoglobin?

In women, low hemoglobin is most often linked to a lack of iron: heavy periods, pregnancy, too little iron in food. This is checked with a blood test. Psychosomatics looks at what was happening in your life when your strength started running out.

What does anemia mean in psychosomatics?

It’s linked to devaluing yourself in what you do and a feeling that you’re living a life that isn’t yours. “I can’t cope,” “I have no right to my own.” It’s important to see where your strength is going.

If I’m taking iron, do I need psychosomatics?

A doctor prescribes iron based on your tests, and you should take it for as long as they say. Psychosomatics goes alongside: it helps you see where you spend yourself on what isn’t yours. One doesn’t get in the way of the other.

Sources

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