Run Down

So our neighborhood obsessive toy cleaner just returned in his big black shiny truck from one of our local fast food "restaurants" with a bucket full of Dr. Pepper or something. Now, clad only in a tank top (vest, for our European audience) he's walking round and round the vehicle inspecting every inch of it and polishing random parts with a big blue rag. My favorite moment was when another, louder than it needs to be, big black truck rumbled by. Our obsessive cleaner froze and stared down the other truck. I was just waiting for him to jump in his truck and start a revving frenzy. Turn off your TV's folks, the entertainment is right outside your window. Anyway, i digress....

So, run down.

I went to the doctor this week having felt life crap for several weeks now. I've been very tired, achy, lethargic etc. and being a typical dude decided to let it go for a while to see if i felt better.

The doctor took my blood pressure, temperature, swabbed my nose for Flu (which felt really weird and made my eyes water) listened to my lungs and even drew some blood. Any way the result of all that was nothing. We talked about my life and i said i was having trouble sleeping, which would be easy except for the fact i have these incredibly deep thoughts every time my head makes contact with the pillow.

So the verdict was that I'm "very run down" and was given some Lunesta to help me sleep.

OK so here's the deal. Firstly sleeping pills scare the crap out of me. I don't want to get to a place where i think i won't be able to sleep without popping a pill. Actually most pills scare the crap out of me. And being someone who spent 2 years of my life taking loads of drugs for a condition doctors "thought" i had, i'd much rather not take anything. Secondly, what the heck is "run down"?

According to the all knowing brainiacs at wikipedia its a predicament a baseball player can find himself in when stranded between bases OR perhaps a rather forgettable movie from 2003 starring the Rock or is that The Rock?

Now i know its a phrase we all use but just what does "run down" mean?

Answers on a postcard please.