Why I am So Tired All The Time?
What to do if someone is feeling dead on one’s feet all the time? The question that arises is why I am feeling tired all the time? Although it is pretty normal to feel tired after a long day, a constant urge to drop into a bed or a cosy couch is an alarm that something is amiss with your health. This article discusses why you are always on a press to snooze mode or feel drained post-lunch and recommendations to avoid the situation.
Why am I so Tired All the Time?
Feeling tired or longer, the day can affect a person’s physical and mental health. It also takes a dig at the quality of life. Usually, a good night’s sleep or a day off can work well to restore the energy levels or eliminate extreme fatigue. But if they are not fixing the issue, something could keep up with your mental health and should be concerned immediately. It is beneficial to seek help sooner than later if you are not sure about the cause of being tired all the time despite a good diet and enough rest.
Here are 13 key reasons why someone is so tired all the time and when to seek help:
Diet
Diet is the most critical pillar of a healthy lifestyle, so is its importance in sustaining the body’s energy levels. Skipping the meals drops the required level of calories. Long breaks between the means lower the sugar level and making you tired. It is essential to take a healthy diet and high energy snacks to keep your systems running smoothly. Another more important thing is never to skip an end day meal going hungry to bed reduces sleep quality, leaving you tired on the day after.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Physical activity improves energy level; on the other hand, a sedentary lifestyle leaves you to feel exhausted and sleepy. In one study, researchers worked on how an inactive and sedentary lifestyle affects women’s fatigue levels. Seventy-three women participated in the study. Some woman was physically active quite well, while others were not physically active.
According to the study’s findings, physically active women had a significantly lower fatigue level than women living a sedentary life. This supports the notion that a healthy lifestyle is physically active, leading to more energy and vigour.
Vitamin Deficiency
Being tired all the time can be a sign of vitamin deficiency. It might occur because of low vitamin D levels, vitamin B-12, iron, magnesium and potassium. A routine blood test is required to identify the deficiency. In case if a person is vitamin deficient, the doctor may recommend taking supplements. The natural way to cope with the deficiency is to increase foods rich in multivitamins and other nutrients. For example, clams, beef, and liver may reverse a B-12 deficiency and reduce the constant tiredness and fatigue.
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Stress
Stress can be deteriorative for sleep quality and its duration. Also, the lack of sleep elevates stress levels. Therefore, it is essential to manage the mental burden and enable a better and sufficient rest, restoring your energy levels. Persistent stress keeps the body in a state of fight and flight, leaving you exhausted. Stress is also a trigger in worsening sleep disorders. It is advisable to avoid stressful events and off to bed in time for healthy sleep. Other ways to prevent stressful thoughts and remain calm are to practice meditation and build new achievable goals regularly.
Depression
When you are suffering from depression, lack of energy and tiredness becomes a problem. Feeling tired tends to associate with physical issues, but mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and stress contribute to exhaustion and chronic fatigue. Consult your therapist for mental health treatment or counselling. Antidepressants, anti-anxiety medicine, cognitive behavioural therapy can make a difference to alleviate the symptoms of depression. If you’re struggling to cope with depression, It can cause Irregularities in sleep and begin to impact your mental health, seek medical advice immediately.
Sleep Disorders
The sleep disorder can be an underlying cause of tiredness. If a person’s energy level doesn’t improve after weeks, or even improving lifestyle, speak with your doctor. You may need a sleep specialist. A sleep disorder such as sleep apnoea or insomnia also affects a person’s cognitive, mental and physical abilities. Sleep apnoea is a disorder in which the breathing pauses while a person is asleep. As a result, the brain and body don’t receive enough oxygen during sleep leading to daytime fatigue.
Sleep apnoea is a complex medical condition that can cause hypertension (high blood pressure), decreased concentration, and even a stroke or heart attack. Sleep apnoea treatment involves using a CPAP machine or an oral device to keep the upper airway open during sleep hours.
Burn-out
If a person has a constant feeling of running on empty, one could be going through burn out. The World Health Organisation (WHO) now considers burn-out as a medical condition, defining the condition as a syndrome caused by chronic stress at the workplace. But how does it play a part in making someone feel tired all the time?
Scientific facts determine that a rest-activity rhythm is an essential requirement to perform well. Sleep is a prime pillar of human health which is mandatory for the body to perform well during the working hours. If a person is becoming workaholic and performing continuously without a sound sleep or downtime, which is required to restore the body’s ability to function OK- what comes next are physical and mental health deterioration. Therefore, sidestep burn-out and let more downtime invade in your daily routine for relaxation.
Being Overweight
Being overweight can also cause tiredness all the time. When body weight is more than the desired BMI, it becomes harder for the body to carry your weight during daily life, making you exhausted or feeling tired all the time. You can gradually improve your condition by working on a plan to gradually lose weight by adopting a healthy lifestyle like eating well and starting exercises like swimming, jogging, walking, and gradually increasing the workout.
Fibromyalgia
Daily activities become a struggle for people who have fibromyalgia, causing muscle pain and tenderness. Fibromyalgia affects the muscles and soft tissues, but it causes pain which does not let you have a good sleep. The awakening of night and restless leg syndrome results in chronic tiredness throughout the day. An over-the-counter pain killer helps improve pain and sleep. Some people also find an antidepressant, physical therapy and exercise helpful.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A person can feel tired all the time without any significant health ailment because of chronic fatigue syndrome. It is a long-term illness with various symptoms such as extreme tiredness, insomnia, and even some patients may feel staying asleep for longer durations. Even longer sleep durations do not help to improve the feeling of tiredness. The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is unknown, and the diagnosis is only possible after ruling out the chances of all other health disorders by a health professional. Treatment of chronic fatigue is possible only by understanding your physical limitations, mild to moderate regular exercise, and circadian rhythm changes.
Medication
Certain medications can make you drowsy and sleepy or make you feel tired all the time and completing everyday chores like driving or operating machinery challenges. On the other hand, some medications can cause insomnia, such as high blood pressure and asthma. Consult your doctor about any such medicine you are taking to find if any alternative or dose adjustment.
Diabetes
If you are continually experiencing fatigue, thirst, frequent urination and unexplained weight loss, get yourself tested for diabetes. Feeling tired all the time can be a symptom of diabetes. If a person has diabetes, the body doesn’t make enough insulin leading to high blood sugar and leave you tired and irritable. Consult a doctor for any unexplained fatigue as it can be a symptom of other medical conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Under-Active Thyroid
Hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid, occurs when the body doesn’t produce required thyroid hormones. An under-active thyroid causes symptoms such as fatigue, lethargy and weight gain. Although with treatment, people with hypothyroidism can lead an everyday life.
Post-Viral Fatigue
feeling tired all the time or for most of the day after recovering from an infection like flu and glandular fever, these are the signs of post-viral fatigue syndrome. Symptoms include chronic tiredness, severe muscle pain, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever or chills, chest pain and shortness of breath. It is common to feel tired after an illness, but if your symptoms are not alleviating for weeks or months and prevent you from leading an energized healthy man’s life-it’s better to seek medical advice. However, there is not enough research on post-viral fatigue, so it’s challenging to find treatment. The best way to improve the condition is by having self-care making you feel better gradually.
Takeaway
There is not a hard and fast rule that every other day is an easy day. Few days are meant to squeeze your energy and its quite understandable to feel tired at the end of such days. But being tired all the time is something which needs to be addressed by a health professional. You may have a health condition that required to be discussed with your health professional. Another thing to understand well cannot be attributed to physical health alone, sometimes what needs the most attention is your mental health.
Sources:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/always-tired-7-hidden-causes-for-your-fatigue/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23783259/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and-tiredness/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
