05/04/2022
Are you feeling tired all the time? You could be fatigued.
To most, fatigue is more than just feeling sleepy. It is an ongoing feeling of exhaustion that may be physical, mental, or emotional in nature. It is not resolved by a single good night’s sleep or by taking a nap.
Fatigue can present in an array of ways. The symptoms of fatigue include but are not limited to:
- Subjective sense of weakness
- Difficulty or inability to initiate activity
- Easily fatigued
- Reduced capacity to maintain activity
- Mental fatigue
- Difficulty with concentration, memory, or emotional stability
Fatigue makes it harder to function at your best. It is also a contributor to errors in judgment, and workplace and traffic accidents and injuries.
There are a number of things that can directly cause fatigue. These fatigue causes may be medical, psychological, or based on your lifestyle choices.
Here are 5 common reasons for feeling constantly tired.
1. DIET
A healthy diet provides the energy you need for your day and the nutrients you need for health and vitality.
Living on junk food will also leave you tired because your food is not nourishing you. Fast food is high in refined carbohydrates. They make your blood sugar spike, causing a surge of insulin to drop your sugar back down. And that leaves you feeling tired.
2. LACK OF EXERCISE
Exercising regularly and being fit is essential for the function of the body and mind, and to boost energy levels. Exercise also reduces stress.
It’s hard to find the motivation to exercise when you’re tired. But dragging yourself out for a walk, a jog or a bike ride could be just the thing you need to increase your energy levels.
3. POOR SLEEP
Poor sleep will definitely make you tired!
It’s easy to think of sleep as something that just happens but, in fact, your sleep quality is influenced by the way you live.
You can have too little or too much sleep. We know that too little sleep will result in tiredness, but so can too much sleep. Most adults require around 8 hours of sleep per night for the mind and body to function optimally; more than this however can result in daytime sleepiness.
4. STRESS
Stress drains you. Tense muscles, lethargy, difficulty concentrating, whirring thoughts, disturbed sleep, and deep tiredness are all outcomes of chronic stress.
If you have anxiety and/or depression, this can also make your tiredness worse. These common mental health issues often present with fatigue as a major symptom – yet fatigue can also be the cause of feelings of anxiety or depression.
5. MEDICAL CONDITIONS
There are many underlying medical conditions that can make you feel tired all the time. Those include:
- Diabetes
- Thyroid Disease
- Food Intolerance
- Being Overweight/Underweight
- Glandular Fever (Epstein-Barr Virus)
Other diseases that may cause fatigue include heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, intestinal parasites, and cancer.
Fatigue in itself is not a bad thing. It is a normal response to other things happening in your life and in your body.
Making some changes around self-care, work, diet, etc., during this time will often help with the fatigue and have other positive effects on your life.
