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Causes of tiredness and fatigue. Common causes of tiredness and fatigue include: not getting enough sleep or finding it hard to get to sleep ; an unhealthy lifestyle (such as having an unhealthy diet and not getting much exercise) stress, depression and dealing with life challenges, such as bereavement or looking after a new baby
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- Overview
- Not getting enough high quality sleep
- Deficiencies
- Stress
- Underlying medical conditions
- Poor diet
- Consuming too much caffeine
- Inadequate hydration
- Overweight or obesity
- Other causes of fatigue
Not getting enough sleep is one reason why you may be tired. Other possible reasons include nutrient deficiencies, stress, an underlying health condition, and drug side effects. If you have chronic fatigue, see a doctor for a diagnosis.
If you’re feeling overly tired or have little energy, you’re not alone.
Fatigue may be caused by simple factors like a lack of sleep or coming down with a cold or the flu. However, it can also be caused by underlying health conditions.
In most cases, fatigue can be remedied by lifestyle or dietary modifications, correcting a nutrient deficiency, or treating an underlying medical condition. Still, to improve fatigue, you need to get to the bottom of what’s causing it.
Getting enough sleep is essential for overall health. Unfortunately, many of us don’t get enough, which may lead to fatigue.
During sleep, your body performs a number of critical processes, including releasing important growth hormones and repairing and regenerating cells. This is why most people wake up feeling refreshed, alert, and energized after a night of high quality sleep.
Even though sleep time should be individualized adults should get at least 7 hours of sleep per night for optimal health.
Insomnia is a term for any condition that causes difficulty falling or staying asleep. It can have several causes, including menopause, medical conditions, psychological stress, poor sleeping environments, and excessive mental stimulation.
Nutrient deficiencies may lead you to feel exhausted on a daily basis, even if you’re getting more than 7 hours of sleep.
Deficiencies in the following nutrients have been linked to fatigue:
•iron
•riboflavin (vitamin B2)
•niacin (vitamin B3)
•pantothenic acid (vitamin B5)
Although some stress is normal, chronic stress can lead to fatigue. In fact, chronic stress may lead to stress-related exhaustion disorder (ED), a medical condition characterized by psychological and physical symptoms of exhaustion.
Furthermore, chronic stress may cause structural and functional changes in your brain and lead to chronic inflammation, contributing to symptoms like fatigue.
If you’re experiencing unexplained, chronic fatigue, you should visit your doctor and discuss your symptoms.
They may recommend testing to rule out certain health conditions that cause fatigue, such as:
•sleep apnea
•hypothyroidism
•cancer
•chronic fatigue syndrome
Your diet significantly affects the way you feel.
To maintain energy and get the nutrients your body needs to perform critical processes, it’s important to consume a balanced diet high in nutrient-dense foods.
When you don’t obtain enough calories and nutrients like protein, your body breaks down fat and muscle to meet energy demands. This leads to losing body fat and muscle mass, which may trigger fatigue.
Additionally, diets high in ultra-processed foods impair energy levels. For example, a diet high in added sugar may harm sleep and lead to chronically high blood sugar and insulin levels, resulting in fatigue.
Although caffeinated beverages like coffee and energy drinks feel like they boost energy, over-reliance on them may make you more tired the next day. That’s because too much caffeine can harm sleep, which may cause fatigue.
Research shows that feeling tired in the morning leads people to consume large amounts of caffeine, which impairs their sleep cycle. In turn, you may overuse coffee or other caffeinated drinks for energy, which continues the cycle of poor sleep followed by too much caffeine.
While coffee and caffeinated beverages like green tea may benefit health when consumed in moderation, energy drinks are extremely high in stimulants and added sugar. Thus, you should avoid them whenever possible.
If you’re currently experiencing sleep issues and frequently drink caffeinated beverages, try cutting back to see whether it helps improve your sleep and energy levels.
Staying hydrated is important for maintaining energy levels. The many biochemical reactions that take place in your body every day result in a loss of water that needs to be replaced.
Dehydration occurs when you don’t drink enough liquid to replace the water lost in your urine, stools, sweat, and breath. Being dehydrated leads to lower energy levels and decreased concentration ability.
Although you may have heard that you should drink eight 8-ounce (240-mL) glasses of water daily, hydration needs depend on several factors, including your weight, age, sex, and activity levels.
The key is drinking enough to maintain good hydration. Common symptoms of dehydration include thirst, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches.
Maintaining a healthy body weight is essential to overall health.
Not only is obesity significantly linked to a greater risk of many chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers, but it may also increase your risk of chronic fatigue.
Obesity greatly increases your risk of obstructive sleep apnea, which is a common cause of daytime fatigue. It’s also linked to increased daytime sleepiness regardless of sleep apnea, suggesting that obesity directly affects the sleep cycle.
Maintaining a healthy body weight may support good sleep and energy levels, while getting high quality sleep may help prevent weight gain and reduce fatigue.
Learn more about what makes a healthy body weight here.
»MORE:Living with diabetes? Explore our top resources.
Many other conditions may lead to tiredness. It’s important to understand that several factors may contribute to your exhaustion.
Here are a few other common reasons why you may feel tired:
•Drug and alcohol dependence: People who are dependent on drugs or alcohol are more likely to experience fatigue.
•Shift work: Shift work causes sleep disruption and may result in fatigue.
•A sedentary lifestyle: Leading a sedentary lifestyle may lead to tiredness during the day. Exercising in the day can decrease overall fatigue.
•Certain medications: Some drugs, including steroids, blood pressure medications, and antidepressants, are linked to side effects like insomnia and increased tiredness.
- Vitamin C. Vitamin C is also known as an antioxidant that can help with everything from wound healing to boosting the immune system—and increasing your energy levels.
- Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is a precursor to nearly all hormones in the body. Thus, vitamin D has been associated with fluctuations in energy and fatigue as it relates to hormonal and brain health.
- Vitamin B12. If you eat very little animal-based foods, take regular medication for acid reflux, or have a digestive disorder such as Crohn’s, and you’re experiencing new fatigue, there’s a chance you could be deficient in Vitamin B12, offers Tori Vasko, RD, CNSC.
- Iron. Though technically a mineral and not a vitamin, iron deficiency is a major culprit for low energy levels. Heme iron is the most bioavailable form, which means that it can be digested and absorbed the easiest in our diet.
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Experiencing low or depleted energy occasionally is normal, but you don’t want to go through life feeling like you can’t get out of first gear, do you? According to experts, one in ten people around the world are experiencing persistent tiredness at any one time.
