Try sleeping in a few extra hours on the weekend or going to bed a few hours earlier at night. You should also talk to your doctor if your sleepiness is accompanied by the symptoms of the conditions listed above or if you have other concerns about your health. Your doctor can perform tests depending on what they think might be causing your exhaustion. It may be helpful for you to keep a sleep diary to give your doctor a full picture of your nighttime habits.
Be sure to include when you fall asleep and wake up, how often you wake at night, and any other symptoms you feel are worth noting. Try sticking to a sleep schedule. Follow it during the week and on weekends to keep your rest times consistent. Create a bedtime ritual. Dim the lights and engage in quiet, relaxing activities.
Avoid napping, as it can interfere with nighttime sleep. Naps in the late afternoon may particularly make it difficult to fall asleep at night. Exercise each day. Vigorous exercise may help you sleep best, but even a light workout can help you nod off more easily at night. Fine-tune your sleep environment. If there are distractions in your environment, consider using blackout curtains, earplugs, or a white noise machine. Check your pillows and mattress.
A mattress should last you around 10 years. Oversleeping hypersomnia can be a symptom of a medical condition. Read more about hypersomnia, and get 5 tips for better sleep. How much sleep do you need? A sleep calculator can help you figure out what time to go to bed and how much sleep you need for good health. Making up a sleep debt can seem impossible, but it's not. If you aren't too far behind on your sleep, you may be able to do it in a weekend.
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Whether you're a trail runner or sprinter, the right pair of running shorts goes a long way in keeping you comfortable and protected. Thankfully, a simple blood test can determine if your thyroid gland is functioning up to par, and treatment can be instituted if not.
Heart disease, especially heart failure, can cause you to feel tired all of the time and unable to tolerate exercise. Even your regular daily activities, like walking or carrying your groceries in from the car, can become difficult. Other possible symptoms of heart disease include chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, fainting, and shortness of breath.
In recent years it's been noted that the symptoms of heart disease in women often differ from those in men and may be more subtle, for example, presenting as fatigue rather than chest pain. It's important to talk to your doctor about all of your symptoms as well as your family history of medical conditions. Based on these findings, you and your doctor may decide that further tests to evaluate your heart are needed.
Sleep apnea is a chronic condition in which there may be pauses in breathing, or shallow breathing, lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a minute while a person is sleeping. And, each time breathing returns to normal, often with a snort or a choking sound, it can be very disruptive to a person's sleep.
This disrupted and poor quality sleep can be a common cause of daytime sleepiness. Other symptoms associated with sleep apnea include morning headaches, memory problems, poor concentration, irritability, depression, and a sore throat upon waking. Your doctor will likely ask you if others have noticed problems with your sleep such as irregular breathing or snoring, and may also be concerned if you have risk factors for sleep apnea or experience daytime tiredness.
A sleep study is often recommended to document sleep apnea, and if present, treatments such as CPAP may be recommended. It's important to note that untreated sleep apnea not only results in tiredness, but can lead to heart disease, stroke, or even sudden death. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver with several possible causes ranging from infections to obesity.
The liver serves many important functions in the body from breaking down toxins to manufacturing proteins that control blood clotting, to metabolizing and storing carbohydrates, and much more. When the liver is inflamed, these important processes can come to a halt. In addition to being tired, some of the symptoms that you might experience with hepatitis include jaundice a yellowish discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes, abdominal pain, nausea, dark yellow urine, and light-colored stools.
Liver function tests are easily done in most clinics, and if abnormal, can lead you and your doctor to look for the possible causes. Diabetes is a condition in which either the body doesn't make enough insulin or it doesn't use it as well as it should. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps glucose get into the body's cells to be used for energy production. There are several reasons that diabetes may be causing you to feel tired all the time. Other symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, extreme thirst, unexplained weight loss, extreme hunger, sudden vision changes, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet, dry skin, slow-healing wounds or more infections than usual.
A simple blood sugar test can be done in most clinics, and a test called hemoglobin A1C can help determine what your average blood sugar has been over the past three months. Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disorder characterized by intense fatigue that does not improve with rest and which may be made worse by physical or mental exertion.
It is unknown what causes this condition. In addition to debilitating fatigue, some of the other symptoms which define chronic fatigue syndrome include impairment in short-term memory or concentration, muscle and joint pain, headaches, tender lymph nodes, and frequent sore throat. Fatigue can be a side effect of several different medications. Some of the most common medications which may cause fatigue include:. Your doctor or pharmacist can tell you if fatigue is a possible side effect of any medications that you are taking, both prescription and over-the-counter.
The causes of fatigue listed above are fairly common, but there is a multitude of medical conditions which can result in fatigue. If you feel your tiredness is out of the ordinary, and you aren't simply missing out on the sleep you need to feel rested, make an appointment to see your doctor.
She can take a careful history including your family history of medical conditions, perform a physical exam, and order any blood work needed to begin looking for causes. It can be frustrating, at times, as you wait for answers to your tiredness, but don't give up. Finding a reason for your fatigue can not only result in improvement with treatment but may detect conditions which should be diagnosed for other reasons as well.
Everything feels more challenging when you're dealing with depression. Get our free guide when you sign up for our newsletter. Nutt DJ. Relationship of neurotransmitters to the symptoms of major depressive disorder.
J Clin Psychiatry. Common food intolerances include gluten , dairy, eggs, soy and corn. If you suspect that certain foods may be making you tired, consider working with an allergist or dietitian who can test you for food sensitivities or prescribe an elimination diet to determine which foods are problematic. Food intolerances can cause fatigue or low energy levels. Following a food elimination diet may help determine which foods you are sensitive to.
Calories are units of energy found in food. Your body uses them to move and fuel processes like breathing and maintaining a constant body temperature. When you eat too few calories, your metabolism slows down in order to conserve energy, potentially causing fatigue. Your body can function within a range of calories depending on your weight, height, age and other factors. However, most people require a minimum of 1, calories per day to prevent a metabolic slowdown.
Experts on aging believe that although metabolism decreases with age, older people may need to eat at the top of their calorie range in order to perform normal functions without becoming fatigued Not getting enough vitamin D, iron and other important nutrients can also lead to fatigue. In order to keep your energy levels up, avoid drastic cuts in calorie intake, even if your goal is weight loss.
You can calculate your calorie needs using the calorie calculator in this article. Your body requires a minimum number of calories in order to perform daily functions.
Consuming too few calories can lead to fatigue and make it difficult to meet nutrient needs. Research has found that when your sleep pattern is out of sync with your circadian rhythm, chronic fatigue may develop In one study, healthy young men were allowed to sleep either seven hours or just under five hours before being kept awake for 21—23 hours.
Their fatigue ratings increased before and after sleep, regardless of the number of hours they slept However, if your job involves shift work, there are strategies to retrain your body clock, which should improve your energy levels. In one study, shift workers reported significantly less fatigue and better mood after being exposed to bright light pulses, wearing dark sunglasses outside and sleeping in total darkness Using glasses to block blue light may also help people who perform shift work.
Try to sleep at night or retrain your body clock. Inadequate protein intake could be contributing to your fatigue. Consuming protein has been shown to boost your metabolic rate more than carbs or fat do In one study, self-reported fatigue levels were significantly lower among Korean college students who reported eating high-protein foods like fish, meat, eggs and beans at least twice a day 5. Other studies have found that high-protein diets tend to produce less fatigue among weight lifters and people who perform resistance training 30 , To keep your metabolism strong and prevent fatigue, aim to consume a high-quality protein source at every meal.
Consuming adequate protein is important for keeping your metabolism up and preventing fatigue. Include a good protein source at every meal. The many biochemical reactions that take place in your body every day result in a loss of water that needs to be replaced. Several studies have shown that being even mildly dehydrated can lead to lower energy levels and a decreased ability to concentrate 33 , 34 , Although you may have heard that you should drink eight, 8-ounce ml glasses of water daily, you may require more or less than this depending on your weight, age, gender and level of activity.
The key is drinking enough to maintain good hydration levels. Common symptoms of dehydration include thirst, fatigue, dizziness, and headaches. Even mild dehydration may reduce energy levels and alertness. Make sure to drink enough to replace fluid lost during the day.
For example, a study in sleep-deprived healthy adults found that consuming an energy shot led to modest improvements in alertness and mental function Unfortunately, these energy drinks are also likely to set you up for rebound fatigue when the effects of caffeine and sugar wear off.
One review of 41 studies found that although energy drinks led to increased alertness and improved mood for several hours after consumption, excessive daytime sleepiness often occurred the following day Although the caffeine content varies widely among brands, an energy shot may contain up to mg, and some energy drinks provide as much as mg per can.
By comparison, coffee typically contains between 77— mg of caffeine per cup However, even at smaller dosages, drinking caffeinated beverages in the afternoon may interfere with sleep and lead to low energy levels the following day To break the cycle, try cutting back and gradually weaning yourself off these energy drinks.
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