By Spy Uganda
We all feel fatigued at one point or another. In fact, this is sometimes viewed as a badge of honor, a sign that you are living life to the maximum at your work, play, and family life. However, if you are constantly feeling tired, you may have an underlying condition.
1. Anaemia
It’s a disorder that makes it hard for your blood to move oxygen around your body. Iron-deficiency anaemia is the most common form of anaemia. Apart from the fact that your body is not producing enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells, your body is also working harder to produce energy. Iron is vital for the production of adequate, healthy red blood cells. If you don’t have enough iron, there won’t be enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through your body.
2. Heart disease
Extreme tiredness is a common symptom of congestive heart failure, which happens when it doesn’t pump as well as it should. If you have congestive heart failure, your fatigue usually gets worse when you exercise. You might also have swelling in your arms or legs and shortness of breath.
3. Menopause
If you are a woman who’s going through menopause, you may find it hard to get good sleep. Your hormones change a lot at this time, which give you night sweats and hot flashes. That can keep you up at night and leave you dragging during the day.
4. Depression
It robs your brain of the chemicals it needs to work at its best. One of those is serotonin, which helps regulate your internal body clock. Depression can lower your energy levels and make you feel tired during the day. You may also find it hard to fall asleep at night, or you might wake up earlier than you want in the morning. Talk to your doctor if you think you’re depressed. Talk therapy and medicine can help.
6. Inadequate or poor quality sleep
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
Importantly, sleep should be restful and uninterrupted to allow your brain to go through three stages of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and one stage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep — the stage in which you dream.
7. Stress
Although some stress is normal, chronic stress is linked 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, which may contribute to symptoms such as fatigue. While you may be unable to avoid stressful situations, especially those related to work or family obligations, managing your stress may help prevent complete exhaustion. For example, you can set aside time to decompress by taking a bath, meditating, or going for a walk. A therapist may also help you develop strategies to reduce stress.
8. Certain medical conditions
If you are 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, multiple sclerosis, anxiety disorders, kidney disease, depression, diabetes, and fibromyalgia. It’s important to know that it’s abnormal to feel exhausted all the time. If you experience frequent fatigue, there are likely one or more causes. Getting proper treatment for an underlying medical condition can help you feel better and improve other areas of health as well.
9. Dehydration
Staying well-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. Several studies show that being dehydrated leads to lower energy levels and a decreased ability to concentrate. In fact, dehydration affects your entire body, including your sleep cycles.
A study in over 26,000 Chinese and American adults associated inadequate hydration with shorter sleep times. Being dehydrated may also make you feel more fatigued during exercise and negatively affect exercise endurance. Although you may have heard that you should drink eight 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.
10. Overweight or obesity
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. What’s more, people with obesity have a higher risk of conditions associated with fatigue, including depression and type 2 diabetes.
