Why Are You Always Tired?
By Chris Brown
Everybody exists with a different baseline energy state throughout the day. However, if you are consistently feeling worn out or tired, especially first thing in the morning, there is likely a medical reason behind the fatigue. The good thing about a medical cause is that the fatigue typically resides when the cause is addressed. However, diagnosing a reason for fatigue can be a tricky exercise.
Potential Causes of Your Daytime Fatigue
What makes diagnosing fatigue so difficult is that it is a symptom of a wide range of afflictions from mental to physical to environmental. Locating the key triggers contributing to your constant tiredness is essential to bringing you out of the fog.
Anemia - Anemia occurs when the blood does not have enough red blood cells. Without enough red blood cells, your body doesn't receive enough oxygen and the result is fatigue.
Kidney, liver, or lung diseases - Diseases of the body's important organs, such as the kidney, liver, and lungs, can cause you to become tired and fatigued.
Bacterial or viral infections - When your body fights a bacterial or viral infection it diverts energy to your immune system causing exhaustion. In some cases, the tiredness from some viral infections can persist even after the infection is conquered.
Allergies - If you are finding that the tired feeling emerges during particular seasons or in particular situations (such as following the visit from a pet owner), an allergy may be to blame. Allergies cause the body to redirect energy to fighting the perceived threat of the allergen. This takes energy away from you. Allergies can be highly specific (like peanuts or gluten) or general (like mold or mildew), so make sure to investigate all potential allergens before dismissing allergies as a cause altogether.
Autoimmune disorder - Similar to allergies, autoimmune disorders cause an overactive immune response to a perceived threat in body. It causes fatigue in much of the same way as an illness or allergy, by draining the body's resources.
Sleep apnea - Sleep apnea, or the pausing of breath during sleep, is a common cause of daytime sleepiness. The disorder causes you to continuously wake throughout the night, preventing a rejuvenating deep rest. Sleep apnea can be diagnosed at a sleep center and corrected with either weight loss or a medical sleep apnea mask.
Depression - If there is no direct physical cause for your tiredness, depression may be the primary contributor. Oftentimes, especially with busy individuals, depression can remain hidden from the conscious self, emerging instead symptomatically as irritability or constant fatigue. Take a moment to honestly evaluate yourself and see if an underlying sadness could be contributing to exhaustion. If so, the help of a therapist, prescription medication, exercise, or even a chiropractic adjustment may be able to relieve both the fatigue and its underlying cause.
Investigating the reason behind your fatigue is essential to solving the problem. Finding the root cause can be a long and frustrating process. In the meantime, there are lifestyle changes that can improve your baseline energy level such as exercise, eating low-glycemic foods, and making sure to sleep enough hours at night.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Simi Valley, Calif.