Everyone gets tired, but feeling exhausted most days for weeks isn’t something you have to accept. The cause is often found in sleep, stress or lifestyle, and sometimes in a treatable medical condition.
Imagine dragging yourself through every day for months, napping on your lunch break and still waking up tired. You blame your age and your job. When you finally get blood tests, they show low vitamin D and an underactive thyroid. Treatment gives you back energy you’d forgotten you had.
Lifestyle causes
- Too little or poor-quality sleep, or irregular shift patterns
- Too much caffeine or alcohol
- Skipping meals or a poor diet
- Too little physical activity (or overtraining)
- Dehydration
Emotional causes
Stress, anxiety, depression, grief and burnout all cause deep tiredness. Low mood, losing interest in things and poor concentration alongside fatigue are clues.
Medical causes
- Anaemia (iron, B12 or folate deficiency)
- Underactive thyroid
- Diabetes
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Sleep apnoea
- Coeliac disease
- After viral infections, including long COVID
- Medicine side effects
- Heart, kidney or liver conditions
But when should I see a healthcare provider?
See a healthcare provider if tiredness lasts more than a few weeks despite better sleep and habits, or if you also have weight loss, fever, night sweats, breathlessness, heavy periods, low mood or a change in bowel habit. Simple blood tests can check for common causes. Seek urgent help if fatigue comes with chest pain, severe breathlessness or thoughts of harming yourself.
Your next step: For one week, keep a simple diary of sleep, caffeine, meals, activity and energy levels. Take it to your healthcare provider if you’re still tired.
Sources: NHS (Tiredness and fatigue), Mayo Clinic (Fatigue), Royal College of Psychiatrists, Cleveland Clinic.
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