If you’ve ever found yourself wondering ‘why am I so tired?’, know that you’re not alone. It seems everybody is tired — and that’s just part of being a grownup. But even though it’s easy to dismiss your tiredness as just “one of those things”, there comes a point when it’s not. When you’re feeling tired all the time it might mean that your body is trying to tell you something.
That’s what actress Mindy Cohn discovered before she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I was walking around my neighbourhood in Los Angeles and I suddenly got so tired,” the Facts of Life star told People. “I just couldn’t go anymore. This was before Uber was really a thing, so I texted my friend Helen Hunt and said, ‘Something’s wrong with me. I need help.'” Cohn saw her doctor and was eventually diagnosed with breast cancer — and fatigue was her first major symptom.
Obviously not every bout of exhaustion should make your mind go to cancer, but when should you check in with a doctor about fatigue? Here, the experts reveal all the potential causes for your tiredness.
1.You’re not getting enough shut eye
This is probably the most obvious (and most common) reason for why we feel exhausted. As per NHS guidelines, most adults need 7 hours or more of good quality sleep. But according to Mental Health UK, 1 in 5 brits aren’t getting enough.
The solution? It’s simple: get more sleep. But of course, this is easier said than done. First, it’s important to identify the cause – be it stress, too much screen time or poor sleep hygiene – and then you can address it. If you’ve tried everything under the sun and still have trouble sleeping, speak to an expert.
2. You’re lacking in energy
Different to feeling tired or sleepy, “fatigue is when you’re seriously lacking energy,” says William Christopher Winter, American sleep researcher and neurologist. “Normal” fatigue gets better when you rest (think: your arm gets fatigued after you do a bunch of bicep curls, but feels better 10 minutes later).
In most cases, fatigue is your body telling you to slow down, and you should probably listen to it. But when fatigue regularly keeps you from doing the things you want to do, it’s a problem, says Dr Winter. “That doesn’t mean ‘I can’t run 38 miles because I get fatigued,’ it’s more like ‘I have trouble getting up and down stairs,’ or ‘a walk from the parking lot to my office exhausts me,’” he says.
The solution? Get some rest. Take yourself away from your screens, away from any distractions – and simply rest up. If you don’t feel re-energised after resting, it’s worth checking in with a doctor to see if there’s an underlying issue.
3. You have an underlying health condition
When Dr Winter sees patients who say they’re tired, he often tries to distinguish whether they’re sleepy or fatigued. “Sleepiness is pretty easy — it’s a defined group of problems,” he says. “But if they’re talking about fatigue, you could make a list a mile long of what could be causing it.” That list includes a deficiency in vitamins B12 or D, multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease, to name a few.