Fatigue is never fun. It not only causes us to feel somewhat numbed to the flow of life – after all you need energy to experience it fully – but even with good rest sometimes it doesn’t abate.
If you’ve ever woken up from eight hours of sleep to feel just as tired as you did the night before, that’s a sign something needs to change.
Of course, it’s also true that sometimes physical rest might not be enough to truly gain the restoration we need. This can often come if we live in a highly stressful environment or if we’re experiencing a mental health issue.
However, these are just two possible causes. Sometimes, there is no one cause but it’s an amalgam of many different influences in your life. In this post, we hope to explore what to do if you’re tired of feeling so tired, potentially helping you reclaim your energy levels as you deserve to.
Visit Your Doctor
Feeling constantly tired deserves proper medical attention, and that’s more important to focus on first before you implement any of the advice in this post. Your doctor knows best. They’ve also seen plenty of patients dealing with unexplained fatigue and knows the right questions to ask.
They’re likely to book you in for blood tests which might show simple issues like vitamin deficiencies or anemia that drain your energy without obvious symptoms. Iron levels especially tend to drop in certain groups, and that can leave you exhausted even after a full night’s sleep.
Sleep apnea catches many people by surprise. You might not realize you’re waking up dozens of times each night gasping for air, but you are. Your partner might mention loud snoring or moments where you seem to stop breathing entirely. A sleep study could help you fix this issue or at least know it’s there.
Thyroid problems are a common cause of fatigue too, as the thyroid is a tiny glanthat d controls your metabolism, and when it slows down, so does everything else. A quick blood test checks if your thyroid needs attention. It’s best to make sure you don’t have an obvious medical condition siphoning away your energy before you begin implementing lifestyle changes and little fixes you see online, because they’re just addressing symptoms, otherwise, and not the cause.
Address Your Sleep Regimen
Just as you could eat enough calories to keep you alive but not enjoy good nutrition to improve your health, you can sleep but not have the kind of restful sleep you really need to restore your body and mind each night. That can grow a sleep debt, which very much does have an impact.
In effect, you could spend nine hours in bed but wake up exhausted if that sleep wasn’t restorative. Of course, it’s good to assess your sleep hygiene as far as this goes, because going to bed at wildly different times will easily confuses your internal clock and leaves you feeling groggy even after plenty of sleep. Try sticking to consistent times, even on weekends, and try to avoid caffeine past 4pm or any alcohol while you’re trying to recover. Some people think a nightcap can help them sleep, and it can, but the actual quality of the sleep you get is poor.
Other adjustments you can make is bedroom temperature, which makes a surprising difference. Most people sleep better in slightly cool rooms around 65-68 degrees fahrenheit which is around 18-20 celsius. If you’re too warm and you’ll toss and turn all night without realizing why. Also make sure your mattress is comfortable enough and not causing you strain or pain.
Consider Stress Levels & Mental Strain
Stress is a huge influence on poor sleep, which, unfortunately, adds to stress. You’d think our bodies would have a better protection system against that nasty feedback loop given how stressful our surroundings were as we evolved as humans, but hey ho. You might not notice how tense your shoulders stay throughout the day or how often you hold your breath when checking email, but all these little issues can pile up to a bad sleep.
This is because anxiety keeps your body in constant fight-or-flight mode, and that burns through your energy even when you’re physically still. If you can address the cause of stress, like confronting a terrible manager in an appropriate context or finally addressing that relationship issue, sometimes you just have to do that. It can help you sleep better knowing the lingering worry is gone. But healthy habits such as meditation, exercise, reading and gentle showers can also help you deal with the physical stress you may be feeling. It has a major effect.
However, mental strain may point to something deeper, such as a mental health issue. Don’t be afraid to visit your doctor or counselor if this is going on, it may help you restore yourself as needed.
Manage Your Diet & Supplement Choices
It’s pretty clear that our food choices affect energy levels throughout the day, which is why we eat in the first place. However, you may find that quick carbs like white bread or sugary snacks will give you energy spikes that also lead to crashes, and so wholemeal options are generally considered much more worthwhile to follow..
In addition to that, protein and healthy fats are better, think olive oil or avocado. You could try eggs or yogurt at breakfast instead of cereal, or add nuts to lunch instead of that packet of chips/crisps. It’s also important to drink a good amount of water each day, most adults need around eight glasses.
You’ll find it’s also worthwhile to supplement when you can. Magnesium and zinc are often considere worthwhile for those with sleep issues, and we mentioned iron above. But Vitamin D in the colder months can be essential to replace your hormone levels, and don’t forget the NMN supplement, which is gaining increased popularity. Also, if you can completely cut out alcohol (or at least reduce it) and nicotine, you’re sure to enjoy better sleep in aggregate.
Have Your Hormone Levels Checked
We mentioned Vitamin D above which is a vital supplement and hormone that helps bolster our immune system. But our bodies are comprised of many hormones and imbalance can sometimes affect sleep too. For example, women approaching perimenopause might experience changing estrogen and progesterone that can impact sleep and cause real fatigue during the day.
As men get older, they also experience gradual testosterone reductions that can affect energy, mood, and motivation. You might notice changes happening so slowly you adjust without realizing something’s off until levels drop significantly. It’s not just age, sometimes there can be a real problem. It’s worth having your levels checked to see if there’s anything your doctors can do.
Consider Your Pre-Sleep Schedule
Using phones or laptops right before bed exposes your brain to blue light, which has been proven to slow down melatonin production and makes falling asleep harder. That’s why your laptop and phone now let you cause an amber glow in the nighttime. You might have turned that off thinking it was just for eye strain, but no, it can actually help you sleep more easily.
Also, if you like to keep fit, evening exercise timing matters for some people. You might need several hours between workouts and bedtime to allow your body temperature and adrenaline levels to drop enough for good sleep, so don’t think an evening run might put you to bed easily, sometimes it doesn’t.
Moreover, caffeine sticks around in our bodies longer than most realize. You might sleep better by cutting off caffeine earlier in the day or reducing it completely while you’re trying to fix sleep issues.
With this advice, we hop you can stop feeling tired of feeling so tired, and instead feel much more bountiful energy, like you deserve.
