Tired all the time?

Do you know that being 'tired all of the time' is one of the most common complaints that doctors hear in their offices?

'Tired all the time' has even become an acronym "TATT" and doctors use this across the globe (BBC Health).

If you have that feeling of tiredness almost constantly or for what seems like most of the time, then you really should find out the reasons behind what is causing it.

 

by Elia Strange

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The Main Reasons of being tired all the time (TATT):

 

1) You might have had a psychological trauma or a period of significant stress in the last 12 months. This could be something like getting divorced, moving to a different house, bereavement in the family or the death of a close friend or anything else that falls in to the category of what is considered stressful by psychologists.

 

 Any of the above events and countless others can affect your ‘well-being’ and could be the main reason behind you being tired all of the time.

2) If you suffer from depression, or SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), then this could also be the main underlying reason for your feelings of tiredness.
If you still have not seen your doctor about this, then maybe it is now the right time to do so. Your doctor may refer you to a counsellor to help you work through your issues or offer you anti-depressants and other helpful treatments.

3) If you are feeling tired day in and day out, this may also be a symptom of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis).

People suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome experience severe tiredness, which usually cannot be relieved by having a rest or a nap.

 In the USA it is estimated that there are around 1 million suffers and in the UK, there are about 250,000 people suffer from this disorder.

 Some sufferers are able to continue with their work or study, as their symptoms are relatively mild. Whereas people who suffer more acutely with this disorder are often unable to work, the debilitating effects leave them severely disabled or even housebound (BUPA).

Currently the exact causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are not known, and there is the possibility that if you suffer from this condition, then your risks of suffering from the following are higher, poor immune function, nutritional deficiency, abnormally low blood pressure or greater risk of infections (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention).

4) Other physiological reasons for your tiredness might include: anaemia, sleep disorders, auto-immune disease (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, psoriasis, lupus), and fibromyalgia.

 

In fact, many disorders and diseases can make you feel tired.

The reason for that is because our bodies always trying to repair themselves, even if you have an auto-immune disease (where your body is attacking its own cells). On one hand, yes, your body is attacking your own immune system. But on the other hand, your immune system is trying to protect itself at the same time, so there is a constant battle within your body.
So how wouldn't you feel tired after all?

 5) If you do not suffer from any physiological conditions and you are just trying to understand why you don't have any motivation, whilst feeling tired for most of the time, then I would advise you to have a look at your lifestyle.

 

How busy are you during the day?

 

I was saying in my other article "How stress affects your health: What stress is doing to your body" that our energy and health reserves are limited. If you spend all of your energy on getting to work, doing a stressful job and returning back home, then your energy reserves could well be depleted and no wonder you will feel tired every evening.

But the good thing is that you can try to stretch those limited energy reserves a bit more, though it would require some work on your behalf. And I'm afraid this is not for the lazy ones.

If you truly want to change the way you feel on a daily basis, then you need to make some changes to your lifestyle.


- First of all, start eating healthier.

If you are in need of some motivation with this one, then read my article on 'Why do I need to eat healthy?'. This article will give you some valuable recommendations on changing your eating habits and motivating you to eat healthier! The poorer your eating habits are, then the worse you will feel due to a lack of vital nutrition. A simple change in diet can re-energise your body and improve your long-term health.


- How much activity do you do during the day?

I know that most of us don't want to do any extra activity during the day, as we feel tired enough anyway.

 But the fact is that exercising will expand your energy reserves, even if you feel tired before you start it. So try regularly going for a brisk walk, lane swimming in your local pool, or even exercising at home with yoga or aerobic DVD’s.

 

The important thing is: rate it how energised you feel on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 - not tired at all, 10 - exhausted) before you start the activity. Then do the same 30 min. after you have completed the activity. You might notice that you feel your energy level is much higher after you have completed the activity compared to how you felt before you started it.

 Set your self a short-term goal to exercise for the next 21 days, this is the amount of time we need to consistently do something to make permanent changes in our lifestyle. Make the effort to complete this challenge and you will find that you will be feeling much better overall with more energy throughout the day after only 3 weeks of habitually doing it.

 

During these 3 weeks keep a log or try to remember your scores of 'tiredness', one before the activity and one after (writing it down would be better of course). After a week or two you will see that your energy reserves expanding. Unless you have physiological condition, which is the reason for your constant tiredness you should see the results fairly quickly.


- Don't forget to take care of your emotional wellbeing. If you have busy lifestyle and a family to look after, you might start forgetting about your own needs.

Take time to relax or go for a walk after work. I have written a few articles on 'How to reduce your stress' where you can pick up some interesting ideas and reduce your daily stress.

 

 

And finally, if you are not sure why you feel tired all the time, go and see your doctor. Sometimes you won’t know the reason until you speak to a professional about it and possibly do some medical tests.

 

 

 

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Other articles you might like:


Life's too f***ing short

Mindfulness: Reduce your stress

What to do when you are stressed



Reduce your stress instantly

How to be happy in this "unhappy" world

Stress and sleep

Why am I sleeping too much

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