What Causes You To Be Tired All the Time?

Feeling tired all the time may be due to lifestyle choices, or it may be caused by a number of medical conditions. Being tired can be characterized by the sensation of drowsiness or sleepiness, as well as the physical sensation of tiredness, such as in the muscles or an all-over sensation.

Lifestyle

• Poor diet and nutrition could cause you to be tired all of the time. Dehydration could cause fatigue due to the heart's having to work harder. Exercising and proper eating gives your body vital energy. Ingesting complex carbohydrates (such as wheat bread and pasta) is especially important. Other stimulants, such as alcohol and caffeine, can disturb the sleep cycle, causing a person to feel excessively tired.

Medications

• Certain medications can cause a person to be tired all the time as an unwanted side effect. Any medication that causes sedation, such as antihistamines, sedatives, narcotics and antidepressants, among many others, could cause a person to feel tired all the time. A dosage adjustment could lessen or eliminate that side effect. Sometimes drowsiness will pass as the body adjusts to the medication.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Chronic fatigue syndrome is a condition in which a person experiences fatigue, muscle pain, poor memory, joint pain, sore throat, tender lymph nodes and sleep problems for at least six months. The symptoms must not be caused by another condition. Chronic fatigue syndrome can be hard to diagnose, because the symptoms can be indicative of many problems, which would need to be ruled out before a proper diagnosis can be made.

Sleep Apnea

• Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing stops or becomes very shallow while a person is sleeping, causing the oxygen in the blood to drop. Sleep apnea often causes poor sleep quality at night due to the pauses in breathing, and it can lead to feeling tired all the time. A sleep study can be done to determine if someone is suffering from sleep apnea, and proper treatment can improve the sleep cycle.

Mental Illness

• Everyone feels sad sometimes, but the sadness does not go away for a person with depression. A depressed person may have significant energy and motivation loss, which could, in turn, cause them constant fatigue. Anxiety causes constant worry, which can be mentally and physically tiring. The body often takes on physical symptoms along with mental illness.

Hyperthyroidism

• Hyperthyroidism is a condition in which a person's body secretes an elevated level of thyroid hormones, causing the metabolism to speed up. One of the most common symptoms of a hyperthyroid is fatigue and weakness, along with weight loss, hot flashes, increased heart rate and increased thirst.

Anemia

• Anemia is the condition of not having enough red blood cells and is usually caused by iron deficiency, chronic disease, vitamin deficiency or extensive blood loss. Because red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a protein that transports oxygen between the lungs and cells, not having enough can cause fatigue, among other symptoms such as weakness and shortness of breath.