10 causes of fatigue
Fatigue is a common ailment and can be very annoying. A tired feeling can hinder you in your daily activities, at work, at home or elsewhere. The causes of fatigue are diverse. Sometimes it’s a matter of not getting enough sleep, and you get rid of that tired feeling if you get a few extra hours of sleep. But there may also be other causes if you are often tired. Recognizing the causes is essential if you want to do something to feel fitter again.
1. Not enough sleep
The most obvious cause – and one that is very common – is not getting enough sleep. If you do not sleep enough hours per night, you will not rest enough and you will be tired during the day. You especially notice this in the morning and at the end of the day. The problem is that it’s not easy to determine how much sleep you need. That is different for everyone. The remedy is simple: sleeping more hours per night ensures that you rest better. However, there are also other possible causes of fatigue , where sleeping more does not necessarily help.
2. Fatigue due to an allergy
If you are allergic to dogs, cats, dust or pollen (hay fever), you often suffer from stinging or watery eyes, sneezing or itching. But that’s not the only thing. The body often reacts to an allergy in the same way as it would to an illness. It wants to recover and to do that as quickly as possible, rest is needed. So the body creates a feeling of fatigue. However, sleeping more will not make the allergy go away and the fatigue will also persist. It is therefore important to combat the allergy.
3. Tired due to anemia, iron deficiency
The body needs iron for the production of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin then ensures that sufficient oxygen enters the blood. When you have an iron deficiency (also called anemia ), you get less oxygen in your blood, which causes a lethargic feeling. An iron deficiency is caused by blood loss from a wound, but also by menstruation, for example. Anemia can be combated by adjusting your diet, with iron tablets or (in case of severe iron deficiency) injections.
4. Insomnia
You suffer from insomnia when you want to sleep, but you can’t. This can be due to anxiety, jet lag, a lack of sunlight (which disrupts the biorhythm), some medications and sleeping during the day. Insomnia often puts you in circles that are difficult to get out of. Firstly, when you are sleepless you tend to focus extra on falling asleep. As a result, you do not relax properly and you fall asleep less quickly. In addition, many people who suffer from insomnia try to catch up on sleep by catching up on sleep during the day. This makes it harder for you to fall asleep in the evening, so that ultimately you don’t make any progress.
5. Depression
Depression can also cause fatigue. When you feel down, your body reacts; it does not want you to become physically active and creates a tired feeling . It wants to ensure that you work on yourself (and not worry too much about your environment). If the depression is tackled, the fatigue generally disappears.
6. Tired from dehydration
A completely different cause of fatigue is dehydration . Your body needs fluid to function properly. During the night you lose a lot of fluid through breathing and sweating. When your body has too little fluid available, fatigue occurs. It is therefore advisable to drink plenty of fluids before you go to sleep and to drink when you wake up. If you sweat a lot in bed, it may also be wise to investigate the causes of the sweating.
7. An underactive thyroid gland
If you suffer from an underactive thyroid gland, too little of the thyroid hormone thyroxine is produced. This not only causes fatigue, but also an increase in body weight without eating more.
8. Fatigue due to sleep apnea
With sleep apnea , your throat opens and closes during sleep, making your breathing irregular. This often results in too little oxygen in your blood. Sleep apnea also causes you to often wake up at night due to impaired breathing or snoring. Sleep apnea often occurs in overweight people. Smoking and alcohol consumption also increase the risk of sleep apnea.
9. Drinking coffee, eating sugar
Both caffeine and sugar cause your blood sugar levels to rise. This gives you more energy. Unfortunately, this effect is only temporary. Soon after the increase, a decrease occurs and you return to the energy level you were at; sometimes even underneath. This drop in blood sugar levels can make you feel like you are suddenly very tired. What actually happens is that the energy peak you created with the coffee or sugar is leveling off.
10. Tired due to diabetes
Diabetes (or diabetes) can also be a cause of fatigue . If you are often tired and you cannot determine the cause, you may have diabetes. In the Netherlands, approximately one million people suffer from diabetes. A quarter of them do not know that they have diabetes.
read more
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