Do you know that, on average, around 1 in 5 people in the UK experience constant fatigue? That means you probably know a lot of people in your common circle of friends and family members experiencing symptoms of tiredness daily.
If not managed properly, tiredness can have a major impact on your life, affecting your cognitive function, health, emotions and social interactions. You might witness your productivity decline significantly at work, in studies and other areas in your life.
Basically, you need at least 7-9 hours of sleep a night to be able to function most out of your day-to-day. If you’re not getting a consistent amount of time, your sleep might be significantly compromised.
What are the common causes of tiredness and fatigue?
Being tired and fatigued in your day-to-day life is not always the same for everyone. Often, it's an accumulation of a range of lifestyle factors that can impact your sleep and energy levels. To give you an idea, here are the common causes out there:
Stress
In the last year alone, around 74% of adults in the UK were feeling stressed at some point. While stress is normal, a build-up of stress (chronic stress) can trigger changes in your brain, both structural and functional, leading to a feeling of exhaustion. Typically, prolonged stress can severely hamper your body’s fight or flight response, increasing the amount of cortisol and adrenaline levels in your brain, keeping you awake.
Bad diet
Food is one of the main components that can severely impact the way you feel and sleep. However, your body needs the right nutrient-dense foods to be able to perform essential processes, breaking down fat and muscle mass to cater to energy demands.
If you consume a lot of foods high in sugar, saturated fats and processed foods, they can reduce the likelihood of you having a deep sleep and often increase your night-time alertness. Again, if you eat heavy and late at night, those meals may trigger indigestion and impact your body's ability to sleep, directly impacting sleep quality.
Vitamin deficiency
One of the most common reasons many experience a lack of sleep or feel more fatigued is that they may be subject to a nutrient deficiency without knowing. Here are a few deficiencies that are linked to fatigue:
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Iron
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Vitamin B12
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Magnesium
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Vitamin B2, B3, B5, B6, B9
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Vitamin D
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Vitamin C
Advice: If you are experiencing fatigue, then speak to your healthcare professional to test for deficiencies.
Too much caffeine
If you consume a lot of energy drinks or coffee, they might heavily impact your sleep and make you feel more tired the following day. Having too much caffeine can impact your sleep and cause you fatigue. Research shows that if you consume too much caffeine, it can significantly contribute to your tiredness, reducing your sleep time by at least 45 minutes and efficiency by 7%.
Lack of hydration
How much water are you drinking daily? Proper hydration is crucial to helping you sleep on time and stay fresh, and maintain energy levels. A lot of biochemical reactions take place in your body each day due to water needing to be replaced. When you don’t drink enough fluids to replace the water lost for those reactions, i.e., urine, stools, sweat and breathing, it can create lower energy levels and fatigue.
The health implications of tiredness
While being tired is very normal, if it persists or becomes severe, it can really impact both your mind and body in a number of ways. Often, prolonged fatigue and a build-up of stress can impact you physically and mentally, causing you a lot of distress. Here is a quick insight into how prolonged fatigue or tiredness may affect you:
Physical health implications
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Ongoing fatigue can contribute to a higher risk of infections and reduced recovery because it can impair immune function and disrupt sleep/repair cycles.
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It can also increase the likelihood of accidents, slowing down reflexes, coordination, reduced balance, making you more susceptible to trips and falls.
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It can cause chronic conditions to get worse, impacting diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, fibromyalgia and more.
Mental health implications
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Difficult to focus, concentrate or recall memories
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A tough time making proper decisions and having a slow reaction time
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Can cause moods to get worse
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Feelings of demotivation
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Constantly feeling tired and reducing the quality of life, making it difficult to enjoy social activities, increasing stress and a cycle of fatigue.
Habits to combat tiredness/fatigue
Having a bad sleep or feeling fatigued isn’t the end of the world. Both are in fact, completely in your control and can be fixed. Here are a few good habits to practice to beat it:
Sleep and wake at the same time
Whether it’s weekdays or weekends, aim to go to sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. Try to aim for 7-9 hours of sleep and be consistent with it over perfection. Allowing your body to get used to this can help you fall asleep more quickly and have a good sleep.
Be cautious about your caffeine intake
Ideally, you don’t want to have more than 400 milligrams of caffeine every day. That’s equivalent to 4 cups of coffee or energy drinks. However, caffeine content in drinks can vary a great deal. On top of that, try not to have caffeine for 60-90 minutes after waking, don’t have any after 2-3 pm, as it will impact deep sleep.
Build in recovery breaks in your work day
To reduce the amount of fatigue you might feel in your workday, you should schedule breaks between tasks. Taking 10-15 minute breaks, going for a walk, staying away from your device or doing something else can prevent and reduce energy crashes.
Eat healthy for energy
Whenever possible, consume a diet full of single food ingredients. Make sure you prioritise your protein intake and healthy fats. Try to avoid heavy sugars or carbohydrates as they cause a spike and crash. Remember to stay hydrated and have a steady intake to help you stay recharged throughout the day.
Some natural foods that can help boost your energy levels are:
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Whole grains: brown rice, buckwheat, oats
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Lentils and beans
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Bananas
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Nuts and seeds
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Eggs
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Avocados
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Greek yoghurt
This is just a quick insight into the natural foods that can help increase your energy, allowing you to feel recharged.
Supplements that support energy levels
If you want additional support for your diet, there are some supplements that may help you feel recharged and potentially experience less fatigue, such as:
Inositol, folate and chromium
This supplement combines three nutrients: inositol, folate and chromium. In 1000mg form, it supports a range of functions such as blood sugar levels, mood support, carbohydrate metabolism and overall energy management. Chromium in this supplement particularly helps with that.
Lion’s Mane
One underrated supplement that can help reduce your fatigue is Lion’s Mane. This natural mushroom species is found in forests around the world and has a lot of health benefits towards cognitive health. Research shows that Lion’s Mane may also help improve sleep, mood disorders, and reduce any side effects.
The bottom line
Overall, being tired and fatigued in life is completely normal, and everyone experiences it daily. While it can greatly determine the quality of your life (if not managed), it’s not unfixable either. With simple habits like eating healthy, going to sleep on time, taking the right amount of breaks, hydrating and exercising, you can help control your energy levels a little bit more.
On the contrary, if you feel like you’re everything but still tired, you might have an underlying deficiency. If that’s the case, we recommend booking an appointment with your doctor for a check-up to see if there’s anything underlying.
Want to have more energy? Check out the 7 best foods for brain function.