What Causes Us to Feel Tired?

Before any problem can be fixed, it is important to understand the problem. In this case, feeling sleepy or tired is the symptom of fatigue. To start things off, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some of the causes of feeling tired and define exactly fatigue means.

According to Webster's dictionary, the definition of fatigue is weariness or exhaustion from labor, exertion, or stress. Everyone feels tired at some point but most usually feel back to normal with a good night's sleep and some quality R&R. Unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone and tiredness can become a chronic problem which affects their daily life. Roughly 1 in 10 people are affected by extreme tiredness throughout various age groups. The majority of these people are college students and those working desk jobs.

As I was looking up information on the topic I found a helpful website published by the BUPA's Health Information Team. It broke down the causes of excessive tiredness into three main categories: physical, emotional, and lifestyle.

Physical Causes
-Feeling physically tired can seem like a never ending cycle. When you feel physically tired, you do not want to do physical activity. Avoiding physical activity causes your body to become sluggish, in turn making you feel even more fatigue. This is typically a difficult rut to get out of but is necessary in order to get yourself back on the right track. Being a college student, I know it is difficult to get into a regular exercise routine. I can always think of reasons not to go, but once I'm done I'm happy I went.

-Another physical factor to persistent tiredness has to do with weight. If you think about it, this is a simple concept. If a person is overweight, their body must work extra hard in order to perform typical tasks, making them tire easier. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an underweight person has low muscle mass and strength which could possibly lead to premature fatigue.

Emotional Causes

-Stress from work deadlines, relationships, among plenty of other issues can be quite emotionally draining. These stressful feelings only increase when a solution to the problem is nowhere in sight or is the situation is simply out of your hands. Many people have a hard time coping with stressful situations and find themselves unable to sleep at night. This directly affects their mental and physical states along with their emotions. It is unavoidable to steer away from stress, but learning how to deal with it will lead to a much more stable emotional state.

-Depression and high levels of anxiety also wear you down and may be linked to chronic fatigue.

Lifestyle Causes

-Some examples of lifestyle causes to fatigue may be job related. For example, working or studying at odd hours of the night may cause a person to feel like they can never get a restful night's sleep.

-Parents with small children who do not sleep well through the night cause stress and disturbed sleep.

-Taking naps during the day can cause a person to not sleep well at night.

-Drinking caffeine or alcohol two or less hours before going to bed can make it difficult to fall asleep or once you do fall asleep it may be an unrestful night's rest.