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Abstract

eat a lot of processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy sources of fat, you’re likely following the standard American diet without even realizing it, which can lead to nutritional deficiencies over time.</p><p id="5d7f">For example, this sad diet usually lacks iron, which is a vital mineral for the formation of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood. Since oxygen is used by your body for energy, it’s easy to see how a lack of dietary iron from sources like meats, beans, and leafy greens can make you feel very tired. Lean meats and leafy greens also provide B vitamins like B6, B12, and folate, which again, the standard American diet falls short on. Being deficient can lead to fatigue, weakness, and brain fog.</p><p id="e412">One last example is omega-3 fatty acids. The sad diet is known to supply way too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3, which leads to inflammation and tiredness. You can get more omega-3s from fatty fish and walnuts. But in general, simply avoiding processed foods and refined sugars and replacing them with whole, nutrient-dense foods, including a variety of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins, will help ensure that you’re getting all your essential micronutrients. I can’t stress enough how important your diet is for your energy levels, not only because of the vitamins and minerals but also because eating an unhealthy processed diet will automatically require a lot more energy to break down and digest, leaving you feeling more sluggish and tired afterwards.</p><h2 id="3b30">Sunlight</h2><p id="f501">Speaking of vitamins, you may constantly be feeling tired due to a lack of sunlight. Not getting enough sun can contribute to a vitamin D deficiency, especially if your diet lacks vitamin D as well. Without enough vitamin D, your testosterone levels, immune system, and of course, your energy levels will all take a hit. Another issue with not getting enough exposure to natural sunlight is that it can mess with your body’s internal clock, known as your circadian rhythm, which will further contribute to the feeling of tiredness. This is because, aside from vitamin D, sunlight also helps regulate the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that influences your sleep-wake cycle. This is why experts recommend that you spend about 10 to 30 minutes in direct sunlight at least twice a week to maintain adequate vitamin D levels. But if you live in a very cold environment, supplementing with vitamin D and melatonin can help increase your energy levels as well.</p><h2 id="660f">Exercise</h2><p id="4f48">Another reason why so many people feel tired is because they don’t exercise much or at all. It’s one of the many ironies in life that exercise makes you feel tired in the short term but increases your energy long term. On the other hand, a lack of physical activity can lead directly to chronic fatigue. Regardless of whether you do strength training or cardio, both can boost your cardiovascular health, improve your mood through the release of feel-good hormones known as endorphins, and of course, enhance your energy levels. However, if you don’t exercise, you’ll lose muscle, especially as you age, making you feel weak. You’ll

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also have reduced blood circulation, which on its own can make you feel extremely lethargic. Spending too many days sitting for too long has been shown to not only decrease your metabolism but will also make your body less efficient at utilizing its energy stores.</p><p id="0cbb">Unfortunately, the motivation to work out is like a snowball rolling down a hill. The further it goes, the more snow it gathers, and the larger the snowball gets. So if you’re currently trapped in an inactive lifestyle, try to simply start by walking for 30 minutes a day. Then you can try doing some simple at-home workouts by including exercises like bodyweight squats, push-ups on the knees, and lunges. Even three days a week of simple exercises can make you feel like you have a lot more energy.</p><h2 id="a083">Sleep</h2><p id="02d7">Let’s move on to sleep. Most of us think we understand how important sleep is for our energy levels, but most of us also don’t sleep enough. And this effect alone can be the biggest hit to your energy levels. Many studies have examined the impact of sleep deprivation on the feelings of tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion. One of these studies, conducted by the Sleep Research Society, had participants go through a whole night of total sleep deprivation. As you might imagine, the results showed a significant increase in the feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. The participants also felt more irritable and had difficulty concentrating. Their reaction time and cognitive performance also showed a steep decline.</p><p id="b40f">Obviously, most of you are not going a whole night without sleep, but there’s plenty of research showing that even taking away a few hours from one full night of rest can make you struggle with tiredness and fatigue. It can even make it difficult to control your emotions. This is why the American Academy of Sleep Medicine consistently talks about the importance of getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night every night. Since you can’t catch up on that sleep, sleep quality is also very important. To improve sleep quality, maintain a consistent sleeping schedule by going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day, limit screen time and blue light before bed, and create a relaxing sleeping environment by keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. This can highly help as well.</p><p id="595a">Now, aside from these five main reasons why you might feel tired, it’s also important for me to mention that a chronic state of fatigue can be caused by certain health issues that you should definitely see your doctor for. For example, if you’re constantly getting sick with viruses or bacterial infections or even a common cold, you may want to do some blood work to diagnose the issue. There are many exhausting conditions like mono, Lyme disease, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and even allergies. All of these are definitely worth seeing a doctor for and getting the appropriate treatment. So if you’re working out, you’re eating right, you’re not hooked on coffee, and you’re getting enough sleep, yet you’ve been feeling fatigue that persists for more than two weeks, definitely consider getting checked out by a doctor.</p></article></body>

5 Reasons Why You’re ALWAYS Tired

It seems that almost everyone nowadays feels tired, and not just sometimes, it’s all the time. Regardless of how much caffeine you drink or how much sleep you get, if you’re like most people, you just can’t shake this constant state of fatigue. Even though there are far more pollutants in our environment, and testosterone levels have fallen decade after decade, your energy levels are still almost fully in your control. You shouldn’t be feeling exhausted on a day-to-day basis.

Caffeine

So just by eliminating the five proven energy drainers that I’m about to go over in this text, you’ll feel much more refreshed, motivated, and full of energy. And the most counterintuitive mistake that most people are making actually revolves around caffeine and stimulants. You would think that having more coffee would help you reduce fatigue and give you more energy. But even though it can have a positive short-term effect, it can also be the biggest cause of your perpetual exhaustion.

This is because caffeine works by blocking a neurotransmitter known as adenosine, whose job is to make you feel sleepy and relaxed by binding to adenosine receptors in your brain. By blocking it, caffeine makes you feel more alert. However, if you drink a lot of coffee and energy drinks daily, your body will become accustomed to the high levels of caffeine. Your body responds by producing even more adenosine, which reduces the effectiveness of caffeine over time. When the stimulating effects of caffeine wear off, this surplus of adenosine causes a rebound in the form of a huge crash.

So not only does coffee become less effective after drinking lots of it, but you also have more of these sleep-inducing neurotransmitters floating around in your brain, leading to an excessive feeling of tiredness and fatigue. This creates a cycle of drinking more coffee, releasing more adenosine, and feeling more tired. On top of that, having too much caffeine can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle and interfere with the quality and quantity of sleep you get every night.

This is why you don’t want to drink coffee late in the afternoon or especially at night. To break out of this cycle, you also want to gradually reduce your caffeine intake to no more than 3 to 4 8 oz cups of coffee per day or about 400 mg of caffeine per day, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Diet

Another thing that can offer an alternative energy boost as you reduce your caffeine intake is your diet. Your diet is very likely to be one of the main reasons you’re feeling tired to begin with. Even though the standard American diet that most people consume provides a surplus of calories, those calories are often void of nutrients. If you eat a lot of processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy sources of fat, you’re likely following the standard American diet without even realizing it, which can lead to nutritional deficiencies over time.

For example, this sad diet usually lacks iron, which is a vital mineral for the formation of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood. Since oxygen is used by your body for energy, it’s easy to see how a lack of dietary iron from sources like meats, beans, and leafy greens can make you feel very tired. Lean meats and leafy greens also provide B vitamins like B6, B12, and folate, which again, the standard American diet falls short on. Being deficient can lead to fatigue, weakness, and brain fog.

One last example is omega-3 fatty acids. The sad diet is known to supply way too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3, which leads to inflammation and tiredness. You can get more omega-3s from fatty fish and walnuts. But in general, simply avoiding processed foods and refined sugars and replacing them with whole, nutrient-dense foods, including a variety of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins, will help ensure that you’re getting all your essential micronutrients. I can’t stress enough how important your diet is for your energy levels, not only because of the vitamins and minerals but also because eating an unhealthy processed diet will automatically require a lot more energy to break down and digest, leaving you feeling more sluggish and tired afterwards.

Sunlight

Speaking of vitamins, you may constantly be feeling tired due to a lack of sunlight. Not getting enough sun can contribute to a vitamin D deficiency, especially if your diet lacks vitamin D as well. Without enough vitamin D, your testosterone levels, immune system, and of course, your energy levels will all take a hit. Another issue with not getting enough exposure to natural sunlight is that it can mess with your body’s internal clock, known as your circadian rhythm, which will further contribute to the feeling of tiredness. This is because, aside from vitamin D, sunlight also helps regulate the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that influences your sleep-wake cycle. This is why experts recommend that you spend about 10 to 30 minutes in direct sunlight at least twice a week to maintain adequate vitamin D levels. But if you live in a very cold environment, supplementing with vitamin D and melatonin can help increase your energy levels as well.

Exercise

Another reason why so many people feel tired is because they don’t exercise much or at all. It’s one of the many ironies in life that exercise makes you feel tired in the short term but increases your energy long term. On the other hand, a lack of physical activity can lead directly to chronic fatigue. Regardless of whether you do strength training or cardio, both can boost your cardiovascular health, improve your mood through the release of feel-good hormones known as endorphins, and of course, enhance your energy levels. However, if you don’t exercise, you’ll lose muscle, especially as you age, making you feel weak. You’ll also have reduced blood circulation, which on its own can make you feel extremely lethargic. Spending too many days sitting for too long has been shown to not only decrease your metabolism but will also make your body less efficient at utilizing its energy stores.

Unfortunately, the motivation to work out is like a snowball rolling down a hill. The further it goes, the more snow it gathers, and the larger the snowball gets. So if you’re currently trapped in an inactive lifestyle, try to simply start by walking for 30 minutes a day. Then you can try doing some simple at-home workouts by including exercises like bodyweight squats, push-ups on the knees, and lunges. Even three days a week of simple exercises can make you feel like you have a lot more energy.

Sleep

Let’s move on to sleep. Most of us think we understand how important sleep is for our energy levels, but most of us also don’t sleep enough. And this effect alone can be the biggest hit to your energy levels. Many studies have examined the impact of sleep deprivation on the feelings of tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion. One of these studies, conducted by the Sleep Research Society, had participants go through a whole night of total sleep deprivation. As you might imagine, the results showed a significant increase in the feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. The participants also felt more irritable and had difficulty concentrating. Their reaction time and cognitive performance also showed a steep decline.

Obviously, most of you are not going a whole night without sleep, but there’s plenty of research showing that even taking away a few hours from one full night of rest can make you struggle with tiredness and fatigue. It can even make it difficult to control your emotions. This is why the American Academy of Sleep Medicine consistently talks about the importance of getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night every night. Since you can’t catch up on that sleep, sleep quality is also very important. To improve sleep quality, maintain a consistent sleeping schedule by going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day, limit screen time and blue light before bed, and create a relaxing sleeping environment by keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. This can highly help as well.

Now, aside from these five main reasons why you might feel tired, it’s also important for me to mention that a chronic state of fatigue can be caused by certain health issues that you should definitely see your doctor for. For example, if you’re constantly getting sick with viruses or bacterial infections or even a common cold, you may want to do some blood work to diagnose the issue. There are many exhausting conditions like mono, Lyme disease, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and even allergies. All of these are definitely worth seeing a doctor for and getting the appropriate treatment. So if you’re working out, you’re eating right, you’re not hooked on coffee, and you’re getting enough sleep, yet you’ve been feeling fatigue that persists for more than two weeks, definitely consider getting checked out by a doctor.