Of course lack of sleep – and it should be good, restful sleep – is a major cause of tiredness but there are other reasons that could be sapping your energy. If you’re getting your recommended 6-8 hours every night yet you still feel fatigued and sluggish, you can look to these reasons why you are always tired.
Many people skip their workout when they don't feel that energetic. Doing this won't help restore or save energy. Research (by Georgia University) suggests that regular exercise not only improves endurance and strength, it also powers up your cardiovascular system and makes it easier for muscles to receive oxygen and nutrients. So, think twice before skipping exercise and crashing on the couch – even a brisk walk will do.
Dieticians suggest that healthy women who cannot replace 1.5% of their water weight experience serious mood swings and depleted energy levels. Dehydration leads to a reduction in blood volume that thickens your blood and makes it more laborious for your heart to pump blood around the body. It also reduces the level of oxygen in your blood and in turn you see your energy levels coming down quickly. How much fluid you need daily usually depends on your body weight. If your body weight is 200 pounds, you should drink at least 100 ounces of fluid a day.
Among many other reasons why you're always tired is that you not regular about breakfast. If you're always in a hurry in the morning and don't mind skipping breakfast, you shouldn't complain about low energy levels throughout the day. Your first meal in the day fuels your body for the day ahead. During sleep, your body uses up whatever you've eaten the previous day, so you need to refuel your system with breakfast to feel active throughout the day. Be sure to include lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fat in your breakfast.
A juicy burger may look like an enticing treat, but the real cost of eating that burger or fast food in general never appears on the menu. All this fast food stuff is loaded with simple carbohydrates and sugar, and ranks high on the glycemic index. This makes your blood sugar spike but it then plummets soon after. This causes fatigue and often leads to other issues such as obesity. It's time you go back to salmon, brown rice, salad, sweet potato, etc., and wage a battle against processed and fast food to live a healthy and active life.
An iron deficiency will make you feel irritable, sluggish, and weak. You will feel tired because not enough oxygen gets to your muscles and cells. Add more kidney beans, lean beef, dark green leafy veggies, tofu, nuts, and peanut butter to your diet to prevent iron deficiency and feel charged up all the time.
It's good to give your best in whatever you're doing, but striving for perfection will often land you in trouble. Know your limitations and understand that working much longer and harder than necessary is only going to leave you exhausted. Setting unrealistic goals and then failing to achieve them will leave you with no sense of self-satisfaction, which again will make you feel tired.
Never fool yourself into thinking that a glass of wine will help you unwind before falling asleep – it won't. Alcohol will depress your central nervous system and produce a sedative effect for a short time. Once your body metabolizes the wine you sipped on before you crashed, it will create a surge in your adrenaline system and you will wake up in the middle of the night. This will lead to sleep deprivation and even make you feel tired during the day.
Other reasons why you’re always tired include persistent anxiety, doing too much and never saying “no”, working outside of hours and not taking vacation time, and relying on caffeine to get you through the day. Do you think any of these relate to you?