Common Reasons for Feeling Tired and Natural Solutions

Take a quick moment and assess how your body’s energy has fluctuated throughout the day. Did you wake up feeling exhausted or well-rested? Did you feel more or less energy after eating lunch? And when you’re getting ready for bed, do you feel tired or wide awake?

The human body should naturally feel energized during the day and sleepy at night, but things don’t always work out that way. People feel tired throughout the day for a variety of reasons, but you don’t have to resort to energy drinks or sleep medications to get your cycle back on track.

Here are some of the most common reasons for feeling tired and natural solutions to boost your energy.

1. Not Sleeping Enough or Well

The most common reasons for feeling tired throughout the day are simply not sleeping well or sleeping enough at night. This could be due to a variety of issues that are both mental and physical. For example, sleep apnea is a medical condition that interrupts your breathing and causes a person to wake at night gasping for air. Sleep troubles could also be caused by stress, anxiety, and worrying about things issues cannot be immediately solved.

2. Poor Nutrition

Poor nutrition is another common cause of feeling tired throughout the day because the body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to sustain energy. Foods that have proven to help boost energy when eaten for meals and snacks include omega-3-rich fish, apples, quinoa, avocados, and tea.

3. Depression

Depression involves much more than just feeling sad every once in a while. People who are diagnosed with depression regularly experience changes in their sleep-wake cycle, causing them to sleep more than their bodies need or have trouble falling or staying asleep at night. All of these changes can make a person feel more tired throughout the day and even worsen the other symptoms of depression, such as mood swings, weight gain or loss, and feelings of hopelessness.

4. Anemia

Anemia is a condition of having low iron levels in the blood, and one of the most common symptoms is tiredness. Iron deficiency anemia is common in women who are pregnant and who are menstruating, but anyone can develop it by eating a diet low in iron-rich foods. If anemia is to blame for your tiredness, try to consume more lean meats, fish, spinach, broccoli, and lentils.

5. Medications You Take

Certain medications cause you to be tired while treating the symptoms of whatever medical condition you suffer from. Discuss the side effect of tiredness with your doctor to determine whether your medication should be swapped out for another alternative or the dosage be changed.

How to Naturally Feel Less Tired

In addition to these five common causes, feelings of tiredness can also be caused by various medical conditions, such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, and fibromyalgia. Tiredness is also often the result of lifestyle habits, such as drinking too much alcohol, not managing stress, lack of physical activity, and jet lag. After addressing any underlying medical conditions with your doctor, natural treatments can often help you feel less tired throughout the day and more able to focus and complete the tasks at hand.

Maintaining a regular sleep schedule by going to bed and getting up at the same times per day is a great way to regulate your natural sleep-wake cycle. Starting your day off with a healthy breakfast and getting some morning exercise can also set your day up for success and more energy. Peppermint essential oil, herbs like ginseng and ginkgo, and magnesium are also natural remedies that help some people feel less tired. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated can also reduce tiredness in surprising ways that you might not expect.