Feeling Tired All The Time? Read This
It is absolutely normal to feel a general level of tiredness throughout your day, especially to feel tired at the end of the day. It is normal to feel somewhat tired when you recover from a good night’s sleep or a restful weekend in the morning. Moreover, it is also normal to feel some level of tiredness when you’re often hitting the gym really hard. Especially when in a cutting cycle and you tend to undereat purposefully.
Still, chronic tiredness (feeling tired all the time) and fatigue can be a multidimensional issue leading to various physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive issues that are not necessarily related to exertion, rest, or sleep. Generally, there are three main exhaustion types:
- Physical activity where you don’t have the energy to do daily tasks
- Motivation when you do not have the desire to do anything today
- Concentration when you do not have the ability to focus on your daily tasks
In case you have one or more of these symptoms then you better ask for professional help. One of the least things you could do is to analyze your sleep patterns, nutrition, and/or stress. You are likely to find something that may change the way you feel if you deal with it.
Sleep Pattern
I guess it is quite obvious that sleep is essential for your overall health. Even so, many people tend to underestimate it. Sleep is actually an extremely important element. The ideal sleep duration varies from one person to another, however, the general consensus is that you need to sleep at least seven hours a day. Sometimes, even more hours. You need to sleep that much on a regular basis.
Besides paying attention to the amount of sleep, you should be paying attention to the quality of your sleep which is just as important. For example, your sleep must be as uninterrupted as possible to allow your brain to go through adequate amounts of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as well as the stage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. These are extremely important for a restful night’s sleep. Other than that, your sleep timing should be as consistent as possible. For example, the human body has a natural circadian rhythm with clock genes that will dictate your sleep and wakefulness. That’s why, it is best to go to sleep and wake up at around the same time, every night. Your body will simply not operate optimally if you go to sleep and wake up at varying times throughout the week!
Check here various ways that will significantly improve your sleep routine and sleep quality (helping you be less tired during the day). While many know that sleep quantity is important, lots ignore the fact that sleep quality is just as important. That’s why they wonder why they do not rest enough despite sleeping enough hours. So here is it:
Methods to improve sleep routine:
- Stay in bed for at least eight hours in order to make sure you get at least seven hours of actual sleep.
- Keep a consistent bedtime and wake-up time every day, even including weekends.
- Try to go to sleep early and wake up early. Numerous studies suggest that people who go to bed before 11 PM and wake up 6-7 AM will reap various benefits.
- Limit caffeine intake at least six hours before going to sleep. Many people assume that they can still sleep even after having a coffee which is true. But the quality of sleep worsens.
- Try to eat your last large meal three hours before bed.
- Do not drink anything for at least one hour before going to bed.
- Turn off all visual and/or auditory notifications on your electronic devices, and make sure they do not flash throughout the night.
- Try to stop using any screens (phone, TV, PC, etc.) at least 1 hour before sleeping.
- Try something relaxing such as listening to relaxing sounds (think of birds, for example), meditating, breathing, gentle stretching, a hot bath, or something before going to bed.
- Make sure you keep the bedroom as dark as possible and on the cooler side. The darkest it is in your room, the better.
- Could use a white noise machine to prevent outside sounds from waking you up in the middle of the night.
- Studies suggest that people who get more direct sunlight as soon as they wake up will help them feel more alert and those who get more sunlight throughout the day, tend to sleep better at night.
- In case none of these options work, despite you trying to do all of them for a week or two, you may need to seek professional help. You may suffer from an actual sleep disorder.
Nutrition (nutrient deficiency)
Trying to improve your sleep quality, and getting enough of high quality uninterrupted sleep is always a great idea that is always likely to help. Nonetheless, besides sleep, you also need to focus on your nutrition, a no less important factor that could be the answer to why you’re feeling tired all the time. Vitamins and minerals play a crucial role in lots of different biological pathways such as DNA synthesis, oxygen transportation, neuronal functions, as well as energy creation. Lack of nutrients will definitely lead to chronic tiredness. Unfortunately, however, lots of people do not seem to fully understand the importance of getting enough vitamins and minerals from their diet. Therefore, individuals with low micronutrients such as iron, magnesium, zinc, and/or B vitamins (like B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, B19) are likely to experience mental and physical fatigue symptoms. A blood test can indicate your nutrient numbers if interested.
Iron
The first nutrient that you should test for is iron because iron deficiency may lead to anemia. The main symptom of anemia is chronic fatigue. People at risk of anemia are those who lack iron in their diet. Iron is vital for creating hemoglobin, which is responsible for transporting oxygen and energy throughout the body. Considering there’s no iron, the body will create less hemoglobin, which leads to less oxygen and less energy. Lots of studies link fatigue with anemia which is characterized by hemoglobin levels below 120 g/L in women and 130 g/L in men. If you’re suffering from low iron, you need to eat foods rich in iron. They include red meat, poultry, and seafood for heme iron. But you should also eat more fortified grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and vegetables for non-heme iron. Iron supplements also can help. In severe cases, there are medical infusions.
B vitamins
B vitamins are always involved in at least one but usually in several processes of the energy production system within the cell. If a person has a significant deficit in any of the B vitamins then they are very likely to experience one of the symptoms associated with fatigue. Check some examples here. Lack of thiamine (Vitamin B1) may lead to Beriberi disease. Lack of riboflavin (Vitamin B2) increases the risk of anemia. Niacin insufficiency (Vitamin B3) can lead to nonspecific clinical symptoms of fatigue. Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) insufficiency may lead to microcytic anemia. Lack of folate (Vitamin B9) may lead to megaloblastic anemia. Lastly, lack of cobalamin (Vitamin B12), will result in low energy, fatigue, and shortness of breath. People who lack B vitamins must eat more red meat, salmon, organic meat, milk, green leafy vegetables, and nutritional yeast. Supplements or medical vitamin B injections may work too.
Magnesium
Magnesium is another crucial microelement involved in multiple cellular functions. That includes the production and utilization of ATP and neuromuscular coordination. Magnesium deficiency will lead to fatigue, lethargy, as well as loss of appetite among other symptoms. People who are low in magnesium levels will definitely suffer from the constant feeling of being tired. If you are low in magnesium, you need to eat more green leafy vegetables, such as spinach, as well as legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Again various supplements may help such as magnesium supplements, ZMA, or multivitamins.
Zinc
Zinc is another crucial microelement for your energy production. It is involved in lots of aspects of cellular metabolism. Besides, it plays a crucial part in the antioxidant defense system. Lack of zinc can lead to a lot of different issues including epidermal, gastrointestinal, central nervous, immune, skeletal as well as reproductive systems. In case you’re suffering from low zinc, then you need to make sure you add more foods high in zinc. Among them include: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and seafood. Especially oysters that contain more zinc per serving than any other food. However, zinc also can be found in different plants such as beans, nuts, and whole grains. However, it has less bioavailability because of the presence of phytates (they inhibit zinc absorption). May also try to take supplements with zinc to help boost your numbers.
Stress
It is important to understand that stress is a natural and normal part of everyday life. Nonetheless, do not confuse it with chronic stress which is a real problem. Chronic stress could lead to fatigue as well as poor mental health, depression, burnout, stress related exhaustion disorder among others. The worst part of this is that stress usually creates a negative feedback loop, as it leads to some symptoms and issues that create even more stress and even more fatigue. This means that the symptoms and issues tend to worsen. When the human body experiences constant surges in the sympathetic nervous system, it will lead to chronic inflammation, damage to blood vessels and arteries, increases in blood pressure, and even reduction of brain gray matter volume. This all worsens the chronic fatigue.
The source of stress can be extremely individual. It may be inactivity or overactivity, relationships, emotional disturbances, traumatic events, location-based stressors, work, and numerous others. Therefore, if you’re suffering from chronic stress (which leads to chronic fatigue and makes you feel tired all the time), then you need to consider some lifestyle changes. Often people do not understand that even the smallest changes sometimes can lead to huge improvements in alleviating some stressors, leading to huge improvements in the way you feel and reducing the feelings of being tired.
Ways to reduce stress
First, try to improve your physical health with exercise and diet. Physical health has a way stronger connection with your mental health than you think. According to studies, physical health and feelings of happiness, more energy, and less stress have a very strong bidirectional relationship! After all, we all know that lifting heavy helps us feel better. And we always see aesthetically pleasant people who are happy. On the other hand, those who are not looking so good, tend to be stressed.
Second, you could try some type of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program such as controlled breathing, meditation, yoga, or whichever other that was proven to help reduce stress, therefore, reducing fatigue and feeling tired.
Third, while lots of people underestimate it, studies suggest that it greatly helps when people try to connect with nature. That’s by breathing fresh air, sitting in the sun, walking outside, swimming in the ocean, or enjoying birds chirping. Natural interventions could help alleviate some of the stress.
Lastly, you could try to seek a mental health professional who can help process the severe emotional problems or traumatic events. Psychologists can significantly help reduce fatigue and constantly feeling tired by helping patients better deal with stress.
Cycle Gear To Help You Out
The causes of chronic fatigue and feeling tired all the time are often multiple and insidious. That’s why dealing with them is not an easy task. However, it is a job that you can handle. You must take time to cover all the bases in the smartest way to conquer this exhaustion, which will improve all aspects of your life.
- You should try improving all these elements (stress, nutrition, and sleep) and you will definitely see improvements in your energy levels. Besides, you could also Cycle Gear which will provide you a huge boost in energy, stamina, and endurance. Lots of people who already used us can confirm it, with lots of studies proving it.
At Cycle-Gear.to you can buy various compounds for the best possible prices from the best manufacturers. This way, we promise you the highest quality for whichever product you buy, and you also save a lot of money. Moreover, everyone is likely to find whatever they need thanks to our very wide inventory. So, Cycle-Gear.to can be your next stop when it comes to a much better version of yourself, gaining lean muscle, burning excess fat, and boosting energy, stamina, and endurance levels! Testosterone alone (among numerous others), for example, can help boost energy levels, making you feel less tired!