Causes of tiredness

Causes of tiredness

Tiredness (fatigue) is a symptom, not a disease - and the cause matters more than the complaint. The common causes fall into a few groups.

Lifestyle causes (the most common):

• Poor sleep - too little, broken sleep, late-night screens, irregular timings, or sleep apnea (loud snoring with pauses, unrefreshing sleep and daytime sleepiness).
• Overwork and under-recovery - long hours without breaks, shift work.
• Stress, anxiety and low mood - mental tiredness is real tiredness; depression often shows first as exhaustion.
• Poor diet and dehydration - skipped meals, crash dieting, too little water, excess caffeine and alcohol.
• Too little - or suddenly too much - physical activity.

Medical causes:

• Anemia - especially iron deficiency, very common in Indian women; also vitamin B12 and folate deficiency (common in vegetarians).
• Thyroid disorders - an underactive thyroid is a classic cause.
• Diabetes and prediabetes - fluctuating sugar drains energy.
• Infections - viral fevers, dengue, COVID, tuberculosis; fatigue can linger for weeks after.
• Heart, kidney and liver disease, vitamin D deficiency - all frequent and testable.
• Medicines - some antihistamines, blood-pressure drugs, sedatives.

When tiredness needs a doctor: lasting beyond 2-4 weeks despite good rest, or coming with red flags - chest pain, breathlessness, unexplained weight loss, fever, night sweats, pallor, or heavy menstrual bleeding.

Remember: most tiredness is lifestyle; persistent tiredness deserves simple blood tests rather than guesswork or tonics.

Ayurvedic view (interpretive)

Ayurveda links fatigue to weakened agni and depleted ojas - an interpretive framework. The testable causes above are where real answers lie.