Why do I feel tired?
Tiredness is a complex issue. Often, these feelings stem from medical problems, lifestyle factors or psychological causes.
To complicate it further, it may be a combination of different factors or one factor leading to another that is leaving you feeling continually tired. For this reason, it can be difficult to identify a specific cause and effect on your own. Therefore, it is important to first discuss any symptoms of fatigue and low energy that are present for a prolonged period with your GP.
Tiredness vs fatigue
Tiredness is the feeling of being tired which is usually caused by a busy day, lack of sleep or exercise, for example. Tiredness is improved with sleep or rest.
Fatigue is more severe tiredness that has an impact on daily life. It may be the result of one or more factors and is not always resolved with rest.
On this page, we use both terms with the hope of helping as many people as possible.
Reasons behind feeling tired can include:
Medical issues
Prolonged feelings of tiredness may be the result of deeper medical problems, particularly where other symptoms are also experienced. The most well-recognised include iron deficiency anaemia, sleep apnoea, chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, diabetes and glandular fever, amongst other connected conditions. It’s also common to experience tiredness during pregnancy, with food intolerances and an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) or the result of medicines, herbal remedies and cancer treatments.
Weight issues (although not primarily medical in themselves) may also be a cause of tiredness and can lead to medical issues that also cause fatigue. For instance, being underweight or overweight can contribute to tiredness, as the body could be lacking important nutrients that support growth and normal bodily functioning. Because of this, the body has to work harder to perform everyday activities.
Read more about the link between medical conditions and tiredness.
Lifestyle causes
The very nature of our lifestyles can lead to feelings of tiredness. Living in an interconnected world where technology has created a society that never sleeps, we seem to be running our lives at a breakneck speed and rarely take time out.
As a result, our behaviours and the way we choose to live our lives can exacerbate feelings of tiredness. These behaviours include:
- drinking too much alcohol
- consuming too much caffeine
- shift work or long hours with long commutes
- snacking on the go and eating an unhealthy diet
- not getting enough exercise
- never taking time out to relax and recuperate
- having too much screentime before bed
Psychological causes
Mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are common causes of tiredness. Particularly if you feel anxious or stressed, you may be struggling to sleep. Research from the Mental Health Foundation shows a link between insomnia and low energy levels.
Big emotional life events such as bereavement, relationship break-ups, and redundancy can also leave us feeling tired, exhausted, or fatigued. Dealing with the worries and strains of life can make you feel drained - even the positive ones such as moving house or starting a new job.
Understanding what is contributing to feeling tired is the first step towards getting your energy levels back, and that’s where nutrition comes into play.
What is fatigue nutrition?
Whatever your fatigue is the result of, it is often beneficial to address the issue from a holistic perspective - and understanding the impact of nutrition on energy levels is essential.
Fatigue nutrition involves understanding how diet and nutrients can impact energy levels. Alongside any relevant medical assessments, a nutrition professional can work with you to assess your current diet and lifestyle and identify potential deficiencies that might be contributing to tiredness (such as iron, vitamin B12 or vitamin D deficiency). From here, you can begin to implement a tailored diet for fatigue alongside lifestyle tweaks to better manage your energy levels.
In this video, we chat with nutritional therapist Michaella Mazzon, DipCMN, mBANT, CNHC, Royal Society of Medicine, about using nutrition to boost our energy levels, the importance of balanced blood sugar and how hydration can affect our tiredness levels.
Diet for fatigue
A nutritional plan to combat fatigue will revolve around energy-boosting foods. This consists of foods that form part of a balanced diet and provide optimum nutritional value to support bodily functions, improve emotional and physical health and promote overall well-being.
Nutritional tips to reduce fatigue:
- Eat at regular times throughout the day. Tiredness can impact our appetite. Some of us may be more hungry, or crave the wrong types of foods when tired. Others may lose their appetite. Eating at regular times keeps blood sugar levels (and therefore energy) steady.
- Avoid skipping meals to prevent blood sugar crashes.
- Focus on slow-burning starches like oats, whole grain bread, rice and pasta to provide a steady release of energy.
- Add protein to every meal to manage energy release. Proteins include eggs, yoghurt, fish, chicken, beans and lentils.
- Stay hydrated. Dehydration can lead to feeling fatigued and lacking energy. Aim for at least two litres of water per day.
- Opt for a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables like bananas, berries, leafy greens and broccoli.
A diet for fatigue should comprise of:
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of energy. Slow-burning, complex carbs should make up the majority of the carbohydrates we eat. These help maintain blood sugars and without them, your body loses steam and becomes tired. Aim to eat complex carbohydrates that have a high fibre content. Fibre helps the carbs you eat to be absorbed at a slower pace into your body.
Complex carbohydrates include starchy vegetables and whole grains such as brown rice, wholewheat bread, oats, potatoes and carrots.
Simple carbohydrates release energy faster. Whilst sugary snacks can provide a short boost of energy, they cause sudden dips in blood sugar levels and therefore energy. Rather than reaching for sugar, go for carbs such as those found in fruit and vegetables, which can provide a good source of immediate energy.
Fats
Fat provides the highest concentration of energy of all the nutrients. This calorie density makes fat our largest reserve of energy. However, just like carbohydrates, not all fats are created equal.
Healthy fats (unsaturated) are a source of concentrated energy that can help you prevent feeling tired all of the time. Unsaturated fats can be found in foods such as avocados, olive oil, nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Protein
Carbohydrates and fats provide your body with raw energy, but it’s protein that supports overall metabolism. Protein assists growth, maintains cells, preserves lean muscle mass and transports vitamins and hormones.
Sources of protein include seafood (such as salmon which provides heart-healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids), eggs, milk, natural and Greek yoghurt, soya (such as tofu) and beans and pulses.
Hydration
Hydration is crucial for the production of energy molecules. If you’re not well hydrated, instead of supplying you with energy, your body will focus its resources on maintaining your water balance. When we don’t replenish our fluid intake, our energy levels can plummet, leaving us feeling fatigued, struggling to focus, light-headed, with a headache, or any other number of common symptoms.
To combat tiredness, it’s advised to take a water bottle around with you throughout the day and replace soft drinks with water.
What can I eat to reduce fatigue?
There are a number of different dietary changes you can make to help reduce fatigue. Foods that can help combat tiredness include:
- fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables (leafy greens like kale and spinach, in particular)
- lean proteins (chicken, turkey, fish, beans and soy)
- whole grains and complex carbohydrates (beans, brown rice, oats, whole wheat pasta, quinoa and bread)
- nuts and seeds (ideally raw, unsalted nuts and a good variety of seeds - if tolerated)
- vitamins and supplements (such as vitamin D or iron. Always consult with your GP and nutritional professional.)
Eating a nutritious breakfast can improve concentration and alertness. Here are a few examples of energy-boosting breakfasts if you need something quick and easy to prepare:
- cereal with yoghurt and fruit
- whole-grain bagels with cheese
- scrambled eggs on toast with fruit
- overnight oats or porridge
- sliced hard-boiled eggs in whole wheat pita bread
- whole-grain toast with peanut butter and fruit
Examples of lunches to help combat tiredness include:
- whole-wheat pasta with broccoli and boiled eggs
- flatbreads with hummus and roasted veggies
- lentils topped with salmon or tofu
If you’re struggling with constant tiredness or fatigue, it can be challenging to prepare nutritionally-dense foods that can help alleviate these feelings. This might mean you opt for convenience foods or skip certain meals altogether, but this can further exacerbate tiredness. Where you can, consider easy-to-prepare meals such as one-pot dishes or meals that can be batch-cooked and frozen. This makes it easier to sustain a diet to help combat fatigue.
Examples of dinners include:
- stir fry (meat or veggie) with brown rice and broccoli
- whole-wheat couscous with pesto chicken and salad
- salmon traybake with chickpeas and vegetables
- chicken and sweet potato traybake
- vegetable chilli with brown rice
Foods and drinks to avoid with fatigue
It’s just as important to avoid foods that can contribute to feeling tired as it is to eat energy-boosting foods. Examples of foods and drinks to avoid include:
- Processed foods - If your diet consists mostly of processed foods you may also find your levels of tiredness increase, compared with a diet consisting of fresh fruit and vegetables. Many prepackaged foods contain high levels of sodium and sugar so it’s worth trying to reduce these in your diet.
- Caffeine - It’s well known that caffeine, found in coffee and energy drinks, acts as a stimulant and can improve the feelings of alertness, countering the effects of fatigue. However, too much caffeine may cause the adverse effects of irritability and headaches. It can also disturb your sleep, leading to tiredness the next day. Cutting back on caffeinated drinks can help stabilise your energy levels to help you feel better.
- Refined carbohydrates - Refined, sugary carbs add little nutritional value to your diet. Instead, try to choose complex carbohydrates and whole-grain foods to ensure your body gets the nutrients it needs.
How can a nutrition professional help you combat tiredness?
A balanced diet can address many underlying health issues, but it's important to remember that there is no one nutrient that's responsible for all ill health, and there is no one nutrient that will make us healthy. It really is about our overall dietary pattern.
A nutrition professional can provide expert advice and support to help you make positive changes to your diet and lifestyle (such as sleep hygiene and exercise) in order to combat tiredness, reduce fatigue and boost energy levels. Whilst having a general understanding is helpful, a nutrition professional can help you identify what is right for you.
To learn more about how you can manage your energy levels with the support of nutrition, reach out to a qualified professional to explore how you can work together.
All content displayed on Nutritionist Resource is provided for general information purposes only, and should not be treated as a substitute for advice given by your GP or any other healthcare professional.
