We all experience tiredness at times and tiredness can be relieved by sleep and rest.

But what is Fatigue? Fatigue is when the tiredness is often overwhelming and it isn’t relieved by sleep and rest.

Here are 10 health conditions known to cause tiredness or fatigue.

1. Anaemia

One of the most common medical reasons for feeling constantly run down is iron deficiency known as anaemia.

Women with heavy periods and pregnant women are especially prone to Anaemia. But it can also affect men and postmenopausal women.

If you have Anaemia you feel you can’t be bothered to do anything and your muscles, feel heavy and you tend to get tired very quickly.

It is important to note that it is possible to have too much iron, which can also cause tiredness. This is known as ‘iron-overload disorder’ medically called haemochromatosis.

Haemochromatosis is a relatively rare inherited condition that affects men and women between the ages of 30 and 60.

2. Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea is a condition where your throat narrows or closes during sleep and repeatedly interrupts your breathing. As a result, this leads to loud snoring and a drop in your blood’s oxygen levels. The difficulty in breathing means you tend to wake up often in the night and feel exhausted the following day.

Sleep apnoea is common in overweight middle-aged men and drinking alcohol and smoking makes it worse.

3. Underactive thyroid

An underactive thyroid gland means you have too little thyroid hormone known as thyroxine in your body. This in turn makes you feel tired.

You’re also likely to put on weight and have aching muscles and dry skin. It’s most common in women and happens more often as you get older.

Your doctor can diagnose an underactive thyroid by taking a blood test.

4. Coeliac disease

Coeliac disease is a lifelong disease caused by the immune system reacting to gluten.

Gluten is a protein in wheat, barley and rye, and can be found in foods like pasta, bread, cakes and cereals.

Other symptoms of coeliac disease, apart from tiredness are:

• diarrhoea
• bloating
• anaemia
• weight loss

Your doctor can check if you have coeliac disease by doing a blood test.

5. Chronic fatigue syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME) is a severe and disabling fatigue that goes on for at least 4 months. There may be other symptoms, such as muscle or joint pain.

6. Diabetes

One of the main symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes is feeling very tired.

Other key symptoms are feeling very thirsty, needing to urinate (particularly at night) and weight loss.

Speak to your doctor if you think you might have these symptoms.

7. Glandular fever

Glandular fever is a common viral infection that causes:

• Fatigue with fever
• sore throat 
• swollen glands

Symptoms usually clear up within 4 to 6 weeks, but the fatigue can linger on for several more months.

8. Depression

As well as making you feel very sad, depression can also make you feel tired and exhausted.

It can stop you falling asleep or cause you to wake up early in the morning, which makes you feel more tired during the day.

9. Restless legs syndrome

This is when you get an overwhelming urge to move your legs, which can keep you awake at night. You might also have a crawling sensation or a deep ache in your legs or your legs might jerk spontaneously throughout the night.

Whatever the symptoms, your sleep will be disrupted and be of poor quality, so you’ll feel very tired the following day.

10. Anxiety

Feeling anxious is sometimes perfectly normal. But some people have constant uncontrollable feelings of anxiety that are so strong they affect their daily life. 

Doctors call this generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). It’s a common condition, affecting slightly more women than men. As well as feeling worried and irritable, people with GAD often feel tired.

Remember if you feel excessively tired for a prolonged amount of time, then you should consult your doctor and take professional medical advice.

We hope you found this information useful!

Please visit our YouTube Channel @Extrai-i where you can watch all of our videos on health and wellbeing.

Visit our Amazon shop for health and wellbeing products used and recommended by us.