Some days you probably feel like no matter how much sleep you’re getting, the feeling of tiredness just won’t leave you alone. No one likes ‘feeling tired’, it’s the sentence most universally accompanied by a deep sigh of sadness. Unless you’re about to throw yourself onto a king-sized bed with silk sheets – then you’d probably welcome the feeling.
Unfortunately, most days when feeling tired hits you, your bed is nowhere in sight — and even if it was, you probably wouldn’t be able to crawl into it and snooze at any random time of day. Sure, you can combat exhaustion by overdosing on coffee or black/green tea, which definitely isn’t the healthiest option, but what you could also do… is to get to the bottom of what’s causing it.
Lack of sleep isn’t the only thing that drains our energy – there are other sneaky factors that make you tired even if you’ve been getting enough sleep.
Of course, we did our research and prepared this useful 5 reasons list for you:
It seems water is the answer to everything. Sure, we’ve talked about the benefits of regular water intake before as well as the effect of hydration on your fitness goals so it might not come as a surprise to find hydration on this list as well. If your body is dehydrated, you will feel tired because dehydration makes the blood thicker, which means your heart pumps less efficiently. This reduces the speed at which oxygen and nutrients reach your muscles and organs. Ergo, you feel tired, so drink your water. Staying properly hydrated throughout the day can be more effective than coffee! If you find yourself forgetting to drink water more often than not, you should check out our Spring, smart water bottle!
If you’re feeling sluggish, irritable, weak, and unable to focus, it might be because you have an iron deficiency. An iron deficiency means less oxygen will travel to your muscles and cells, leaving you feeling tired. Foods like kidney beans, tofu, eggs (including the yolk), dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, and peanut butter are rich in iron, and if you eat them with foods that are rich in vitamin C, all the better because vitamin C improves iron absorption. Try incorporating these foods into your meals and watch your energy level skyrocket and feeling of tiredness dissipate!
Breakfast fuels your body with the energy it consumed during the night. Skipping breakfast makes it hard for your body to recuperate, so you feel tired during the day. If you’re not used to eating breakfast in the morning, building this up as a habit can seem difficult. After all, the reason you don’t eat is that you just don’t feel like it or don’t feel hungry in the morning. Even so, you should try to force yourself to eat at least a piece of something healthy to start the day with a good amount of energy. Once you start doing it regularly, it will become a routine and you won’t be able to imagine leaving the house in the morning without eating first. We’re here to help you get started so make sure to try our 5 day healthy breakfast challenge.
We all love a nice, greasy cheeseburger and fries, or a delicious red velvet cupcake… but your favorite guilty pleasure might be the reason you’re feeling tired all the time. Junk food is usually full of simple carbs which causes your blood sugar to rapidly rise and then fall even more rapidly. Unstable spikes like these make you fatigued during the day, so that could explain why you have a mid-day slump where all you want to do is take a nap. How do you avoid it? Make sure you get some lean protein in your system along with whole grain, if possible, at every meal.
For some (or most, even), cleaning up is not a fun thing to do, but if your house and desk are always a mess — regardless of whether you refer to it as a creative chaos, where you actually know where everything is — it’s more likely you’ll feel tired working when you’re surrounded by a mess. A cluttered desk mentally exhausts you by restricting your ability to focus — it’s distracted by everything around you — and limits your brain’s ability to process information. We’re sorry to say, it’s not creative chaos, it’s actually an energy drainer.
Did you find yourself relating to some (or all) of these? Well then, we might have just gotten to the bottom of your constant sleepy face! Try these tips and we’re sure you’ll end up feeling more rested than usual.
If, after going through this list and making changes, you’re still left questioning why you’re always tired — maybe it’s time you visit a medical professional. Chronic fatigue can be a symptom in some autoimmune and other diseases or illnesses, so it’s always best to stay on the safe side and get yourself checked out!
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