WHY DO I FEEL SO TIRED? 10 POSSIBLE REASONS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

Why do I feel so tired? It is a question that you have been able to ask yourself numerous times; the feeling of tiredness or fatigue is one of the most prevalent situations among people. In fact, this factor is one of the most frequent reasons for medical consultation in different parts of the world.

At certain times, feelings of tiredness can be easily detectable and justifiable. During periods of high activity and little rest, people may feel more tired than normal, but this feeling is easily attributable to the level of activity.

However, feelings of tiredness can be due to many different causes and, sometimes, can appear at times when lack of rest is not present.

In these situations you may notice that you get tired faster than normal and that it is difficult for you to follow your rhythm of life. Likewise, you can perceive how tired you are most of the day regardless of the previous rest you have taken.

In this sense, the feeling of tiredness can be due to both physical pathologies and psychological conditions, which cause an alteration in the functioning of the organism and originate the symptom of fatigue.

Why do I feel so tired? Possible causes

1- Sleep disorders

One of the basic requirements that the human body presents in order to function properly is the proportion of rest.

In fact, if you don't sleep and rest properly, the functioning of your body will be altered and the feeling of fatigue will appear continuously.

In these cases, fatigue is not due to any physical condition, but rather to a decrease in the hours and quality of sleep. In these situations, the brain responds by requiring more rest through the sensations of sleep.

However, despite the fact that the absence of rest can be due to a great variety of contextual situations, one of the elements that is most related to this factor is sleep disturbances.

Disorders such as sleep apnea, night terrors, insomnia, or sleep paralysis can directly affect your rest and make you feel very tired during the day.

Faced with this type of situation, the feeling of fatigue must be treated through its cause, that is, by intervening the sleep disturbance and, thus, providing adequate rest to the body.

2- hypothyroidism

The feeling of chronic and recurring tiredness is one of the main symptoms of hypothyroidism. This condition is a disease that occurs when the thyroid gland generates an insufficient amount of hormones responsible for controlling metabolism.

This hormonal alteration of hypothyroidism causes a dysregulation of the body's energy storage and expenditure. For this reason, despite adequate rest, the feeling of fatigue can appear easily.

In fact, hypothyroidism is one of the most common causes of fatigue and asthenia. Normally, this pathology causes the appearance of other symptoms such as dry skin, constipation, intolerance to cold, joint pain, high levels of cholesterol in the blood or weight gain.

In these cases, the feeling of hypothyroidism is permanent and can appear even in prolonged situations of rest. The two main components of fatigue associated with hypothyroidism are:

1. Intolerance to efforts that motivates the person to experience fatigue even after performing low-wear activities.
2. Generation of a picture of discouragement, a feeling of lack of energy and slowed reasoning that appears even with the absence of physical and / or mental effort.
3. Anemia.

Beyond sleep and rest, the other main element that the body needs to function properly is the acquisition of energy through food intake.

In this sense, anemia is a pathology that is caused by a reduction in the concentration of red blood cells in the blood that generally results in high feelings of fatigue.

In anemia, there is a reduction in the cells responsible for transporting oxygen through the body. Due to this factor, the body lacks energy, a fact that causes fatigue.

The feeling of fatigue associated with anemia can be detected through the appearance of other symptoms related to this condition, such as: pale skin, blood loss, intolerance to moderate or small efforts and acceleration of the heart rate at rest.

Beyond anemia, eating an inadequate or insufficient diet can also cause feelings of tiredness due to lack of energy.

4- Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is another of the metabolic conditions that are strongly related to feelings of tiredness.

This pathology is caused by the inability of the body to transport the glucose present in the blood into the cells. Glucose is a substance of vital importance for generating energy, so when it does not work properly, the energy level tends to decrease.

In fact, without glucose, the body's cells lack their necessary nutrition, and their function decreases. This factor tends to translate directly into a greater propensity for tiredness and feelings of fatigue.

Cases of feeling excessively tired due to diabetes mellitus are usually characterized by other symptoms of the disease. The main ones are:

1. Excessive feeling of thirst throughout the day.
2. Excessive urination throughout the day.
3. Weight loss despite increased appetite.

Likewise, the feeling of fatigue caused by diabetes mellitus is usually especially noticeable in children and people who are overweight.

5- Heart failure

Heart failure is a disease characterized by the inability of the heart to pump blood properly to different regions of the body.

This condition is caused mainly by an alteration in the heart, which has an abnormally weak functioning that prevents it from meeting the energy demand that the body requires.

The main causes of this disease are myocardial infarction, high blood pressure, diseases of the heart valves and alcoholism. Likewise, among its main symptoms appears the feeling of chronic fatigue.

Heart failure can present varying degrees of severity and, therefore, different symptoms and manifestations. In general, it is maintained that the more serious the disease, the greater feelings of fatigue the person experiences.

Cases of fatigue due to heart failure are usually characterized by the presentation of other alterations, among which are swelling in the legs and shortness of breath that worsens when lying down.

6- kidney failure

Kidney failure is a pathology characterized by experiencing a notable loss of functionality in the kidneys. These organs are responsible, among other things, for filtering toxins from the blood and controlling body water volume.

Chronic kidney failure can be caused by a large number of conditions. The most prevalent are: hypertension, diabetes mellitus, polycystic kidney disease, glomerular diseases, recurrent urinary tract infections, recurrent kidney stones, and prostate diseases.

Due to the filtering function performed by the kidneys, the alteration of their functionality can affect multiple physiological activities.

In this sense, chronic kidney failure usually causes symptoms such as anemia without an apparent cause, loss of appetite, high blood pressure, swelling in the legs and recurrent feelings of fatigue.

7- Other physical diseases

Beyond those discussed above, feelings of tiredness can be produced by a great variety of situations and physical pathologies. In fact, most functional alterations in the body can lead to manifestations of fatigue.

Among the most prevalent are varicose veins, venous insufficiency of the lower limbs, cancer, fibromyalgia, liver diseases, autoimmune diseases, tuberculosis, monumental diseases, diseases of the adrenal gland and gastroesophageal flow.

Likewise, non-pathological conditions such as pregnancy are also usually related to a greater propensity to tiredness and fatigue.

8- Chronic fatigue syndrome

Despite the fact that multiple physical conditions can cause feelings of tiredness, many cases of people who seem exaggeratedly fatigued do not have a specific cause.

In this sense, the chronic fatigue syndrome appears, a relatively unknown disease that causes persistent fatigue and the presence of cognitive difficulties.

This pathology is characterized mainly by the absence of causal factors. That is, the person with chronic fatigue syndrome does not show any alteration in the physical and complementary examinations that can explain the feelings of fatigue that they experience (or the other symptoms).

The syndrome can gradually affect the immune, neurological, cardiovascular and endocrine systems. It is characterized by causing high sensations of fatigue, fever, intolerance to light, sound and poor restful sleep, as well as by large changes in body temperature, headache and muscle pain.

The onset of this condition can be sudden, appearing in a way similar to a viral outbreak, although it can also have an insidious onset.

It is common for chronic fatigue syndrome to appear after a period of emotional stress, an accident with trauma or severe poisoning. Its course is characterized by being chronic and progressive.

The manifestations are often difficult to detect. People with this condition often report feeling as if they have 'gotten the flu that can never be cured'.

Symptoms are highly variable in each case as regards its degree of severity and its temporal presentation. Symptoms can range from prolonged states of fatigue with various flu-like symptoms to experiencing a multitude of manifestations that can affect the entire body.

9- Drug consumption

The prolonged and / or excessive use of drugs can also report, as a side effect, the experience of elevated feelings of tiredness and fatigue. The main ones are:

Medications for arterial regulation

These drugs are taken to lower the blood pressure in the blood vessels. Some of these drugs are ellisinoprila, amlodipine, didrochlorothiazide, furosemide, and metoprolol.

The consumption of these drugs slows down the action of the heart, depresses the central nervous system and can cause feelings of fatigue that are higher than normal.

Statins and fibrates

These drugs are used to treat high cholesterol. The best known statins are atorvastatin, simvastatin, and rosuvastatin, and the most widely used fibrate is fenofibrate.

Statins kill the production of certain cells in the muscles, stopping their growth. According to certain studies, these medications also interact with the production of energy at the cellular level, so their consumption can cause fatigue.

Proton-pump inhibitor

These drugs are used to treat gastroesophageal reflux and similar disorders. The best known with esomeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole.

When used for a long time, these drugs can lower the level of magnesium in the blood, cause loss of appetite, and cause feelings of tiredness, fatigue, and weakness.

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines are anxiolytic psychotropic drugs that are mainly used to treat anxiety disorders. The most widely used are alprazolam, diazepam, lorazepam and clonazepam.

These medications decrease the activity of certain regions of the nervous system, generating feelings of sedation and lowering the body's energy level.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines are medications used to prevent or intervene in allergy symptoms, as well as to treat conditions such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, or anxiety.

These drugs often cause sedation, feelings of tiredness, and drowsiness. Likewise, on some occasions they can cause dizziness and weakness.

10- Stress and depression

Finally, it must be taken into account that not only physical alterations can cause feelings of fatigue. In fact, psychological disorders can be responsible for a good part of fatigue cases.

In this sense, depression and other alterations of the state of mind cause, in a recurrent way, feelings of excessive fatigue. On the other hand, today it is well documented that stress is one of the main causal factors of feelings of fatigue.

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