Chronic fatigue tends to zap your enjoyment out of life. Small chores become a big headache, functioning at school and work becomes increasingly more difficult, and you lose the drive to spend time with your loved ones. Essentially, chronic fatigue makes you less like yourself.
Fortunately, there are usually identifiable causes for chronic fatigue including:
We explore all of the various reasons that may be causing your fatigue. There may be a single identifiable reason, or a combination of factors. Below are some common causes of chronic fatigue!
One of the most obvious reasons you could be tired all the time is because of sleep deprivation, which is commonly caused by sleeping disorders. Sleep disorders are conditions that prevent you from getting the requisite sleep. You have likely heard of some of these already:
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder and medical condition that causes you to repeatedly stop breathing constantly throughout the night, anywhere for 40 to over 100 times per night. When you stop breathing, you momentarily wake up to begin breathing again (though you won’t remember waking). Besides chronic fatigue primary symptoms of sleep apnea include:
Insomnia is a sleep condition that leaves you unable to either fall asleep at bedtime, stay asleep throughout the night, or sleep through the night until your morning wake time. The result is that you are constantly “under-sleeping”. This sleep deprivation causes by insomnia can lead to any of the following, which can be mild-severe:
Parasomnias are disruptive sleep disorders that interfere with your circadian rhythm, and include:
Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness, leading to:
Sleep deprivation isn’t always the product of a sleeping disorder. You can be sleep deprived for behavioral or lifestyle reasons such as:
There are some relatively common medical conditions that can make you tired all the time, even though you feel like you are getting plenty of sleep. These include:
Finally, there are numerous lifestyle and emotional related causes of chronic fatigue. These can lead to hormone imbalances or insomniatic symptoms, and include:
If you are living in Anchorage and struggle with chronic fatigue or tiredness during the daytime, contact us. We can help. Please click the link below to take a free online sleep test!