Do you feel tired all the time, even though you can’t think of any good reason why you should?  Do you frequently wake up feeling like you haven’t slept at all?

I’m not talking about if you habitually get 4 hours of sleep a night.  I’m not talking about people who (you know who you are) party every night and go to bed drunk.  If you are always up late partying, or never make sure you get enough sleep, then there’s a perfectly good explanation for why you are tired all the time — and you are the one who needs to fix that particular problem.

However, some people find that they are tired all the time, even though they get plenty of sleep.  If you find yourself getting tired, falling asleep at inappropriate times (such as while driving or working), feeling irritable all the time, or not able to perform during sex, you might have a medical condition that is causing your extreme exhaustion.

Here are a few medical conditions that could be the culprit:

1. Diabetes – People with untreated diabetes get tired all the time because their bodies aren’t getting the energy it needs: The sugar in the blood stream isn’t getting transferred into the body’s cells.  Before I was diagnosed as diabetic, I easily got 10 hours of sleep a night, yet I always needed a mid-day nap as well — and I was still absolutely exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around.  Once I started taking insulin and got my blood sugar levels under control, however, my energy levels picked up and I stopped feeling tired all the time.
2. Hypothyroidism – Hypothyroidism is a condition where the thyroid doesn’t manufacture enough hormone.  Since thyroid hormone controls the body’s metabolism, someone without enough of the hormone gets tired all the time, gains weight, struggles with depression, and suffers other symptoms such as a less active sex drive.  With some replacement hormone therapy, you’ll be feeling back to yourself in no time!
3. Sleep apnea — Sleep apnea is a pretty common, and often pretty scary, condition that causes a person to stop breathing at times throughout the night.  The cessation of breath is usually pretty brief, but can happen frequently, disrupting sleep patterns and making it impossible for the person to get enough rest.  The condition is treated by using a BiPAP or CPAP machine while you sleep, which keeps your airway open and keeps you breathing continuously.  This CPAP equipment is usually covered at least in part by your health insurance provider.

If you are tired all the time and you can’t think of a reasonable explanation why, chances are there is something wrong that is causing your fatique.  You should definitely visit your doctor and have them run tests to find out what’s wrong with you — there’s no reason why you should have to live with tiredness all the time!

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