The Best Vitamins For Tiredness and Fatigue
What Is Tiredness and Fatigue?
It may sometimes seem like grabbing a chocolate bar or an energy drink can quickly give you the energy you need, but despite marketing hype, energy is something that the body needs to make naturally. It cannot be 'bought' and consumed. In order to get the energy needed for everyday activities, you have to give your body the correct foods, so that it can turn them into fuel. This is a complex process, and having enough energy is important to make sure that your body is functioning at its best, so that it can do everything from thinking, to moving and digesting food. Without the essential vitamins and minerals needed to covert food into energy, your body simply doesn't work properly, making you feel out-of-sync, tired and sluggish. If you're struggling with tiredness and fatigue, it is likely that your energy levels have dropped to great lows. You might find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, or that you've run out of puff by 4pm.
There are many different factors that can affect how tired we feel during the day. Feeling sleepy during the day can be a sign that your body is missing key nutrients such as:
Let's take a look at some of the best vitamins for tiredness and fatigue.
Why do we feel tiredness and fatigue?
Having a bad night's sleep is often the most common reason for feeling fatigue or tiredness the next day. While this can often be quickly resolved, if you are feeling tired on a regular basis, there could be an underlying reason such as stress, a medical condition, or a poor sleeping environment with too much disruption. If you are struggling to sleep on a continued basis, you should consult your doctor for advice.
The most common reason:
Nutrition deficiencies are another common reason for persistent tiredness and fatigue, and they are more common than you think.
If your body isn't getting enough vitamins and minerals like iron, B Vitamins, magnesium or Vitamin C, you may start to notice this in your everyday energy levels.
- 25% of the global population for example suffers from anaemia, and an iron deficiency is the sole reason for half of all anaemia cases. Feeling excessively tired is the most common symptom of anaemia, but once diagnosed and iron tablets are given, this symptom typically improves.
- Research has also suggested that 20% of people in the UK have a Vitamin B12 deficiency. This is especially the case in older adults, as the body's ability to absorb Vitamin B12 decreases with age. Vitamin B12 is vital for delivering oxygen around the body so that it can convert food to energy, so having low levels of this vitamin in your diet can cause tiredness. If you think you may be getting too little Vitamin B12 in your diet, speak to your doctor, as you may need a Vitamin B12 supplement.
Stress related tiredness and fatigue:
Stress is another cause of fatigue and can greatly reduce your quality of life. If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, and this is affecting your energy levels, you may want to speak to your doctor, a therapist, or look to find different ways to manage stress, such as doing regular exercise, meditation, and practicing mindfulness. Although it is normal for everyone to experience stress at some point in their lives, chronic stress can lead to prolonged tiredness and fatigue because of inflammation in the brain, and even conditions such as stress-related exhaustion disorder. If you constantly feel tired and fatigued, you should speak to your doctor and tell them about your symptoms. They may recommend a multivitamin supplement, iron tablets, or may recommend tests to rule out underlying health conditions such as anxiety, kidney or heart disease, diabetes, thyroid conditions, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia.