Recent Onset of Fatigue/Tiredness: A Disease Or Brain Messing Around?

  

The human body tends to signal abnormalities in some way or another other and fatigue is not anything different. It is more of a symptom than a disease. Now if you are wondering if fatigue is a symptom of a particular disease or specific diseases, the answer is no! You can feel fatigued even in absence of an underlying disease.

Let's get back to our topic: Suddenly Too Fatigued/Tired: A Disease Or Brain Messing Around?

To answer this, let's define fatigue and the possible reasons for its persistence. 

Fatigue is a persistent feeling of tiredness. It can be explained as the inability to accelerate the car even having your foot on the accelerator. Fatigue can be due to physical or mental reasons, or both. Another cause could be a recent change in routine with improper rest and sleep.

Let's dive deep into the pool of culprits (reasons) so that we can hold them accountable.

While evaluating the reasons for tiredness, first look for any recent changes in your routine. Notice any abrupt changes in your sleep schedule, diet, and activity.

Deprivation of sleep, an unbalanced diet, and lack of exercise, each can contribute to tiredness. We will save the mechanisms for another day. This answers one of our questions and puts forward the idea that suddenly feeling too tired is not necessarily due to disease. 

If nothing has changed in your daily routine, and there is a sudden onset of tiredness, then you might want to consider making an appointment with your physician. Some of the underlying causes of fatigue are as follows:

1. Anemia:

You can become anemic if your iron levels are low because your body needs iron to generate hemoglobin. The deficiency of iron makes it difficult for your blood to move oxygen to different parts of your body since hemoglobin plays a pivotal role in oxygen transport to tissues. You feel exhausted because your cells aren't getting enough oxygen.

2. Thyroid Problems

Underactivity or hyperactivity (overactivity) of your thyroid gland can cause problems. An underactive thyroid gland means less thyroid hormone which is responsible for controlling the metabolism of your body, thus, reducing metabolism and slowing down the process of breaking food into energy molecules. This eventually leads to fatigue and a lack of energy.

3. Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder that is characterized by repeated patterns of stopping and starting of breathing. Obstructive breathing results in repeated awakenings. So, the lack of proper and restorative sleep results in drowsiness and lack of energy during the daytime. 

4. Menopause in Women

Menopause nearing time can result in fluctuations in hormones produced by the ovaries. These hormone fluctuations also have a knock-on effect on other hormones such as stress hormones and thyroid hormones. Besides, the hot flashes and emotional ups and downs can cause restlessness during the day and night time, leading up to disruptions in restorative sleep. Since the body is undergoing a lot of changes, the body feels an immense lack of energy and tiredness as a result.

5. Heart Disease

While this might be an extreme side of it, heart disease could be a potential reason for fatigue. This case is usually accompanied by other visible symptoms such as edema in legs and arms, shortness of breath, or even fatigue worsening with exercise.

While we considered mostly physical conditions that can result in fatigue, these usually accompany other symptoms as well. 

Depression, one of the most overlooked and undiagnosed conditions, can also result in persistent fatigue and lack of sleep at night. Depression potentially results in a chemical imbalance in the brain, abrupting proper functioning of the brain. 

In concluding our article here, sudden fatigue can be due to several reasons and is hard to be attributed to one cause. It is certainly not our brain messing around. While we are not experts, we can definitely listen to the cues that our body gives us. So, listen to your body, notice recent changes in your routine, and talk to your physician.

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Ravinder (Yours Truly)

Ravinder is a graduate of the University of California, Davis aspiring to pursue a career in medicine. He is dedicated to creating a platform where everyone can have a space to share their opinions or just have a good time reading different materials.