Top 5 Most Common Reasons You Might Be Tired By Dr. Aaron Wong, ND

​Do you often find yourself feeling tired? 
Do you wish you had more energy to do the things you want to do?

Not having enough energy is one of the most common concerns of our patients.  While there are many products and supplements that claim to help you with energy, they might not address the root cause of why you are tired in the first place and figuring that out requires the help of a licensed health professional that can look at your symptoms and your blood work to come up with the appropriate treatment plan.

We can't truly help you feel better if we don't address the reason why you are tired and we often find these reasons to be multifaceted, however this is a list of the most common reasons our patients experience fatigue.

1) Nutritional Deficiencies

​If you have been feeling tired regularly and haven't had recent blood testing, making sure you're not anemic is a good place to start. Commonly we send our patients for basic blood tests, that include testing for Iron and Vitamin B12 levels. There are different types of anemia and doing basic blood testing is very helpful in getting to the root cause of your tiredness. The first step is figuring out if you are anemic and if you are anemic, we then need to address why it's happening in the first place.

2) Low Thyroid Function

Thyroid disorders are very common in today's population especially when there is a family history of Thyroid conditions.  If you have been gradually feeling more and more exhausted over time and don't know why, looking into your thyroid function is critically important.  There are many different reasons why thyroid function can be deficient and figuring out why this is happening earlier-on offers a better opportunity for recovery.  Managing your thyroid health requires the guidance of a qualified health professional that is willing to test all aspects of thyroid functioning.  We find that when patients follow health practitioners that don't test for all aspects of thyroid functioning, they yield poorer overall results in both the short and long term management of thyroid disorders.

3) Stress/Burnout

​We live in a stressed out world with high demands which results in more and more people burning themselves out just to survive. Unfortunately these cases are more the norm than the exception which is a huge cost on our short and long term health. The adrenal glands produce a hormone (cortisol) that helps us to cope with stress and these glands can become fatigued and burned out from chronic stress. This is a signal that we are requesting too much of our bodies in an unsustainable way, forcing our body to do more than it's able to by depleting valuable resources. Helping our patients with the demands of daily life by supporting their bodies is a critical part of treatment. We see this time and time again with patients that care for others full time and put their own health and themselves last.

4) Lack of Sleep/Rest

​If you aren't getting enough sleep or rest, you can't recover.  Your body naturally requires you to rest and sleep in order to continue to function.  When this cycle is interrupted, you don't get the recovery time you need to sustain healthy functioning.  Many of our patients struggle with being able to fall asleep, while others struggle with being able to stay asleep.  Correcting sleep disturbances involves a mind, body, spirit approach to allow patients the opportunity to address thought patterns, beliefs, hormones, & neurotransmitter imbalances.

5) Poor Diet & Inadequate Water Intake

​If you don't give the body the right fuel, it won't run properly.  Not eating enough and not staying hydrated deprives the body of what it needs to function optimally.  Eating primarily sugary foods & refined carbohydrates causes blood sugar highs and lows which will leave the body feeling exhausted and increase your risk of developing chronic health conditions.  Inadequate protein and fats throughout the day doesn't give the body enough energy to sustain itself.  Not knowing your personal inflammatory trigger foods can cause your body to feel swollen, bloated, and fatigued and put you at risk for long term health conditions.

​This is our list of the most common reasons that we see on a daily basis.  There are many other causes of fatigue that we also address at our clinic.  Other causes of fatigue that we see are disorders in genetics, toxicity, chronic diseases, & depression to name a few.

By Dr. Aaron Wong, ND