Medical Reasons You Feel Sleepy All the Time

Sleeping is as vital to living as breathing or eating: a person won’t live long without it. It is involved in the healing and repair of your physical and psychological functions. It allows your brain to mostly shut off and your body to work at a slower pace to heal. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. 

Trouble sleeping can unfortunately be due to many things from psychological issues to digestive issues to breathing and since sleeping is such a big part of our day-to-day function it’s best to get it sorted as soon as possible. But know the difference: being tired can be sorted with sleep, fatigue cannot. We’re going to be looking at tiredness and if you think you are feeling fatigue, consult a doctor.

If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, take a look at the following list of medical reasons and see if any of them apply to you.

1. Anemia

Anemia is the medical term for iron deficiency. Women with heavy periods and pregnant women are particularly prone to anemia. It can also be seen in men and postmenopausal women but will likely be due to problems with the stomach and intestines, such as an ulcer.

Keep an eye out for pale skin, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. A doctor will likely take a blood test to confirm and will recommend a prescription based on what’s causing the iron deficiency, but most likely they will also recommend iron tablets to replace the iron lost from your body.

If your diet is what’s causing your anemia, you can eat and drink more leafy vegetables, cereals, meat and dried fruit and avoid tea, coffee, and dairy.

On the other hand, it is possible to have too much iron, known as haemochromatosis, which can leave you feeling tired all the time. Look out for weight loss, weakness, joint pain, erectile dysfunction, and irregular periods. Treatments can lower the amount of iron in the body such as a phlebotomy, which will remove some of your blood two to four times a year. There’s also chelation therapy which is treatment where you take medicine to reduce the amount of iron in your body.

2. Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is when your breathing will stall and start while you are asleep. It causes problems like higher blood pressure, higher chance of having a stroke, depression and difficulty concentrating. You can spot sleep apnea by noticing gasping, snorting, or choking noises, waking up a lot and loud snoring. Throughout the day you might feel tired, have mood swings and headaches, and find it hard to concentrate.

If it is mild enough, sleep apnea doesn’t need to be treated, or can be treated at home, but if your sleep apnea is severe, many people sleep with a CPAP machine. It pumps air into a mask worn over your face as you sleep. It can help improve your breathing by making sure your airways stay more open and reduce high blood pressure caused by sleep apnea.

At home, you can learn to sleep on your side by buying a special pillow or bed wedge, or you can try losing weight if you are overweight.

3. Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid, is where your thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough hormones, causing tiredness, depression, and weight gain. Luckily it can be a simple fix with daily hormone tablets, named levothyroxine, to replace the hormones your thyroid is not making.

An underactive thyroid can be confused with other hormone-based conditions such as menopause or a change in contraception so contact your GP if you are experiencing weight gain, depression, sensitivity to the cold, dry skin and hair or muscle aches.

Men women and children can have an underactive thyroid, although it is more common in women. If left untreated, complications can arise such as heart disease, goiter, pregnancy problems and a fatal condition called myxedema coma.

4. Coeliac disease

Coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition where your immune system attacks your own tissues when you eat gluten, like an allergy. It damages your small intestine, so you are less able to take in vital nutrients. If eating gluten is causing you a host of gut issues such as diarrhea, stomach aches, bloating and fating, indigestion and constipation, you might have Coeliac disease. Look out for fatigue from malnutrition, weight loss an itchy rash, difficulty getting pregnant, and nerve damage to determine that a gluten allergy is the cause.

There is currently no cure for Coeliac disease beyond following a gluten-free diet. A gluten-free diet will help to control the symptoms and avoid long-term complications of the disease such as osteoporosis or bowel cancer.