Got Fatigue?

Sleep is way underrated. In fact, I often overhear people bragging about how they go to bed late, wake up early and run through their days. I'm not sure if I believe all of these stories but a lack of sleep is nothing to write home about. It's the fastest route to poor performance and mental fuzziness. And, you'll look tired!

Besides a lack of sleep, sometimes there's something else going on and you have to do a little detective work to figure out what's causing your daytime yawning and daydreams of getting some zzzz's. Check out this article on FitnessRx Magazine's website about the top causes of fatigue in women.

If any of these sound like you, it's time to talk to your physician. If not, it's still time to go to the doctor and find out what's going on. After all, walking around like a zombie is no way to live.

Feeling Tired? What Lab Tests do You Need?

If you are tired all the time, it's important to see your physician to rule out common causes of fatigue. Three of the top causes are iron deficiency anemia, hypothyroidism and mono. I know what you are thinking here, there's no way you have mono, that's for college kids. However, mono is actually very contagious. You don't need to swap spit with someone to get it. You can also catch it from someone sneezing or coughing near you, eating or drinking after someone and possibly just being in close contact with someone. And if you are at the doctor already, drawing a little more blood and getting a mono spot test is worth it!
Click here to find out what labs you need to test for iron deficiency and for more information about hypothyroidism, click here.

So what do you do if all three of these tests come up negative (meaning you have none of these conditions)? Now you look for other causes such as stress, depression, sleep apnea, a hectic busy schedule, lack of sleep (or lack of good quality sleep) and what you are eating (or not eating). Sometimes, figuring out what may be wrong is best done by process of elimination. You eliminate the potential obvious issues and then look for other possibilities causing the problem.