It’s not unusual to return home from work after an exhausting day and want nothing more than to crawl straight into bed.
The truth is, many feel fatigued during the dark days of January and February.
But if tiredness persists for longer than a week or two, experts have long advised visiting a GP or pharmacist.
For it may actually be a sign of a far more serious problem such as an underlying condition or infection.
According to one health expert, three red flag signs include when tiredness is accompanied by a mild fever, shortness of breath or loss of appetite.
Waking up exhausted despite sleeping well or suffering are others, Thorrun Govind, a TV pharmacist and former chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said.
One recent YouGov study found that 1 in 8 Brits report feeling tired ‘all the time’ and a quarter of us are tired ‘most of the time’.
There’s even a medical acronym for it: TATT or ‘tired all the time’.
If tiredness persists for longer than a week or two, experts have long advised visiting a GP or pharmacist
Sleep deprivation can lead to obesity, memory loss, diabetes, heart disease, heightened and unstable emotions, impaired ability to learn and a reduced immune response, leaving you vulnerable to disease
But of the myriad of reasons for TATT, one of the most common is anaemia, Ms Govind said.
This is an iron deficiency that can be detected by a blood test and treated with iron tablets.
Other common causes can include vitamin B12 and folate deficiency, diabetes and hypothyroidism, which is when the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough hormones leading to slow metabolism.
One study, by researchers at the University of Florida, also concluded that ‘vitamin D deficiency might be an unrecognised and easily reversible etiology of fatigue’.
Writing in the journal, Springer Plus, they also called for ‘widespread screening for vitamin D deficiency among patients complaining of daytime sleepiness or fatigue’.
When tiredness is accompanied by a mild fever or loss of appetite, it can often indicate a respiratory infection or early signs of glandular fever, experts say.
Another common cause may also be depression.
‘Someone can be depressed without feeling they have low mood. For example, they may feel irritable or frustrated, or struggle to concentrate,’ Dr Natasha Yates, an assistant professor in general practice at Bond University, told The Conversation.
Three red flag signs include when tiredness is accompanied by a mild fever, shortness of breath or loss of appetite. Waking up exhausted despite sleeping well is another, Thorrun Govind, a TV pharmacist and former chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said
‘This is concerning, because such patients may fly under the radar and not realise this is actually depression,’ she added.
‘Unexplained tiredness may be the predominant symptom of depression, with other symptoms only coming to light with careful questioning.’
Breathlessness or a loss of appetite, meanwhile, may be linked with heart issues, such as cardiomyopathy — a disease of the heart muscle.
This causes the heart walls to thicken, particularly in the left ventricle, which is the main pumping chamber — as a result, the heart stops pumping blood effectively round the body.
‘As the heart muscle isn’t working properly, there is less oxygen circulating around the body, which is why the condition causes such tiredness,’ says Robert Hall, a cardiac nurse and medical director of the charity Cardiomyopathy UK.
‘This can make you feel fatigued, especially after exercise.
‘Medications such as beta blockers and blood pressure treatments, can also cause tiredness.’
The condition can be inherited, or triggered by heart disease or even an infection. Around 264,000 Britons suffer from it and, untreated, it can be fatal.
Claudia Delrio, 31, a London PR manager, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after she felt exhausted all day despite sleeping all night
In rarer cases, unexplained fatigue — waking up exhausted despite sleeping well — or tiredness accompanied by a loss of appetite, could be a sign of some cancers.
In October, Claudia Delrio, from London, told how she would ‘have a full night’s sleep and still feel exhausted the next day — an indicator she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
The 31-year-old PR manager said: ‘At first I ignored it and tried going to bed earlier – but nothing helped.
‘It was a different kind of tiredness: all consuming. I’d have to sleep the moment I got in from work.’
Her regular GP was fully booked so she saw a doctor at a hospital clinic. She explained she was also suffering bouts of breathlessness and she was prescribed an inhaler.
However, the tiredness failed to subside and she also began to experience a very itchy scalp and skin.
In despair, she flew back to her home country, Italy, in April 2023 and saw a doctor who referred her for tests.
‘It was stage 2 – in my lymph nodes – and I also had a 14cm tumour in my chest,’ she said.
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‘The tiredness had been there for months and I knew something was wrong but had no idea it would be something this bad.’
Other common symptoms of the cancer include swollen glands in the neck, around the collarbone, armpits, groin or other parts of the body — these may appear unexpectedly and be painless — along with high temperature, unexplained weight loss and loss of appetite.
Fortunately, Claudia undertook six months of chemotherapy and in May 2024 was declared clear of cancer.
On the other hand, however, experts also say your sleep routine may just need a few tweaks.
Health professionals have long advised Brits get at least seven hours of sleep every night and to go to bed and wake up at the same times every day.
Much like a toddler’s naps, sleep will be better when it’s consistent.
Other activities such as scrolling on your phone or snacking just before bed can too, lower the quality of your sleep.
According to the NHS, people should aim to finish dinner at least two hours before going to bed and ditch bedtime caffeine, like coffee, alcohol or nicotine, given they are all known stimulants.
Electronic devices should also be avoided at least an hour before bed.
It comes as one study last year found that around around one in six Brits suffer insomnia, yet 65 per cent never seek help for their sleep problem.
The poll of 2,000 people, by The Sleep Charity, found nine in ten experience some sort of sleep problem, while one in two engage in high-risk or dangerous behaviours when unable to sleep.
Poor sleep has been linked to a number of health problems, including cancer, stroke and infertility.
Experts have long advised that waking up during the night does not necessarily mean you have insomnia, which figures suggest affects up to 14million Brits.
Still, sleep deprivation takes its own toll, from irritability and reduced focus in the short term, to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
According to the American Sleep Association, nearly 70 million Americans also have a sleep disorder.
