7. B12 deficiency or insufficiency
Getting enough vitamin B12 is crucial for brain health, your immune system, and your metabolism. As we age, though, our ability to absorb B12 declines. “Fatigue is one of the first signs of B12 deficiency,” Lisa Cimperman, R.D. previously told Prevention. Certain diabetes and heartburn medications and digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease hinder your body’s ability to absorb B12. And if you follow a plant-based diet, you also have an increased risk, because B12 occurs naturally only in meat, eggs, shellfish, and dairy.
In addition to fatigue, you may be low on B12 if you’re experiencing bouts of tingling in hands and feet, memory lapses, dizziness, anxiety, and vision problems. If your doctor expects you’re low on B12, you’ll undergo a simple blood test. Depending on your blood test results, your doctor may suggest working more dietary sources of B12 into your eating plan or taking a vitamin B12 supplement.
8. Long COVID
This one can be tricky to pinpoint, but it’s important to consider if you’ve had COVID-19. Post-COVID conditions, a.k.a. long COVID or long-haul COVID, is an umbrella term used to describe a range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can have for weeks, months, or years after they were first infected with COVID-19, per the CDC. Even people who had minor symptoms of the virus or no symptoms at all can develop post-COVID conditions.
There are a lot of different potential symptoms you can experience if you have long COVID, but tiredness and fatigue are common, says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. “It can be incredibly disruptive,” he says. “Some people aren’t able to make it through the day without taking a nap.” That can be difficult to navigate if you need to be at work or school during that time, he points out.
In addition to fatigue, you may have symptoms like trouble breathing or shortness of breath, feel more tired after doing physical or mental activities, or have mental fog, a lingering cough, joint or muscle pain, sleep problems, dizziness when you stand up, and changes in your ability to smell and taste things, per the CDC.
There are no laboratory tests to diagnose long COVID, but your doctor may want to give you an antibody test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to detect a previous infection.
While being fully vaccinated can help prevent it, there are no set treatments for long COVID, but your doctor may be able to offer up specific advice based on your situation. “It just tincture of time at this point for fatigue and long COVID,” Dr. Russo says. But, he adds, it’s important to see your doctor to rule out any non-COVID cause since long COVID is a “diagnosis of exclusion.”