Most of the time fatigue can be traced to one or more of your habits or routines, particularly lack of exercise. It's also commonly related to depression. On occasion, fatigue is a symptom of other underlying conditions that require medical treatment.

Lifestyle factors

Taking an honest inventory of things that might be responsible for your fatigue is often the first step toward relief. Fatigue may be related to:

1. Use of alcohol or drugs
2. Excess physical activity
3. Jet lag disorder
4. Lack of physical activity
5. Lack of sleep
6. Medications, such as antihistamines, cough medicines
7. Unhealthy eating habits

Conditions

Unrelenting exhaustion may be a sign of a condition or an effect of the drugs or therapies used to treat it, such as:

1. Acute liver failure
2. Anemia
3. Anxiety
4. Cancer
5. Chronic fatigue syndrome
6. Chronic infection or inflammation
7. Chronic kidney disease
8. Concussion
9. COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
10. Depression (major depressive disorder)
11. Diabetes
12. Emphysema
13. Fibromyalgia
14. Grief
15. Heart disease
16. Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid)
17. Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
18. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
19. Medications and treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, pain drugs, heart drugs and antidepressants
20. Multiple sclerosis
21. Obesity
22. Pain that's persistent
23. Sleep apnea
24. Stress
25. Traumatic brain injury

• Definition
• When to see a doctor

Jan. 11, 2018