Yeah, that’s my assessment of the most likely reason, too—I just need a bit more sleep than some people do. I wish I didn’t, though! I think the tiredness levels probably aren’t bothersome enough to be worth mentioning to a doctor—I’m not really prevented from doing anything by it.
I suppose so. There’s a small chance I could be a bit anaemic. I’m a vegetarian, and the onset of the tiredness thing miiiight have occurred at around the same time as I drastically reduced my consumption of (fortified-with-iron) breakfast cereal. I should go and give blood! Haven’t done so for a couple of years, and they check your iron levels when you do that.
A full blood panel would probably be better :-/ Think about it this way: if there turns out to be some fixable problem, fixing it might reduce your sleep requirements which would be a very useful thing for you.
I should give blood anyway, though. If I get round to doing that and it turns out I’m not anaemic, I suppose I’d consider investigating a bit further. Seems to me I’ve got a much better chance of checking that one thing by doing that than by going to my doctor and whining “So, sometimes I feel a bit tired...” (Like every other grad student / adult human on the planet, right?)
(It’s possible that this is a difference between the UK, where I am, and America. As far as I’m aware, it’s not a thing to go to the doctor and request various tests, here. Doctors run tests iff they think they’re warranted. I gather from things that I’ve noticed Americans say that you can ask for particular things to be done, over there? But I suppose you then have to pay for it.)
it’s not a thing to go to the doctor and request various tests, here.
Well, it’s a function of the relationship between you and your doctor. You certainly can ask for tests and while it could be true that an NHS doctor will be less likely to agree to them than a US doctor, you don’t lose anything by asking.
Of course, saying “sometimes I feel a bit tired” is one thing, and saying (still quoting you) ”...am often extremely dozy by mid-afternoon … I just… feel tired when I do so. And during the day. And really, really tired at night.” is quite a different thing.
The tired-by-mid-afternoon feeling, by the way, could indicate sugar control problems. I’d add fasting glucose test to the general blood panel—if you are pre-diabetic, you really want to know this.
Sure, you’re correct about asking. The reason for the discrepancy in the two ways I phrased the issue is that I think the former is what the doctor will “hear”—perhaps I’m completely wrong about that! But given that I don’t have an objective point of comparison, it seems quite plausible to me that in fact I am no more tired than your average busy-ish, active person. The only reason I’m even wondering if I should be less tired is because it seems like I used to be able to get by on less sleep—a subjective impression that I’m not very confident in.
I do sometimes feel like I have a bit of a blood sugar issue, though I’d be extremely surprised if I was pre-diabetic. I’m young and fit, no risk factors remotely present. Maybe that would be worth getting checked out some time in any case.
It’s true that tiredness is a very common complaint but if it really bothers the person enough that they’ve come for a visit I’d still do some basic screening even if the person appears healthy. There are enough people with non-existent problems who frequent clinics several times a year that you going for a visit for the first time are unlikely to be put in the whiner category.
Even here in Finland where we have long dark winters and we have mostly national health care that is trying to be cost effective tiredness is a good enough reason to go visit a doctor.
Eh. This problem is nowhere near bad enough that I want to end up on medication or something. In general, I’m very healthy and do a lot of sports and stuff. The less medicine that gets near me the better; if it’s something simple like iron deficiency, I can fix that easily through diet. More likely, there’s not even an actual problem, I just need to sleep a bit more.
Yeah, that’s my assessment of the most likely reason, too—I just need a bit more sleep than some people do. I wish I didn’t, though! I think the tiredness levels probably aren’t bothersome enough to be worth mentioning to a doctor—I’m not really prevented from doing anything by it.
I am quite envious of the 5-hours-is-enough guy :-/
The question isn’t really whether they are bothersome, the question is whether the tiredness is a symptom of a serious underlying problem.
I suppose so. There’s a small chance I could be a bit anaemic. I’m a vegetarian, and the onset of the tiredness thing miiiight have occurred at around the same time as I drastically reduced my consumption of (fortified-with-iron) breakfast cereal. I should go and give blood! Haven’t done so for a couple of years, and they check your iron levels when you do that.
A full blood panel would probably be better :-/ Think about it this way: if there turns out to be some fixable problem, fixing it might reduce your sleep requirements which would be a very useful thing for you.
I should give blood anyway, though. If I get round to doing that and it turns out I’m not anaemic, I suppose I’d consider investigating a bit further. Seems to me I’ve got a much better chance of checking that one thing by doing that than by going to my doctor and whining “So, sometimes I feel a bit tired...” (Like every other grad student / adult human on the planet, right?)
(It’s possible that this is a difference between the UK, where I am, and America. As far as I’m aware, it’s not a thing to go to the doctor and request various tests, here. Doctors run tests iff they think they’re warranted. I gather from things that I’ve noticed Americans say that you can ask for particular things to be done, over there? But I suppose you then have to pay for it.)
Well, it’s a function of the relationship between you and your doctor. You certainly can ask for tests and while it could be true that an NHS doctor will be less likely to agree to them than a US doctor, you don’t lose anything by asking.
Of course, saying “sometimes I feel a bit tired” is one thing, and saying (still quoting you) ”...am often extremely dozy by mid-afternoon … I just… feel tired when I do so. And during the day. And really, really tired at night.” is quite a different thing.
The tired-by-mid-afternoon feeling, by the way, could indicate sugar control problems. I’d add fasting glucose test to the general blood panel—if you are pre-diabetic, you really want to know this.
The normal circadian rhythm has two low points, the other one in the afternoon. A dip in alertness at that time is probably normal.
Sure, you’re correct about asking. The reason for the discrepancy in the two ways I phrased the issue is that I think the former is what the doctor will “hear”—perhaps I’m completely wrong about that! But given that I don’t have an objective point of comparison, it seems quite plausible to me that in fact I am no more tired than your average busy-ish, active person. The only reason I’m even wondering if I should be less tired is because it seems like I used to be able to get by on less sleep—a subjective impression that I’m not very confident in.
I do sometimes feel like I have a bit of a blood sugar issue, though I’d be extremely surprised if I was pre-diabetic. I’m young and fit, no risk factors remotely present. Maybe that would be worth getting checked out some time in any case.
Thanks for the input, incidentally. :)
It’s true that tiredness is a very common complaint but if it really bothers the person enough that they’ve come for a visit I’d still do some basic screening even if the person appears healthy. There are enough people with non-existent problems who frequent clinics several times a year that you going for a visit for the first time are unlikely to be put in the whiner category.
Even here in Finland where we have long dark winters and we have mostly national health care that is trying to be cost effective tiredness is a good enough reason to go visit a doctor.
Blood donation will (almost certainly) not check things like thyroid function, which is a common enough problem, and easy to check.
Eh. This problem is nowhere near bad enough that I want to end up on medication or something. In general, I’m very healthy and do a lot of sports and stuff. The less medicine that gets near me the better; if it’s something simple like iron deficiency, I can fix that easily through diet. More likely, there’s not even an actual problem, I just need to sleep a bit more.