A smart guide to understanding and taking fatigue seriously

Being tired is such a fact of modern life that it's easy to forget it's not normal. If fatigue is part of your daily life, if no amount of sleep makes a dent in your tiredness, or if fatigue penetrates you to the bone, then it's a real health problem. Here's what you need to know about fatigue and how to recognize it as a serious health problem.

This deeper level of fatigue becomes more common as we age. In fact, tiredness is one of the most common complaints primary care physicians hear from their older patients.

• In one study of 422 relatively healthy people, Danish researchers found that 17 percent of men and 28 percent of women age 75 said they felt tired while doing merely the simple activities of daily living, like getting dressed.
• Tiredness is often a biological syndrome related to low energy reserves, less muscle mass, and decreased resistance to stressors, whether environmental or physical. Other times, fatigue is a psychological reaction to social stressors.
• The antidote in simple cases of chronic tiredness — and this holds for the majority of cases for people young and old — is merely to push yourself to be active, with the goal of rebuilding muscle and resparking your joy and energy for life.
• Exercise may make you tired afterward, but it's the best medicine of all for general fatigue and listlessness.

Other times, fatigue is a symptom of a deeper health issue, ranging from the simple, such as an infection, to the serious, such as cancer.

• Whether it's a symptom or the result of other issues, tiredness predicts future disability and sometimes even death.
• One study of 429 people found that those who felt tired doing regular daily activities at age 75 were three times more likely to become physically disabled over the next five years than those who didn't experience chronic tiredness.

Sure, if you had a late night, just moved into a new house, started a new job, or are ill, you're going to feel tired for a time. But if you feel chronically tired, take it seriously. Start with a full physical with your healthcare provider.