As seen in ITV News
“ Your tests have come back normal.” If you’ve heard those words and still feel utterly exhausted, you deserve better answers.
Feeling tired all the time is one of the most common complaints people bring to their doctor. And yet, for so many, they leave the consultation without a clear reason why. Tests are “normal.” Advice is to rest more, stress less and perhaps try exercise. But the exhaustion remains.
If that’s been your experience, this is not in your head. Persistent fatigue, the kind that clouds your thinking, dulls your motivation and makes ordinary days feel like wading through mud is often a signal from your body that something is significantly out of balance.
When Tiredness Is More Than a Busy Life
Modern life is genuinely demanding. But there’s a difference between needing a good night’s sleep and waking from that sleep still feeling depleted.
When fatigue is ongoing, affecting your concentration, your mood, your ability to enjoy the things you love, it stops being a lifestyle issue and becomes a health question worth exploring. This kind of tiredness is not something you should simply push through indefinitely.
The hidden contributors to low energy
In many cases, there isn’t a single cause of low energy. Instead, several factors may have quietly shifted out of balance over time. Each one modest on its own, but together quite significant. Examples of this can include:
Nutrient levels
Even mild deficiencies in iron, vitamin B12, folate, or magnesium can leave you feeling depleted physically and mentally. These changes are subtle and not always detected on standard tests [1].
Vitamin D
Particularly relevant in the UK, where low sunlight exposure is common. Low vitamin D can contribute to low energy, muscle aches, and shifts in mood, often without being immediately obvious.
Iron & menstrual health
For women, fatigue is frequently linked to iron deficiency, sometimes driven by heavy or prolonged periods [2]. Many adapt to feeling below their baseline without realising how much it’s affecting them.
Ongoing stress
When the body is under constant pressure, it prioritises coping over recovery. Over time, this disrupts sleep, affects hormone balance [3], and leaves you both exhausted and unable to fully rest [4].
Thyroid function
Subtle changes in thyroid activity can slow metabolism and energy production, even when results fall within a “normal” range. Small improvements in thyroid function can have a meaningful impact on how you feel.
Blood sugar & metabolic health
Fluctuations in blood sugar and the early stages of insulin resistance can lead to energy crashes, cravings, and difficulty concentrating. These symptoms can be easy to overlook or attribute to other causes [5].
What if my fatigue is more persistent?
For some people, fatigue goes beyond these contributing factors and becomes a more significant, long-standing condition. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) typically appear after a viral infection trigger and involves profound exhaustion, unrefreshing sleep and a worsening of symptoms after physical or mental exertion – this is sometimes called post-exertional malaise (PEM).
In certain cases, underlying contributors such as chronic infections including Lyme disease or environmental factors like mould exposure may also be part of the picture. These often overlooked issues are not always assessed or recognised within standard medical frameworks, which may be why so many people feel their concerns aren’t fully heard.
Why do answers feel so hard to find?
Standard medical testing is designed to identify clear disease, not to detect the more subtle imbalances, or the cumulative effect of several factors working together. This is not a failure of your persistence. It is a limitation of the system. You have been paying attention to your own body. How you feel matters and it deserves to be taken seriously.
A more personalised approach looks at the whole picture including nutrition, hormones, metabolic health, stress, sleep and environment – and considers how they interact. When these pieces are examined together, patterns often begin to emerge and a clearer, more targeted path forward becomes possible.
You don’t have to battle this alone
If you are feeling persistently tired, foggy or unlike yourself, it may be worth looking a little deeper. At Dr Finlay’s Private Practice, we take a personalised approach to understanding fatigue. This helps you explore what may be driving your symptoms and supporting you in moving towards better function, energy, clarity and wellbeing.
If you’d like more support with your fatigue, please contact our dedicated concierge team, they’ll be happy to help with any booking queries or next steps.
References:
- Tardy A-L et al. Vitamins and Minerals for Energy, Fatigue and Cognition. Nutrients. 2020. doi:10.3390/nu12010228
- Vohra A. Nutritional Deficiencies in Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Women. IJLRP. 2025. doi:10.70528/ijlrp.v6.i7.1630
- Petrowski K, Kahaly GJ. Stress & Thyroid Function. Endocrine Reviews. 2025. doi:10.1210/endrev/bnaf015
- Bredero Q et al. Sleep, Stress, and Physical Activity in Persistent Fatigue in IBD. Journal of Crohn’s & Colitis. 2024. doi:10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjae163
- Vohra A. Endocrine and Metabolic Mechanisms Underlying Fatigue in Perimenopausal Women. IJSAT. 2025. doi:10.71097/IJSAT.v16.i2.6657