Weakness in the body and drowsiness: causes in adults

  • 29.01.2022

Some people often complain that they find it difficult to sit through work or classes due to a strong desire to sleep. We usually associate weakness and drowsiness with a sleepless night, general overwork of the body, or simply boredom, the monotony of the situation. But after rest, this condition does not go away for everyone, and no matter what such a person undertakes, it is very difficult for him to restrain his yawning during the day and not think about the bed all the time. What are the causes of weakness and drowsiness, and how to cope with constant fatigue?

What causes drowsiness

It turns out that drowsiness and fatigue are not such rare symptoms. This condition can be a sign of a number of diseases. This is due to the fact that during an illness, our nervous system is in a depressed state, and brain cells are very sensitive to any changes in the environment. Therefore, a breakdown and drowsiness as a symptom is of great importance during the diagnosis of a number of pathologies.

The cause of weakness and drowsiness may lie in complex brain lesions. In such cases, you can assume the approach of trouble. An example would be the following pathologies:

  • traumatic brain injury (especially if there is swelling of the brain or its hematoma);
  • hypothermia (excessive freezing);
  • opiate poisoning or botulism;
  • preeclampsia, which can occur during late toxicosis of pregnant women;
  • internal intoxications associated with hepatic or renal coma.

Since drowsiness and weakness may indicate different diseases, these symptoms are paid attention to, considering this condition against the background of pathologies and simultaneously with other symptoms.

Lethargy, drowsiness can be signs of nervous exhaustion of the body. At the same time, irritability, resentment and a sharp decrease in intellectual abilities also occur.

Together with headache and dizziness, drowsiness is a symptom of the development of cerebral hypoxia, which can be caused by a lack of oxygen due to poor ventilation of the room or internal causes, which include poisoning with various poisons, diseases of the cardiovascular, circulatory or respiratory system. When the body is poisoned, increased drowsiness, caused by poison, kidney or liver failure, appears along with nausea, vomiting, headache and loss of strength.

Separately, physicians consider hypersomnia - a decrease in the time of wakefulness, which has a pathological character. In this case, sleep time can exceed 14 hours. The reason for this may be brain damage, endocrine and mental illness. In completely healthy people, it is possible that weakness and drowsiness are the consequences of a banal lack of sleep, physical, mental and psycho-emotional overload or jet lag. These are good reasons.

Excessive sleepiness is common in early pregnancy. The same condition is possible as a side effect of a drug (antihistamine or antihypertensive agent, antipsychotic, etc.).

The most common reasons

Not always weakness in the body and drowsiness are the causes of serious ailments. Often, everyday things can cause a sleepy state.

Oxygen

Feeling weakness in the arms and legs, drowsiness, first of all, pay attention to the amount of oxygen in your environment. How much oxygen we breathe in affects how we feel. The less it enters the body, the less it will be in its tissues.

Most organs do not react in any way to a decrease in the amount of oxygen, which cannot be said about the brain. Its tissues react sharply to even a slight change in the composition of the atmosphere. Therefore, our malaise can be associated precisely with oxygen deficiency.

Everyone who has been in a closed and poorly ventilated room has noticed the appearance of a feeling of fatigue, dizziness, absent-mindedness, and a decrease in mental abilities. In this case, a breakdown and yawning immediately appear, which shows that the body is trying in every way to get an additional amount of oxygen. To eliminate unpleasant symptoms, it is enough to ventilate the room or go out into the fresh air.

Weather

Surely you have noticed that as soon as the weather deteriorates and it starts to rain, drowsiness during the day may suddenly appear. This is due to a decrease in atmospheric pressure, during which a person's pulse and heart rate slow down, blood pressure decreases. Consequently, the amount of oxygen entering the body decreases.

The causes of severe weakness and drowsiness may be hidden in this. The psychological factor associated with the lack of sunlight, the monotonous sound of raindrops, etc. also joins here. People who are prone to depression are especially prone to this.

A healthy human body will not acutely perceive a change in the weather, but there are also weather-dependent people who are overly sensitive to weather phenomena. In this case, treatment is not required, it is enough just to improve your lifestyle: go in for sports, eat right, walk more in the fresh air, temper yourself, look at the world around you more carelessly.

During bad weather, weather-dependent people should try to minimize boring and monotonous work.

Place of residence

Symptoms of drowsiness may vary depending on where you live. If you have spent your whole life in a temperate climate, then, once in the tropics, you will feel a breakdown and malaise. Why is this happening? It's all about the amount of oxygen in the air. The same thing can be felt by a person who, living in an industrial city, suddenly finds himself in a rural area or a coniferous forest.

The polluted air of megacities negatively affects the state of our health. Therefore, if you do not have the opportunity to move to live outside the city, take care of your body.

To do this, clean the air in your apartment and office: install airtight windows, use a special air purification device or an air conditioner that has this function. Separately pay attention to your diet and give up bad habits, especially smoking.

Bad habits

Smoking and alcohol abuse can contribute to persistent drowsiness. These reasons need to be eliminated, as they can lead to serious health consequences.

Deficiency of vitamins and microelements

The cause of drowsiness during the day can be a lack of vitamins D, P and group B, as well as iodine. Rapid fatigue will pass as soon as you start taking multivitamins.

You can reduce the lack of vitamins in the body by simply providing yourself with good nutrition. Pantothenic acid is found in a lot of dairy products, egg yolk, many vegetables, especially their green part, fish roe, etc.

To make up for an iodine deficiency, it is enough to include seafood, fish and seaweed, dairy products, nuts, beets, cabbage, spinach and carrots in your diet. Vitamin B6 is abundant in spinach, cereals, meat, fish and organ meats.

Buckwheat, citrus fruits, vegetables, fruits and berries, green tea are rich in vitamin P. The source of vitamin D can be called fatty fish, butter, fatty cheese, animal liver.

Improper nutrition

Weakness and frequent drowsiness can appear in those who eat improperly. Lack of energy can cause weakness in the body and limbs. This condition affects those who are on a strict diet or eat erratically due to a busy work schedule.

If it seems to you that you are eating normally, but at the same time you feel constant impotence even in the morning, pay attention to:

  • the number of your snacks with sandwiches, buns and various fast food;
  • the amount of fatty foods on the menu;
  • diet - how often do you overeat or, conversely, do not eat for a long time, and then eat too much.

Equally important is the quality of the foods you eat. Not all products sold in our stores can be called high-quality and safe.

Hormonal changes

The cause of sudden nervousness, weakness or irritability may be hidden in hormonal changes in the body. Such symptoms may appear due to disorders in the thyroid gland, in particular, as a result of autoimmune thyroiditis.

It is fatigue and weakness that are one of the first signs of the disease. Therefore, drowsiness is often a dangerous symptom of the onset of a serious illness. Most often, the disease is diagnosed in women, but it can also occur in men, and even in children.

In addition, the cause of increased fatigue in women can be menstruation. Before menstruation, they often complain of drowsiness and weakness. In men, the same symptoms may be associated with developing prostatitis.

If you often feel weak and sleepy, then this may indicate the development of chronic fatigue syndrome. Today, this is a very common ailment, to which residents of megacities and those whose work is associated with constant stressful situations and mental stress are more susceptible.

Chronic fatigue is manifested by aggressiveness, apathy, depression, partial amnesia. Among the causes of its occurrence are also deficiency of vitamins and microelements, excessive loads and viral infections. Why chronic fatigue syndrome occurs has not yet been precisely identified, but the treatment of such a condition is possible.

To cope with the disease, it is important for a person to find time every day to rest, to carry out the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, to take multivitamins, to provide themselves with good nutrition. Also, the doctor may recommend the use of drug therapy.

Other diseases

The causes of weakness and drowsiness can be the consequences of many diseases - both physical and mental, which lead to exhaustion of the body. Therefore, when such symptoms appear, it is recommended to visit a doctor who can prescribe the necessary tests, accurately determine the cause of the disease and offer the necessary treatment.

In no case should you fight drowsiness on your own, especially with the help of coffee and other energy drinks, as this can exacerbate the problem.