“Why Am I Always Tired?” Part 2: Your Thyroid, Minerals and Gut Health
If you missed part one, go check it out here first. We covered blood sugar and cortisol, two of the most common drivers of low energy in women.
But sometimes the fatigue runs deeper than that. If you’ve addressed the basics and still feel exhausted finding yourself asking “why am I always tired?” , here are three more places worth looking.
Your thyroid might be sluggish even if your labs look fine
This is one of the most frustrating conversations to have because so many women have been told their thyroid is fine based on a standard test (usually T4 and TSH), and yet they have every symptom of sluggish thyroid function. Tiredness, brain fog, feeling cold, heavy periods, slow digestion, hair loss.
Standard thyroid testing often misses the full picture. And chronic under-eating and chronic stress are two of the most common drivers of sluggish thyroid function in otherwise healthy women. When the body doesn’t have enough fuel and is under sustained pressure, it down-regulates thyroid output as a way of conserving energy.
Eating enough, particularly enough carbohydrates, is one of the most underrated things you can do for thyroid function. It rarely gets talked about, and it really should.
Your minerals might be depleted
Minerals are the spark plugs of the body. Magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium. All of them play direct roles in energy production at a cellular level.
Magnesium alone is involved in over 300 processes in the body, including the ones responsible for producing cellular energy. When it’s low, which it very often is in women under chronic stress, fatigue sets in at a level that sleep simply can’t fix.
Iron is another common one, especially for women with heavy periods. But iron isn’t the only mineral worth looking at, and supplementing without understanding the full picture can sometimes create imbalances elsewhere.
This is one of the reasons I use hair tissue mineral analysis, HTMA, with clients. It gives us a picture of mineral status over time that a standard blood test can’t reliably show. And it changes the conversation completely.
Your gut might not be absorbing what you’re eating
You can eat really well and still feel exhausted if your gut isn’t absorbing nutrients properly.
When stomach acid is low, food doesn’t get broken down efficiently. When the gut lining is compromised, nutrients can’t pass through into the bloodstream the way they should. The result is that even the good things you’re putting in aren’t fully landing.
Supporting gut health, starting with the basics of digestion rather than jumping straight to probiotics, is often one of the most impactful things we can do for energy. When the gut starts working properly, so much else tends to follow.
So where do you actually start?
With the foundations (Digestion, Blood Sugar Balance, Fatty Acid balance, Minerals and Sleep). Practically it looks like: eating enough. Eating regularly. Managing stress. Protecting sleep. These create the environment in which everything else actually works, and it makes things much more sustainable long-term. No band-aid fixes here.
From there, functional testing helps fill in the gaps at times when diving deeper is beneficial. Seeing your mineral status, understanding what’s happening in your gut, getting a clearer picture of your thyroid function. That’s when the work gets really specific and really effective.
Ready to figure out what’s actually driving your fatigue?
My 1:1 nutritional therapy program is where we look at the full picture together, specific to you. 3 months of tailored support or 4 months with functional lab testing included.
Head to the link below to book a complimentary interest call. 🤍
