Do you have CFS? Personally, I find that coffee doesn't do very much to help.

I don’t know. I’ve been chronically tired for years now. It’s spanned from when I was military running 5 miles a day annd eating great, to periods of eating bad and barely exercising.

Life style doesn’t seem to effect it.

Any chance you have ADHD? I learned (far later in life than I would have liked) that I have ADHD and that it is one of the biggest reasons I'm almost always tired or even exhausted. Brain's just thinking too hard/inefficiently. (I have other contributing factors, but this one is significant and fairly obvious). Still can't get treatment, but the awareness has helped me work around it somewhat, by removing stressors and taking time to relax and/or hyperfocus.

Seconding for for ADHD and narcolepsy. I had a sleep study done a few years back that came up borderline positive. Doctor had me try a few meds out but the one that really stuck was Vyvanse (basically a slow release pro-drug of Adderall). Suddenly I’m not having sleep attacks every time I sit down, or even feeling like my head is made of bricks.

I grew up in a family that didn’t believe in ADHD so I would cope with excessive amounts of caffeine. It’s definitely worth looking into if you have the slightest suspicion.

Also don’t get too caught up in passing the MSLT. Personally, I think it’s barely medical science, but it’s a part of getting a diagnosis and some insights into how your brain is (or isn’t) sleeping.

Same for me. Chronically tired all the time since I can remember. Tried everything. Exercise, diet, probiotics, meditation, sleep training. Got diagnosed for depression ten years ago. No medication helped. Finally got prescribed “off label” treatment for narcolepsy and ADHD called Modafinil.

Completely changed my life!

Turns out there is some connection to narcolepsy and ADHD (Huberman talks about this on his podcast), and it makes sense.

Anecdotally, other people I know who’ve been diagnosed with CFS or ME tend to exhibit similar ADHD-like patterns. Maybe there’s something to that. Certainly worth exploring further.

Wait that's not just me? Holy crap.

Have both ADHD and Sleep Apnea, both are treated (CPAP and Addral)

I've been reading about health and all of this stuff for a bit now. Some things I learned...

1. Sleep is massively important. Not getting enough, sleep Apnea, and other things that mess with sleep will lead to feeling tired.

2. Diet matters. What most people consider healthy is often not all that healthy. You can read about the gut/brain connection. To keep the gut in healthy shape you needs plenty of fiber and micro nutrients found in things like vegetables and whole grains. Doctors aren't trained much in this stuff but nutritionists are.

3. I personally found that drinking too much coffee lead to it. I almost needed the coffee to feel awake. When I broke myself of that (I have limited amounts of coffee now) I had more energy. I cut off coffee cold turkey. Was not fun.

4. ADHD can lead to feeling tired.

In the last couple years I've had to overhaul my diet due to sudden onset of all kinds of food allergies since COVID. I used to be chronically tired especially in the afternoons. I now eat very little sugar and no corn syrup/HFCS at all and I've made two interesting observations: My cravings for sweets are virtually zero and my energy levels are stable all day.

There are exceptions but for the most part I'm almost never tired during the day anymore unless I worked out a lot. My energy isn't exactly bouncing me off any walls but it's a noticable improvement.

Have you been tested for sleep apnea? This can affect even people who aren’t overweight.

Yeah I was diagnosed and have used a cpap consistently for years

Doesn't it actually make it worse. The chronic stimulation of Catecholamines, especially dopamine is going to lead to chronic fatigue.