The Real Reason You Wake Up Tired Every Morning

Do you wake up tired, depend on coffee to push through the morning, and crash again by mid-afternoon? Dr. Josh Axe explains why constant exhaustion is not necessarily a normal part of aging—and reveals 10 hidden energy drains that may be keeping your cells from producing the fuel you need. In this episode, Dr. Axe breaks down the roles of mitochondrial dysfunction, blood-sugar swings, low iron stores, thyroid imbalance, poor-quality sleep, chronic stress, dehydration, nutrient deficiencies, inactivity and inflammation. He also shares the laboratory markers, foods, movement strategies and supplements he uses to identify and address the underlying cause of fatigue. Get Dr. Axe's FREE Energy Blueprint: https://bit.ly/energyblueprintdraxe Uncover what’s really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → http://mybloodwork.com Thank you to our sponsors! Sunlighten Sauna: https://get.sunlighten.com/axepodcast Manukora Manuka Honey: https://manukora.com/axe Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Early Access! Our listeners enjoy every episode before anyone else! Tune in below and join our exclusive group of listeners → Spotify: https://bit.ly/DrJoshAxeSpotify Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3JDvWcS Pre-order my NEW BOOK, Heal Your Cells → http://healyourcellsbook.com/ Watch my free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms → http://DrAxeDiabetesClass.com Discover practical steps you can take today to start healing your thyroid naturally → http://DrAxeThyroidClass.com If you’re ready to start feeling like yourself again and balance your hormones, take my free class → http://DrAxeHormoneClass.com CONNECT WITH DR. JOSH AXE Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/drjoshaxe/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/DrJoshAxe/ TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@thedrjoshaxeshow/ X → https://x.com/drjoshaxe/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshaxe Website → http://thehealthinstitute.com Sign up for my newsletter → https://bit.ly/4oE9Jf3 Ask Dr. Axe → http://speakpipe.com/drjoshaxe 00:00 Why You’re Tired All the Time 01:14 Fatigue Is Not a Normal Part of Aging 03:26 Cause #1: Your Mitochondria Are Running Low 06:04 The Best Nutrients for Cellular Energy 07:04 Cause #2: Your Blood Sugar Is Crashing 09:46 How Dr. Axe Stopped His Afternoon Fatigue 10:57 Cause #3: Low Iron Without Anemia 13:17 The Overlooked Postpartum Cause of Exhaustion 15:37 Cause #4: Chronic Dehydration 17:17 Cause #5: An Underactive Thyroid 20:46 The Thyroid Tests Most Doctors Miss 22:39 Cause #6: Your Sleep Is Not Restorative 26:07 Cause #7: You’re Running on Stress Hormones 29:14 Cause #8: Hidden Nutrient Deficiencies 30:19 Cause #9: You’re Not Moving Enough 32:09 Cause #10: Chronic Inflammation 34:17 The 10 Best Blood Tests for Fatigue 37:03 The Best Supplements for Low Energy 40:02 Purpose, Sabbath and Spiritual Energy 41:42 The Five Biggest Energy Restorers DISCLAIMER This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Axe nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program. MB01GKPRPTQL1WL

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Josh Axe?

  All right. So tell me who this sounds like and if it sounds like you. Okay. You drag yourself out of bed every morning, you pour yourself a cup of coffee, you push through the morning and then by mid afternoon you are exhausted. You feel like you're running on fumes and somewhere along the way, someone told you, this is just what it's like when you're getting older, when you get older, you just feel tired and exhausted all the time. And I want to challenge this today because for most people, the exhaustion isn't your age. It's a hidden drain on your energy and when you can actually find it and fix it, now your energy comes rushing back. I was in a point, actually a few years ago, in my mid 40s, I had this back injury and I was exhausted all the time. And I was able to figure out if I did one thing, everything changed.

• 0:44Josh Axe?

  I went from a six out of 10 on the energy scale to a 10 out of 10 by making one simple change. And today I'm going to walk you through the 10 hidden reasons you might be tired all the time and how to fix every single one of them. Welcome to the Dr. Ak Show.

• 1:14Josh Axe?

  So let me start with a reframe here. Energy isn't something you're born with a fixed amount of, so it's not purely genetic and it's not something that you're just going to run out of as you age. Energy is made moment by moment inside your cells by tiny power plants called mitochondria. So when you're always tired, the real question isn't how old are you? It's what's getting in the way of yourselves making energy? Here's the core idea. One in four adults live with ongoing unexplained fatigue. In fact, I can tell you from having people when they've come into my clinic over the years, probably about 75% of people struggle with tiredness and fatigue. So one in four are completely exhausted to the point where it is negatively affecting their life.

• 1:59Josh Axe?

  And then there's another 50% that are generally have low grade fatigue and don't feel like they're at their best. And this tiredness shows up at nearly every age, not just in the old. And that's what tells me if fatigue were simply aging, it wouldn't hit 30 year olds and 40 year olds so hard. So let's dive into what's really behind your fatigue. Now I do want to say as you age, yes, your mitochondrial energy does go down some. But I want to say this, I know plenty of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s that really have an incredible amount of energy. And the large majority of everyday tiredness traces back to things that you can measure and change.

• 2:41Josh Axe?

  And listen, that's not bad news. That's great news because now you can improve your energy. Now, before we go deeper, I want to ask for one quick favor. Subscribe and share the show. Number one, subscribe so you never miss an episode. And we have so many great interviews coming up and more in-depth nutrition and natural medicine episodes. So make sure to subscribe. Every share, by the way, as well. So subscribe and then every time you share, it allows me to bring on bigger guests, reach more people. Just know, thank you for being on mission with me from the bottom of my heart. Okay. So let's dive into the top 10 reasons why you are tired all the time. And then we're going to start to dive into how to fix them. Okay. Hidden cause number one, your cellular engines are running low.

• 3:22Josh Axe?

  Every bit of your energy is made by mitochondria, the engines of your cell. And when these are damaged by processed foods, toxins and inactivity, you make less energy and you start to feel this to where, you know, maybe you hit that two or three o'clock in the afternoon and you're tired, or maybe you're wake up and you're tired, or maybe just at night you're exhausted. But you are just feeling this tiredness throughout the day. So here's the key. We need to feed and rebuild your power plants and stop doing things to weigh them down. Cut the ultra-processed foods. Really it's this, especially the excess sugar and bad carbohydrates. Okay? The potato chips, the pasta, even the natural sugar you're going to find in a lot of products.

• 4:04Josh Axe?

  These things start to weigh your body down in any processed food. And so it's all the excess your body has to deal with it. On top of it, if your body is deficient in certain nutrients that charge your mitochondria like NAD+, Coenzyme Q10, magnesium, B vitamins, especially B12, B2, folate and B6 and omega threes. Your cells don't have what they need. And then you need to add in movement. In fact, according to medical studies, the number one way to build and boost your mitochondria most quickly and effectively is through exercise. Now here's something that you might be experiencing. You might say, listen, I'm so tired that I don't feel like I can exercise. So here's what you want to do then. You just want to start with a really small dose

• 4:47Josh Axe?

  and work your way up over time. Okay. You want to focus on getting better sleep, which we'll get into. And then with that, you want to focus on doing exercise. And if you can do that, it is going to make an immense difference in your energy. Now I want to talk about some nutrients that are key to your mitochondrial health. Okay? Energy is made in your cells and in a 207 patient study, 200 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 plus 20 milligrams of NADH, which is very similar to NR or NMN, these are NAD+ like supplements. That combination significantly cut fatigue with the biggest drop in mental fatigue. If energy is manufactured inside your cells, then the fatigue starts there as well.

• 5:32Josh Axe?

  And so does the fix. The number two reason why you are exhausted and tired all the time is your blood sugar is on a roller coaster. That three o'clock crash where your eyes get heavy and you trade anything for a nap or you know, you start just pumping in or go get your next cup of coffee. That's often a blood sugar roller coaster. A sugary or refined carb meal spikes your glucose, then it crashes. And that crash feels exactly like exhaustion. So let's flatten out the curve. Eat your protein and fiber before the carbs, cut the added sugar and the refined flour and take a 10 minute walk after meals. That will steady your blood sugar. So here's the thing. Okay. Think about this. For breakfast, you can do some carbs.

• 6:15Josh Axe?

  Maybe it's some blueberries, maybe it's an apple, whatever it is, you're doing maybe one serving of fruit or some, a little bit of a carb. And then you're doing a lot of protein and maybe even some additional fiber in addition to the fruit. Okay. Something like that. And you can do a little fat. Then for lunch, maybe you're doing meat and a sweet potato and a vegetable, something like that. So you're getting protein, fiber, and then some carbs. And then at night, here's what you want to do, by the way. You want to do very low carb at night. That's the ideal. So at night, you want to do protein, fat and fiber. So it could be a grass-fed burger with avocado, with a side of sauteed vegetables like broccoli or something like that. And a little bit of dark chocolate, it's fine. Something like that would be perfect for boosting your energy levels

• 6:59Josh Axe?

  and for balancing out blood sugar. Also add a little bit of cinnamon to meals. And then this is true around lunch, going on at least a 10 minute walk, ideally a 20 minute walk, so 10 to 20 minutes balances blood sugar according to clinical studies and will make a huge difference. And by the way, I made this change myself and I want to share with you why. So I used to do a lot of triathlons and then after I stopped doing them, I kept eating the same, which was quite a few carbs for, uh, just for energy. And I started noticing I was getting a little tired in the afternoon. And part of it was happening is again, when you do these carbs, you are having this cortisol and insulin spike up and then it spikes back down. And then you're just, you're just totally crashing versus when I made the change

• 7:41Josh Axe?

  to more moderate carbs, more protein, more fiber. It was like I just had a steady energy curve throughout the day. And two or three o'clock was no difference than 10 AM in the morning in terms of my energy levels. And you will experience that very same thing with that amazing combination of a protein fiber-rich lunch and not overeating and then going on a walk. It will make a massive difference. You'll be blown away at how good you feel all day long. The number three hidden cause of low energy is you're low in iron even without anemia. Now you may say to yourself, well, I had blood work done and they said my ferritin levels were normal and my iron levels. Well, here's the reality. Most blood work today

• 8:23Josh Axe?

  is looking at iron and ferritin in the conventional ranges, which is what's average, not at what's optimal for your energy levels. And by the way, this is incredibly important in women. Now it can be important in men for the opposite reason. For some men, your iron is too high. That's causing oxidative stress, causing you to age more quickly. Women though, more than men. Now men, it can be you, but women, you tend to have low iron. And it's something in Chinese medicine, we actually call a blood deficiency. Your blood is deficient. There's not enough oxygen because there's not enough iron, not enough energy. And by the way, again, this one is missed in such a big way. I would say over 80% of doctors or more miss the low iron levels

• 9:07Josh Axe?

  or what your iron level should be. You can have iron stores so low that you're exhausted and still pass a standard anemia test on blood work. The doctor checks hemoglobin and says, hey, you're fine. While your ferritin, which is by the way, the real iron gauge is scraping the bottom. Now sometimes they'll look at ferritin and not look at it correctly. Ferritin needs to be in the optimal range, not the conventional range. So you need to have a doctor or a nurse that's trained in functional medicine, reading or doing your blood work. And so what you want to specifically ask for is a ferritin test and aim for around 50 to 100, not just not anemic. Okay? You want to aim for optimal. And what you want to do is eat more iron-rich foods

• 9:50Josh Axe?

  with vitamin C, which helps absorb them. And by the way, there's actually even a technique with this for optimal absorption. Sometimes depending upon your blood work. You actually only want to do the supplement every other day. So iron plus vitamin C every other day because your body can sometimes get used to things with this, which is kind of crazy. And that you'll tend to have actually better absorption if you follow the right protocol. This is what we do in my clinic is we read the blood work and depending on which markers are off, sometimes we have patients do it every day, sometimes every other day. And there are other things you want to do as well to help build your blood. Now, listen to this medical study out of the British Medical Journal. Okay. Low iron drains your energy first. Okay. And a study

• 10:34Josh Axe?

  performed on 144 tired but non anemic women. Again, they were not anemic. They were still within normal blood work ranges in conventional medicine. Iron supplementation for women cut fatigue by 29% versus 13% in the placebo. That's nearly 30% improvement. Even women were within normal range in conventional blood work. For decades, here was the rule. If you're not anemic, iron isn't your problem. Don't take it. The rule is wrong. And the women with the lowest iron stores improved the most, as I talked about in this study. And so if you're a woman with low energy, by the way, there are two really amazing ways to test for this. One is ferritin on blood work

• 11:17Josh Axe?

  within that normal range from a functional medicine reading. And the other one is an ancient form of diagnosis in Chinese medicine called tongue diagnosis. So in Chinese medicine, there's a pattern called blood deficiency. And this is where your blood isn't nourished enough. It doesn't have enough iron and oxygen and nutrients to get energy out to the rest of your body. So the big signs are exhaustion, sometimes a little bit of dizziness when you stand up. Now, you might not always have that, but you might. Pale lips and nails, poor sleep, thinning hair. And here's the biggest sign of all. Your tongue is pale. When you stick out your tongue, it should be a bright vibrant pink. If your tongue is pale, it has almost like a whiteness to it. Not on the

• 12:01Josh Axe?

  top of the tongue, by the way, that's candida. That's a completely different issue. That's microbial overgrowth in a gut microbiome issue, not a blood issue. But if the tongue itself is a pale pink, that is a sign you have a blood deficiency. So in that case, you don't even need a blood test. You just know if your tongue is pale, that you have a blood deficiency. And in that case, you do want to do some iron, probably every other day. In addition, the herb Dan Quai makes a massive difference. Eat beets, eat more lean red meat, and eat steamed green leafy vegetables. If you can start to eat more warming foods like soups, if you can do that, it will start to build your blood and you will be blown away at how much that's going to happen

• 12:44Josh Axe?

  in your energy. By the way, I want to share with you, the biggest population of women who have this issue are women with young children. Here's why. Once a woman gives birth, first off, their body has to expend and create so much blood to create the placenta, even to create breastmilk. And then if the period returns and you're breastfeeding and having your period, your body is creating so much fluid and energy. So I see this with a lot of moms. Okay. A lot of moms, especially young moms, they never built their blood after giving birth. By the way, when you look at all of the ancient civilizations in Asia, even in America, when a woman gave birth afterwards, for the first 90 days, there was a very specific diet. A lot of soups, a lot of bras, a lot of

• 13:27Josh Axe?

  things to warm and build their body, their body taking it easy and doing things to build their blood back. Most women today, this is a forgotten art and therapy. And so if you have given birth, or let's say you're a mom, and you've struggled for energy ever since you've had kids. Now, listen, you're going to probably sleep a little less with kids. You're going to expend more energy. All that's normal. So your energy might dip a little bit. But if you're exhausted all day, there is a very, very good chance, because I've seen this in thousands of women I've cared for, that your blood is deficient. And so if you can start eating the foods I talked about, more red meat, take Dan Quai, start taking iron supplement with vitamin C every other day, just really build and nourish your blood, that might be the big thing you're missing. That's going to cause your energy to come roaring back.

• 14:12Josh Axe?

  So as you know, I focus a lot of time on gut health and getting to the root cause. And it's one of the most important systems in your body. And what you feed your gut matters. And that's why I want to tell you about Manukora's Manuka Honey. They conducted a study where participants took 20 grams of honey daily. That was 10 grams twice daily. And the results were impressive. 79% reported reduced occasional bloating, 71% reported positive changes in gut health, and 60% reported less occasional reflux. Now, that's the kind of data I look for before recommending anything to my community. And honestly, it lines up with what I've experienced

• 14:53Josh Axe?

  myself since I started taking it. And that's the kind of data I look for before recommending anything to my community. And I can also say this lines up with what I've seen in my clinic. When I have patients start using Manuka Honey, it changes their gut microbiome, their immunity, and it's the greatest health swap out there for sugar. And it's a great addition to your morning health regimen. You can add it into oatmeal, or a smoothie, or some herbal tea, or just do a spoonful. Your journey to better gut health starts right now. Head to manukora.com/axe and grab the starter kit at 31% off plus $25 in free gifts today.

• 15:36Josh Axe?

  The hidden cause number four of why you're tired all the time is you're mildly dehydrated all day long. I see this one all the time as well. Now, listen, it sounds too simple to be true, but it's one of the most common energy drains out there. By the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated enough to probably be feeling foggy, just kind of flatlined in terms of your energy and tired. And most people live all day in that state. Think, think about this. Let me ask you a question. How many glasses of water, not coffee, not energy drinks? How many cups of water did you drink? And then also, how many pieces of fresh fruit? Probably the most hydrating of all, and in steamed vegetables, things like that. Those things are going to help

• 16:20Josh Axe?

  hydrate your body. For a lot of you, you're not drinking enough water, especially if it's in the summer months and you've sweated all. You need to be drinking a lot of water, half your body weight, ounces of water daily. So here's the thing, don't wait until you're thirsty. Drink water first thing in the morning. By the way, you really want to front load it earlier in the day, because if you're starting to do it before bed, and then it might wake you up and you can't sleep as well, that's not ideal. You really want to make sure you're drinking more water. Now, I do want to say this, you can do a pinch of sea salt, you can do a lemon juice, that sort of thing. You also don't want to overdo salt, because that can dehydrate you as well. You want sort of that perfect amount. You want to do just a little bit of salt here and there. You also want to get some potassium rich foods like sweet potato and certain types of fruit, even just

• 17:02Josh Axe?

  one serving a day. But fruits and vegetables, potatoes, beans, those are the foods that give you the most electrolytes that support hydration. And so again, the message here is make sure you're not chronically dehydrated. Hidden cause number five, your thyroid is running slow. Your thyroid sets your body's whole metabolic thermostat. When it runs even a little slow, everything downshifts. You end up cold, right? Cold extremities, cold body. You also end up with just this real mild, it's not severe, just a real mild brain fog sometimes, gaining weight, just that extra five pounds, sometimes more, but even just five pounds of weight gain, kind of typically around your belly or hips. And above all, you're just tired. You're deeply tired all

• 17:46Josh Axe?

  day. And a basic screening by most of your conventional doctors, call it borderline and move on. They say, hey, your numbers are normal. But again, remember this, the conventional blood work, if you see a conventional doctor and not a really advanced doctor of functional medicine, by the way, I'll say this, even some of the functional medicine doctors get this wrong. I mean, one of the biggest blood test companies out there that is run by a doctor and several that are connected with functional medicine, sometimes they're still using the conventional markers and not the advanced functional medicine markers, looking at optimal levels. So you need to get your blood work done, or a thyroid panel with the right doctor. Can I tell you something I see all the time? I have all the time, I'll ask people, well, hey, you know, your doctor isn't

• 18:30Josh Axe?

  reading this right. They're obviously doing something wrong. And patients will stick with them sometimes for 10, 20 years. And I'll ask them why, and they'll say, well, because he's nice, or she's nice, or I like them. That's not a great reason to stick with a doctor. Listen, you deserve better, your family deserves better. You want to make sure that you find a doctor. Find a good one in your city, in your country, whether it's in your city or online. But find somebody who does true functional medicine and looks at things correctly, and that wants to help you get off your medications and reach your optimal level, and doesn't just say your lab works normal. The problem is they're not looking at the right way. And by the way, they shouldn't just be testing for TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone. They should also be testing for absolutely

• 19:13Josh Axe?

  T3 or free T3, and of course, T4, and your thyroid antibodies, like TPO, because around 80% of thyroid issues are Hashimoto's. And some of the big things you want to do to support your thyroid health, you want to make sure, again, you get enough protein, enough iodine, enough selenium, enough zinc, enough vitamin D, and even certain B vitamins, and good bacteria in your gut. These are all critical to support your thyroid levels. And last one here is manage stress, because cortisol goes up, well, now that's going to affect thyroid hormones more than anything. So to bring your body back into balance, you want to do everything you can to also get cortisol back to normal. And I would even say, if you're getting a thyroid panel done, it's also

• 19:55Josh Axe?

  good to get a cortisol panel or a Dutch test done along with it. So you can truly Really know what the root cause is. And so for instance, when I'm running thyroid panels on women today, I'm looking at several things. I'm looking at their thyroid hormones. But I'm also looking at estrogen to see how that's impacting their thyroid. I'm also looking at cortisol and those hormones. And then I'm also looking at the vitamins and minerals. I'm looking at magnesium and B vitamins and selenium. I'm actually looking at those on blood work to see, hey, what are your numbers to find the biggest root cause? Cause here's the reality. You might go and take other supplements or other foods or do things. But unless you actually know for certain on blood work, the root cause, sometimes you're just, you're guessing and you never get well. And maybe that's been you. You've been to a second doctor, a third doctor, a fourth doctor,

• 20:39Josh Axe?

  and nobody seems to be able to figure out what's going on, probably because they don't know, because they haven't done the right testing. All right. Hidden cause number six of why your energy is in the tank. Okay. Your sleep looks fine, but it isn't. Okay. You might spend eight hours in bed. So you assume that sleep isn't the problem. But hours in bed aren't the same thing as restorative sleep. Okay. If your sleep is broken up, if it's shallow, if it's sort of, you have to kind of self-medicate to get to sleep even with supplements. Or maybe you even have an undiagnosed issue like sleep apnea. This is going to leave you tired, no matter how long you lay there. So you want to protect sleep quality, not just quantity. Okay.

• 21:22Josh Axe?

  So ideally, here's what you want to do. You want, you want to have the same wake up time every day. You want to sleep in a cold room. 65 degrees, 62, pretty low, low 60s to mid 60s. You want morning sunlight, screens off two hours before bed. And generally just do everything you can possibly do in order to get actually deep sleep. I wear an Oura ring at night. So I look at what is my deep sleep? What is my REM sleep? I also like it. What's my HRV? You know, how much did I wake up at night? You know, one thing that I've personally, I'll share this, had an issue with sometimes is, if I know I'm sleeping bad, I'll wake up at three and sleep really lightly afterwards. And that's because my cortisol gets too high. I notice it if I overwork.

• 22:01Josh Axe?

  If I'm traveling and working or I'm spending too much time working, my cortisol won't get down. It'll start coming up too early or it's not the correct curve. So I'll wake up around 3am. So by the way, if you wake up at 3am, it's cortisol. And you have to fix cortisol. It's typically from overwork, over focus. And I've taken certain supplements that have helped that. By the way, I've noticed that taking glycine, phosphatidylserine and magnesium glycinate. Those three more than any allow me to typically sort of get cortisol to where I need it to be and sleep better. But also it just causes me to wake up to say, you know what? I need to work less. I need more downtime. And so that is a sign. It's my body signaling you need to rest more.

• 22:39Josh Axe?

  And by the way, of all the things I've talked about, of course, this is a no brainer, but poor sleep is going to affect your energy the most. And for a lot of you, here's what it looks like. Listen to this study. This is in the medical journal sleep. It said, after two weeks of six hour nights, people were as impaired as after two nights of no sleep at all. But people felt only slightly tired. So what happens is for a lot of you, listen, you're not pulling all nighters. But if you're getting six hours instead of that seven or seven and a half. Okay. And that six hour is such a trap. It's sort of like a frog in the pot of water. It's heating up and you just don't realize it. So it's like, okay, all of a sudden, one day you start getting just 30 minutes less of sleep a night, 40. By the way, there's a study I read years ago.

• 23:23Josh Axe?

  On average, after having kids, you know, it's like the average male gets, I want to say 20 minutes of less sleep a night. And the average woman, 40 minutes of less sleep a night or something like that. And you're like, well, okay, it's 20 minutes or 40 minutes. That's not that much. Well, compound that lack of sleep debt over two years or three years or 10 years. And that's why you're exhausted. That's why you gained the extra 10 pounds. That's why your thyroid now is overburdened. And that's why all of your hormones are depleted and you're exhausted. And so if you are going to fix your low energy, you've got to prioritize sleeping, getting to bed the right time.

• 24:00Josh Axe?

  Also just having more downtime, not overdoing it. You got to get to bed on time, follow some of those good sleep principles and get good, deep sleep. All right. Hidden cause number seven of why you are tired all the time. Here it is. You're running on stress hormones. When life is relentless, your body pumps out cortisol to keep you going. And here's the thing, it works for a while. Okay. But run that system too long and it burns out, leaving you wired, but tired. You're exhausted all day, then oddly buzzing when you finally try and sleep. Okay. So here's what you need to do. Just take your foot off the gas a little bit. Okay.

• 24:40Josh Axe?

  Build in daily recovery. I mean, it's this simple. And I'm telling you, I've experienced this because I want to help change the world, you know? I want to have a big impact with my life. I want to run to win the race. I want to honor God and everything I do. But I always have to keep coming back to this. I'm not just a piece of machinery created for productivity. I'm a child of God and God wants me to be happy. He wants me to be connecting with other humans. He wants me having hobby. He wants me loving, enjoying my life, just the way I want my own daughters to be loving and enjoying their life. Listen, I want them productive. I want them using the gifts God has given them, but I also want them to have peace and security. And also to just love their life and have fun and to have balance in their life and have a balance of work hard and play hard.

• 25:23Josh Axe?

  And building in just a little bit of recovery will make an incredible difference. Add in just 15 minutes of prayer and Bible reading in the morning. Schedule that 15 minute walk around lunch. After dinner, stop working completely. On the weekends, schedule more downtime. Maybe you're at a soccer tournament or sports or your kids have something. But still just scheduling in an extra 20 to 30 minutes of downtime, relaxation will make all the difference. And remember, there is a deep connection between your mind and body. If your mind is exhausted, your body will be as well and vice versa. And the reality is this is stress burns your battery. The most chronically stressed women showed cellular aging equal to nine to 17 additional years.

• 26:08Josh Axe?

  And so if you're a man, but also predominantly, I think women are even more concerned about this. And you want to age slowly, you know, you look at some of these celebrities, you're like, wow, they look so young. If you want to age the most slowly, the single biggest thing that will speed up aging for you is stress. High cortisol, high stress. Now listen, it's okay to have some stress as long as you get to rest in between. It's like when you go to the gym. Hey, you work out, you rest, you have a day off or so, a couple of days off a week, and then you go back hard at it. But if you take zero days off and no time in between your sets, you'll injure yourself or you'll age yourself. One or the other, or likely both. And most people treat stress like it's all in your head. It isn't. Okay. It leaves a mark deep inside your cells and deep inside your body, and it drains and depletes you over time.

• 26:54Josh Axe?

  All right. Hidden cause number eight of why you're tired all the time. You're short on the nutrients that energy needs, your cells need. Your cells can't make energy out of thin air. They need raw materials. Low vitamin D, low B12, low magnesium are all common and all quietly draining. And these are all easy to miss because conventional blood work never tests for them. And so people have no idea if they're low in these nutrients or not. And also for some people, they might be getting the nutrients, but you're not absorbing them. So I'd encourage you to test, don't guess. What's your vitamin D levels? What's your MMA, which is cellular B12, not just B12, MMA, a much better test.

• 27:31Josh Axe?

  Look at those things and then also get sunlight, get good quality fish, red meat, eggs, lots of green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, fruits. These foods are going to help you heal and most address those nutritional deficiencies. So refill what's missing. Now listen to this study published in the Journal of Medicine 2016. In 120 deficient adults, 72% on vitamin D reported their fatigue improved versus 50% on placebo. So here's the reality is if you are struggling with fatigue, vitamin D is one of those key nutrients that studies prove will support better energy levels because your cells need them. Hidden cause number nine of why you're tired all the time. You're too still and stillness drains you.

• 28:16Josh Axe?

  Listen, there's this really delicate balance of you want some stillness in your life and you want some movement in your life. Okay. You want both, right? You want to work hard. You want to play hard. You want to have time for both going out and playing pickleball or going to the gym or going running around with your kids or whatever it is. And then you want time where you are sitting there in prayer, meditation, praise, contemplation, reflecting, going deep. Deep intimate conversation. You need a combination of both of those things to be at your best. But on average, most people, when it comes to physical movement, aren't doing enough. This is the cruel twist of fatigue. You're exhausted. So you rest, you sit, you skip your workout, which feels right.

• 29:01Josh Axe?

  But long stretches of sitting actually lower your energy further. So here's the key. Move gently and on purpose. Okay. You don't need an incredibly hard workout where you're exhausted and you've fallen flat on the floor after it. You need a short, easy walk enough to flip the switch back on. Okay. You need, you know, 30 minutes of weight training to where you're going at about 75%. But not at 100. When your energy dips, a lot of times you need another 10 minute walk, not another coffee. Motion makes energy. Every time you walk, every time you move, there's more blood flow, there's more mitochondria. I mentioned this earlier, the number one thing you can do to create more mitochondria in your body is to actually

• 29:42Josh Axe?

  build muscle to do weight training. It's the number one thing. Walking and weight training are some of the best things you could ever do to actually build up your mitochondria and heal your body. And by the way, there was a study done on this. Here's what they found. They had three groups of people. This is for boosting energy. One group, and these are all people that had fatigue. They had one group that did nothing. They had one group that did this sort of low intensity exercise like I'm talking about. They went to gym, maybe it was 30, 45 minutes and did some weights and they went in there and they did low intensity exercise. And then they had a group that did either moderate or more intense exercise. Okay, so they had three groups. The group that did sort of the low intensity exercise, something like a light 20 minute walk three times a week, or again, just some lightweight, just something really low to moderate, they cut their fatigue the

• 30:27Josh Axe?

  most by 65%. So here's what it was. Low intensity, exercisers, 65% improvement in energy, high intensity to moderate exercise, 49 to 50% improvement. Those that did nothing, 0% improvement. Okay. So if you want to boost your energy, you absolutely do want to move, at the very least, doing light to moderate exercise. So again, I'm not talking about CrossFit or marathons. That's actually going to drain your energy. So is not moving. The thing that will build it the most is low to moderate exercise, things like weight training a couple of days a week, moderately, and then going on walks. And the number 10 reason why your body is exhausted, and by the way, I also am going to go through in a minute, my top 10 supplements, and I'm going to give you a free PDF at the end,

• 31:12Josh Axe?

  to where it's going to go through a meal plan, everything you need to restore your energy. But hidden cause number 10 of why you're exhausted is your body is quietly fighting a fire it can never put out, from a stressed gut, a poor diet, or chronic irritation. Low-grade inflammation is burning through your energy in the background. You feel it, okay, and you typically feel it this way. You just feel a little heavy, achy, especially in your joints, this unshaken tiredness, but a little bit of extra weight, and joint discomfort, and chronic inflammation. So what you want to do for this is cool the fire in your body, and in your gut especially. Eating more fatty fish like wild salmon and

• 31:52Josh Axe?

  sardines, and any type of fatty fish, more extra virgin olive oil, more colorful plants, like blueberries and steamed spinach. Ideally, 30 plus plants a week, maybe a little bit of fermented food, maybe some tea like ginger and turmeric. Cut the sugar in the processed oils, and follow a diet that is highly anti-inflammatory, like the Bibliodiet, or an anti-inflammatory diet, or the diet I talk about in my book, Heal Yourself. If you can follow that type of diet, your body will heal. Reducing inflammation is so key to healing. And the reason why inflammation is such a problem is, it's tearing up your mitochondria. It's tearing up your cells. Your body's having to do so much work to

• 32:33Josh Axe?

  calm the fire and reduce inflammation, that that is what's leaving you exhausted. Imagine yourselves, they're acting like firefighters, they're pulling all-nighters, putting out the flames in buildings, they're coming home exhausted. That's what inflammation, that's what excess toxicity, that's what dealing with a pathogen like Lyme, or parasites, or mold can do to your body, is you just feel absolutely wiped, because your immune cells are on overdrive, trying to put out the fire. And so following an anti-inflammatory diet, and then getting to the root of why you're, you know, if there's a pathogen or something that's also contributing there, that's also key to addressing the root cause of why you don't have energy. So those are the top 10 reasons why you're energy deficient.

• 33:15Josh Axe?

  Now, I do want to share with you the top eight supplements that can make a difference for low energy, and I want to walk you through, if you do blood work, the top blood work in ranking order that might be telling you why you're energy deficient as well.

• 33:30Josh Axe?

  Do you have hormone imbalance, weight loss resistance, low energy and sleep problems, and you're tired of being told your labs are normal when you know something isn't right? This new test completely changes things. And my team knows exactly what to look for. I'm currently offering a simple at-home blood test that actually tests for the right things, targeted biomarkers, including hormones, thyroid, and metabolism, plus a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to review your results, and discover ways that you can work with the Health Institute to finally find lasting healing. If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com today.

• 34:16Josh Axe?

  So let's dive into the labs and the supplements, and then I want to give you access to that free PDF here as well. It's worth a hundred dollars. I'm going to give it to you for free here at the end. Okay, so here are the labs to run when you're always tired. Number one, Feriton. This is looking at true iron stores, aim for 50 to 100. By the way, I also have a blood work guide you can download, for if you want to know the ideal blood panel to get, to be on top of your game. I'll give you access to that at the end here as well. Number two, the full thyroid panel. Okay, not just TSH, not just T4, you want to know what your free T3 is, and your TPO antibodies. Okay, that's number three, TPO antibodies. Number four, vitamin D. Should be at least 40. For some people, they want it to be 50

• 34:58Josh Axe?

  to 80. That is ideal when we look at functional medicine ranges. Number five, it's called MMA. It's a form of vitamin B12 on a test. That's what you want to look for. But B12 is known as literally the energy vitamin. Number six, RBC magnesium. This is actually looking at the magnesium that lives inside yourselves. Now, most doctors don't run magnesium tests. If they do, it's for what's in your blood. If you find the most advanced physicians, this is what I do in my clinic, is we're testing for cellular magnesium. It's known as red blood cell magnesium, is what you want to be looking for. By the way, when your body's using energy, ATP, it's attached to magnesium when it's being used in your body for energy. So that's why magnesium's important. Number seven, fasting insulin

• 35:39Josh Axe?

  and A1C levels, that's looking at blood sugar. Number eight is high sensitivity C-reactive protein that's testing for inflammation. Number nine is testing cortisol, or DHEA, or both. We're kind of looking there at your cortisol rhythm, that hormone. And the number 10 is a CBC, looking for anemias or possible infection, to see the root cause of why you're tired all the time. And then typically, once those labs are run, you'll know, if you have a doctor run the right labs, what tests you should be getting. Now, let's dive into the supplements. Now, remember, I want to put this disclaimer on it always. I encourage you to take supplements, but food is even more important, and so is sleep, and so is movement. So supplements can make a massive difference. I've noticed that in

• 36:21Josh Axe?

  my own health. And by the way, I had a B vitamin deficiency of one specific B vitamin, B2, and I was able to test for that, and that's really what gave me my energy back, and also testing my mitochondria. I did a mitochondrial test, and taking that supplement helped bring my energy back when I was dealing with low energy. So I believe in supplements, they help tremendously, but you want to also have that foundation of a great diet. So here are the top energy supplements you should consider. Number one is iron or a blood builder. Okay, so it's iron plus vitamin C, sometimes other nutrients with that. That can make a massive difference. Number two, vitamin D, typically 5,000 I use daily. Number three, a B complex. Now, if you have MTHFR, which is a gene variant of methylation

• 37:04Josh Axe?

  variant, sometimes you want to take different versions. If you don't know, you may take a regular B complex, but it really depends on what gene variant you have. And this is something, I probably have four to five different things I do, depending on when I do the genetic test, which B vitamin is best to take. But if you don't know, and you do a test, typically a general B complex, try that, and then try a methylated one. If you take a methylated B complex, and you feel that wired but tired feeling, that means that your body can't handle it. It's too much, and you want to go back to a regular B complex, and a higher dose of vitamin B2 tends to be the fix there. Number four supplement that can make a huge difference in your energy is NAD plus, plus Coenzyme Q10. Okay,

• 37:46Josh Axe?

  you can take it. NMN is my favorite. I also like NR. NADH also works. But taking an NAD supplement, plus Coenzyme Q10, these are probably the most important nutrients for mitochondrial function. So very important, those can help a lot. Number five is creatine, especially if you're dealing with mental fatigue and lack of physical strength, three to five grams daily. Number six, ashwagandha, typically 600 milligrams for eight weeks, lowers cortisol and boosts energy, according to studies. Other good ones to pair with ashwagandha, or to do instead, depending on your goals, rhodiola, rosea, very good for mitochondrial function. Cordyceps are wonderful for women with blood deficiency.

• 38:27Josh Axe?

  I probably prefer Don Quai, but ashwagandha is probably the most researched, and probably the best for thyroid issues. Number seven, beetroot powder. Beetroot powder increases nitric oxide, supports blood vessels as well. This is also good if you have a blood deficiency. Number eight, matcha green tea. So doing matcha has EGCG, has L-theanine, plus some natural caffeine, a great natural energy support. And number nine is the bonus here, is magnesium. Remember, in order to create energy, your body needs magnesium. And so these are the most helpful supplements to naturally boost your energy. Now, the last tip here of why people sometimes have low energy, I want to share it with you right now, and it's tied to their faith. There's two important things here. Number one is

• 39:10Josh Axe?

  purpose, and number two is Sabbath. When you have a purpose, and you know God has called you to do something great, and you're part of spreading the kingdom of God, and helping save lives, and leading people into eternity, and when you understand the immense importance of being a Child of God, of raising children that are going to live through eternity, knowing that you have eternal impact. This brings such purpose and meaning to your life that it's fueling. I know for me, the single greatest thing that gives me energy every day is this knowledge that God has called me to love others. And part of my purpose here is being like Jesus and discipling others and helping people live their best life possible. So there's this element of purpose and it gives your life meaning and there's energy there. And there's also this element in the Bible of Sabbath resting.

• 39:53Josh Axe?

  You know, even all the way back in Genesis, early Genesis, it said, God created the earth and on the seventh day he rested. If God rested, don't you think we need to rest as well? And so my last prescription for you is this, take one day a week, either Saturday or Sunday, and make it a Sabbath rest. Just completely try and do everything you can to rest. Now, and if you miss one here, there, that's okay. Then the next week, just jump back on it and do everything you can to rest and get refreshed. What this looks like for us is typically like attending church and then the rest of the day, it's family day. It's fun, it's relaxation, it's in the pool, it's not doing any work whatsoever. Rest is when your body recharges itself and calms the stress hormones that drain you. You know, and it reminds me of this Bible verse, Isaiah 4031, it says this, "But they

• 40:38Josh Axe?

  who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Lord, teach us to wait, teach us to take a Sabbath, teach us to rest in you. And that's my prayer for all of you today. And so remember, here is where fixing your energy pays off the most. Number one, iron and nutrients, changing your diet and your supplementation, that can make a big difference. Number two, gentle movement, just regular exercise. I'm not talking about CrossFit, I'm not talking about six days a week. I'm talking about a couple of days of weights, regular walking, just moving. Number three is balancing your blood sugar. That's huge. Number four is this, sleep quality, probably the single biggest needle mover for your energy levels.

• 41:21Josh Axe?

  And last one, rest and stress recovery, critically important for boosting your energy levels. Now, if you want even more details and action steps of how to boost your energy, including an eating plan of what you should be eating for breakfast and lunch and dinner and different supplements for different energy conditions, I want to encourage you, go to the show notes, get my free gift, this is worth over a hundred dollars, and it is my Dr. Axe Mitochondrial Boosting Blueprint on how to boost mitochondrial health or boost your energy. And so you can go and download that Energy Boosting Guide in the show notes right now. In addition, you can find my Blood Work Guide there as well. You can download both of those as my free gift to you. And also do me a big favor, don't forget to subscribe. It is the number one thing you do here to support the show.

• 42:05Josh Axe?

  Again, I'm on a mission here and I feel like we're on a mission together to transform lives, to teach people the principles of natural medicine, to help people heal. I have people flooding into my clinics and online and telling me things, people dealing with chronic health issues. And I know that just like my mom, when she was diagnosed with cancer many years ago, if we would have known the truth earlier, that we could have probably prevented that and healed naturally. And so just so you know, every time by you subscribing, by you sharing this with a friend, you're on mission with me and we are saving and changing lives together. So thanks so much for being part of the mission here on the Dr. Axe Show. And again, I want to say thanks so much for listening. Remember, every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level. I can't wait to see you on the next episode.