Medical City Healthcare - June 03, 2021

If you’re in need of a long nap or a jolt of caffeine, you’re not alone. A survey by the National Safety Council found that 76% of Americans say they feel tired at work. Of those, 43% say they don’t get enough sleep to drive or perform their jobs safely. Another survey, by the staffing firm Accountemps, ranks Dallas as having the 8th sleepiest workers in the nation. We don’t need surveys to tell us we’re tired. But we do wonder if we’re too tired; if something more is going on.

A lot of women—as well as men—tend to overlook their fatigue, chalking it up to aging, overscheduling or a variety of fill-in-the-blank reasons. They hesitate to mention it to their doctors, but they should. Here's why.

Tiredness could indicate a problem with your heart.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep or wakefulness disorders. If you’re between the ages of 18 and 64 and are getting the National Sleep Foundation's recommended 7 to 9 hours of 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night but are still tired, your fatigue could be a symptom of a medical condition such as allergies, depression, cancer, or even a serious heart condition.

Sudden, extreme fatigue unrelated to exertion is among the top heart attack symptoms in women. In fact, fatigue is a distinct symptom of all cardiovascular diseases in women, including:

Many women don't think they're at risk for heart disease because of their gender, but heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women. The age factor can also be misleading: Research from the American Heart Association shows that the number of heart attacks among younger people is increasing, and among younger women in particular.

Take our free Heart Risk Assessment to see if you’re at risk for heart disease.

Take our Heart Risk Assessment.

Stroke

Stroke can also happen at any age, as Cassie Scantlin, a healthy, 21-year-old college student found out. One of her initial symptoms was a headache so bad that it made her head feel like "a balloon on top of my body."

If you suffer from migraines or frequent headaches, read Stroke or Migraine? How to Know the DifferenceThe conditions have many overlapping symptoms and similarities, so it's important to be able to distinguish between them.

When you're tired of being tired.

If fatigue is affecting your quality of life, it’s time to talk to your doctor. Tracking your daily sleep and activity levels can help you present him or her with a better overall picture of your condition, especially if your symptoms are vague. If you don't have a fitness or smartwatch, consider downloading a phone app like Sharecare, available for iOS and Android.

Medical City Healthcare provides comprehensive emergency services across North Texas.

At Medical City Healthcare, we're dedicated to the care and improvement of human life. So, we hope you'll Take Care!

For more information, call our Ask a Nurse hotline 24/7 or use Find a Doctor online.

You can also get care for minor injuries or illness at one of the many DFW CareNow® Urgent Care locations, with convenient Web Check-In® so you can wait in the comfort of your home.

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The post Tired? Fatigue May Signal Heart Problems in Women. appeared first on LifeSigns in 2019.