Always Hungry and Tired? Here's What Your Body's Trying to Tell You

While it's normal to occasionally feel ravenous or fatigued (or both), chronic fatigue coupled with hunger that lasts for days or months on end is not normal. This type of long-lasting hunger and fatigue can interfere with your ability to be productive — and may point to an underlying health concern.

"With fatigue, there can be many different causes," says Jonathan Golberg, MD, a New York-based emergency medicine physician.

Dr. Golberg says fatigue can happen when your blood count or thyroid levels are low, or your electrolytes are off. Fatigue can also be a symptom of depression. To determine the cause, however, "blood tests are required," he adds.

Below, learn the reasons you may feel chronically hungry and tired, and next steps to restore your energy levels.

The popular phrase "food is fuel" is more than just words. Nutrients are essential to daily life, meaning a ‌lack‌ of nutrients can create fatigue. Indeed, hunger and fatigue are both side effects of malnutrition, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

When you eat an unbalanced diet or too few calories, you can miss out on essential nutrients for your brain, heart and organs. You may even be considered malnourished if you frequently go on fad diets or take in fewer calories than the recommended daily amount.

While caloric needs vary depending on your sex, age, weight and activity level, a nutritious diet should still include whole foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains and protein, per the Cleveland Clinic. In addition, highly processed foods (which typically are lower in fiber, protein and other key nutrients) should be eaten in moderation.

Poor sleep is an obvious cause of fatigue.

What can be less obvious, though, are the causes of poor sleep, like excessive alcohol or caffeine intake and poor sleep hygiene. It can also be a sign of medical conditions such as anxiety disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome or heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"Another possibility is insomnia," Dr. Golberg says. "If the fatigue and inability to sleep is lasting for several weeks, it could be a cause for concern."

Not getting enough sleep will leave you tired, and it can also affect your appetite. Here's why: "A lack of sleep causes your body to produce too much of a hormone called ghrelin, which can trigger excessive hunger," Dr. Golberg says. "Insomnia also reduces the production of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin," he adds.

That is, too much ghrelin and too little leptin can make you feel tired and hungry after a poor night's sleep.

Consistent physical activity can have a direct link to energy levels, according to the Mayo Clinic.

This is because exercise increases the movement of oxygen throughout your body, per a March 2016 article in ‌Breathe‌. Exercise also causes your body to make more mitochondria (the powerhouses of all cells). Having more mitochondria increases your body's energy supply, meaning you'll feel more energized, too, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

There may also be a positive correlation between moderate-to high-intensity exercise and appetite suppression, according to a 2018 review in the ‌Central European Journal of Sport Sciences and Medicine.‌

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that affects how your body uses digested food for energy, according to the CDC.

Hunger and fatigue are symptoms of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This is because the body does not produce enough insulin, which is needed to bring glucose to cells to use it as energy.

A simple blood test can determine whether either of these conditions is causing you to feel tired and hungry, Dr. Golberg says.

"You may be sent to an endocrinologist — a specialist who deals with hormones — but I think at least getting basic blood work done to start will get you on the right path," he says.

An adrenal disorder, sometimes referred to as Addison's disease, is when the body doesn't produce enough cortisol, adrenaline or aldosterone, per the Cleveland Clinic. These are all hormones that can affect how tired or hungry you feel throughout the day.

"Your adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys and produce hormones," Dr. Golberg says. A deficiency in these hormones can lead to fatigue and other symptoms that range from mild to severe, including weight loss, weakness, low blood pressure, nausea or vomiting and dizziness upon standing, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety can lead to changes in your sleep and eating patterns. Some people may experience fatigue or insomnia, while others may lose weight due to anxiety or gain weight (from appetite increases due to antidepressant medications or emotional eating), per the Mayo Clinic.

Some medications can cause an uptick in appetite, per the University of Rochester Medical Center. And many medications — including over-the-counter cold and allergy medications as well as certain prescribed medications — have a side effect of drowsiness.