Experts reveal genetics can cause tiredness

Already feeling drained so early in the year? Genes might contribute in a small but significant way to whether people report being tired and low in energy.

This is according to researchers at Northumbria University.

They found that genetics accounts for about eight percent of people’s differences in self-reported tiredness.

This suggests that the vast majority of people’s differences in self-reported tiredness are environmental, like stress and anxiety.

The researchers found that the small genetic contributions to self-reported tiredness overlapped with genetic contributions to a range of mental and physical health conditions, and with whether people smoke, or are carrying too much weight, and also longevity.

Their large-scale study analysed genetic information of 111,749 participants who all indicated whether they felt tired or low in energy in the two weeks before their data were collected.