Constantly tired? Join the club. It seems like everyone these days is walking around in a permanent haze of fatigue. Blame it on our crazy schedules, our myriad of commitments. But whatever the case, the fact of the matter is that it's affecting our health.

What can you do? The first step is figuring out where your sleep deficit is coming from. According to this article from Prevention Magazine, you should take two or three weeks to adjust your lifestyle and figure out if your fatigue is the result of your own habits or something deeper. Cut back on caffeine and alcohol, go to bed earlier, scale back your social calendar, get more exercise and eat better. And If none of the above help you feel less tired? Check out Prevention for some common causes of fatigue.

How do you prevent the yawns?

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Do you have trouble sleeping sometimes? Yeah. Me too. Standard recommendations for getting a good night's rest include going to bed at the same time each night, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bed, exercising regularly, and avoiding daytime naps. It's also good to make your bedroom a restful environment -- not for working or other activities, just for sleeping. Also, avoid using the computer and watching TV just before bed.

But what works for one person, doesn't work for everyone. In my case, it's almost necessary to sleep with the TV on. The main reason I can't sleep at night is I just can't turn my brain off enough to rest. Leaving the TV set on some old re-runs allows me to distract myself enough from worrying but yet not pay too much attention. That way, I'm able to get to sleep. It's odd, and it's completely opposite of the typical suggestions, but it's what works for me.

BBC Health users submitted some tips for beating insomnia. The tips include playing Sudoku, counting backward from 300, and writing down everything that's on your mind. They certainly aren't the most common recommendations, but they must work for the people who sent in the idea. How about you? What are your tips for a better night's sleep?

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Are you tired? Yawning, stretching, feeling unfocused and unenergetic? If that sounds like you, read up on some tests you might want to take.

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I know I've been guilty of being tired behind the wheel on a few occasions. There's nothing scarier than the head-drop that occurs while behind the wheel, causing you to instantly wake up in a panic.

And it seems as though I'm far from being the only tired driver on the road. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 32 million people admit to have actually fallen asleep at the wheel within the past year. Estimates as high as 100,000 reflect the number of crashes that occur in the U.S. as a result of sleep-related driving, killing more than 1,500 people annually.

So, the next time your eyelids start to get heavy while driving, don't try to soldier through the state of drowsiness. Instead, pull off the road and take a short break; it can sometimes mean the difference between a safe ride home and a terrible accident.

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I've always heard not to eat certain foods before going to bed because it would make falling asleep a little more difficult. Things that would fall into this "no eat zone" category are spicy foods for example (it could cause heart burn). But what kind of snacks will actually help your chances of dosing off more pleasantly?

This site has the answer in regards to bedtime snacks for adults, teen and children. One snack mentioned for adults sounds pretty appetizing: three cups of popcorn sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. You can go with the low fat variety for an even healthier option. If your children get the munchies before calling it a day, try a banana with two teaspoons of peanut butter.

Quick edibles such as these should be consumed at least half an hour before hitting the sack. I can identify with another item on the list: cereal before bed! Nothing wraps up a day better than a bowl of Cheerios. Check out the site for more snack suggestions to sleep better.

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We've all had an energy crisis at one point or another that made it feel impossible not to lay our head down and call it an early day. It can happen just about anywhere: school, the office, at home, or even in the kitchen. Maybe it is happening to you right now! If so, check out this article featuring over a dozen tips to help fight the Z's.

My favorite is for the classroom sleepy heads wishing they could be back in bed. First and foremost, don't give into the urge to prop your head up with a hand. This classic drowsy-inducing move will only make it worse. One of the easiest solutions is to bring coffee or food. But if that is not an option, tap your fingers to a beat or number count. Keep moving! And if there's a laptop or computer at your disposal, get it out. Surfing online can stimulate the mind into waking up (especially if you have Facebook).

For office people, the issue of staying awake is one that needs to be addressed for a longer time period. Tell your colleagues at work about the energy drop and see if there is something to work on together. Talking with other people can help keep you awake. Also, try taking a bathroom break once every hour. If it gets bad, splash water on your face before heading back into the jungle. These are just a couple things to try, so check out the rest for other helpful tips!

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The turkey didn't make you sleep this past weekend. Repeat that a few times, them read the rest of this post, okay?

More tiredness comes from eating and drinking too much during the Thanksgiving holiday in addition to not getting enough sleep. However, the turkey/sleeping connection really is just a fallacy for the most past.

Tryptophan does indeed cause sleepiness, but it's nowhere close to the vagaries of getting up early for those Black Friday sales as well as eating 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day (yes, that's an average). Aren't the holidays supposed to be less stressful?

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Drunk driving is recognized the world over for being extremely dangerous and often fatal, but there's another driving crime that's not against the law, and is killing thousands every year -- drowsy driving. In fact, my own great uncle passed away at a sickeningly young age because of this -- he died when he fell asleep at the wheel while on his way home to his family on leave from the Navy.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there are 100,000 sleep-related crashes a year, with 71,000 injuries from such crashes. These are some frightening statistics, especially since drowsy driving is such a careless, stupid thing to do. And yet, most of us have done it at one point or another.

Please, if you find yourself about to nod off while driving, pull over. You could be saving a few lives, including your own.

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Are you often tired and lethargic? Constantly looking for ways to boost your energy besides chugging and entire pot of coffee? Yeah, we've all been there. eDiets looks at the sources of your lack of energy and offers these solutions:

• Get enough sleep. Duh! Maybe you're tired because you only got 4 hours of sleep last night! Eight hours is ideal, though this varies between individuals. I find that I need nine!
  
• Stay hydrated. Make sure you're drinking that 64oz of water every day. Water fuels your whole body and keeps it running smoothly
• Take a multivitamin. Even if you're eating well, you might not be getting the all nutrients you need.
• Eat Breakfast. Starting the day off right is key to ensuring that the rest of the day will go right too.
  
• Exercise. This is key. Getting an adequate amount of activity will help increase your energy, and it will also help you sleep well at night. Trust me -- I used to be an insomniac, but since I've started working out regularly, a sleepless night is very rare.
  

If you hit 3pm and feel sleepy, here's my own recommendation: take a walk around the block. It will wake you up more than that fifth cup of coffee will. How do you fight energy lulls?

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Nothing is worse than feeling sluggish, especially at the beginning of a long day (or a long week) at work. Or maybe you usually feel okay in the mornings but suffer from a major slump every afternoon. Of course there are countless bad habits and health conditions that can cause fatigue (lack of sleep being the first one you should consider) but something that may not have occurred to you is your diet. Are you eating foods that make you tired? The University of Toronto Health Services says living on things like muffins, pizza, french fries, and donuts can add up to a lack of critical nutrients over time, resulting in lagging energy and overall feelings of fatigue.

So what should you eat for energy? Obviously any well-balanced nutritionally complete diet should do the trick, and regularly incorporating fish, grains, and fruits and vegetables that are high in vitamin C will help too. But for the inevitable and unexpected crashes, there are some foods that are better energy boosters than others. Depending on what time of day it is, breakfast cereals like cornflakes and shredded wheat can be a solid choice. Carrot sticks during the day, and anytime fruit like bananas and watermelons can give you the same quick fix as a candy bar but with added benefits like fiber and nutrients. And don't forget to drink enough water -- often times fatigue is just a symptom of dehydration and a simple glass of water will give you the pick-me-up you're looking for.

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome hasn't gotten a lot in the way of respect over the years from the medical community, with patients complaining of being tired all the time (along with other symptoms) often being told to buck up and even sometimes teased that they may have "shirkers syndrome."

But that is all finally changing, as the CDC recently released research that links the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to genetic mutations and abnormalities, and have launched a $6 million dollar campaign to raise awareness about the disorder. CFS is about more than just feeling tired, and many other symptoms like memory loss and and muscle or joint pain often go along with it. Hopefully as we all learn more those who suffer from this debilitating condition can get serious help and real relief.

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You know you're sleeping ineffectively if you regularly get enough sleep in terms of hours but rarely or never feel truly refreshed and awake. I think that fits a lot of us, and it means that although you are sleeping you're not getting quality sleep -- it's is a perfect case of quality versus quantity. Men's Health has a list of tips to help everybody (not just the guys) sleep more effectively. It's hard enough to even find the time to sleep, let alone deal with poor quality sleep once you do! Try the tips in the article and see if they don't help, or do you have some tricks of your own that work? Please share!

Via Lifehacker

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Not getting enough sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, can not only increase your risk for obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression, but it also affects how you eat. The majority of people who report sleep problems also rarely cook for themselves and eat more convenience and fast foods than people who sleep just fine. These habits can lead to significant nutritional deficits and other related health problems.

I think this study is right on -- when I don't get enough sleep the last thing I feel like do is cooking! In goes the frozen pizza...

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It seems like we're hearing a lot about napping at work lately, dare we hope it's the beginning of a soon-to-be widely accepted practice? I highly doubt it, but that doesn't mean you can't still try it every once in awhile (discreetly, of course!) to rejuvenate and refresh yourself so you get more done.

Of course nobody is recommending you take a nap right at your desk or cubicle (wearing those sunglasses with the eyeballs painted on the outside), but if you have the chance to get away over your lunch hour or in the afternoon then that's another story altogether. And although napping might sound like a simple enough thing to do, there are things you can do to nap in the best way and get the most from the whole experience. If you don't have one of these MetroNaps Energy Pods (hilarious!) to create the perfect sleeping environment, then maybe a "Meditation Nap" would work just as well? It's about relaxing and getting the most out of just a few minutes of shut-eye, from as little as 5 to as many as 20 minutes. Read the instructions on how to take a Meditation Nap, give it a shot, and let us know how it works for you!

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People suffering from sleep apnea may soon have another option for getting better sleep. A new two-piece device called the Thornton Adjustable Positioner II (TAP II) is designed to hold the lower jaw forward while a person sleeps and has had positive results in reducing major snoring events per hour and also in helping to keep patients from running low on oxygen during the night.

There are more than 300 devices out there designed for this very purpose, but why not add one more? Snoring is an ongoing problem for as many as 45% of adults, so obviously there's always room for new and better treatments. Let's just hope this one doesn't become "random device number 301," and that it actually has a big impact and helps a lot of people.

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