Why Am I Never Tired: Are You Unknowingly Anxious?

By - Munira Binte Hasan

Feeling energetic throughout the day can feel amazing. But when you’re high functioning all the time? Not so much. On top of that, is it normal to never feel tired? Have you been asking yourself the following question?

Why am I never tired?

There can be several reasons for having too much energy. You might feel active all the time as a side effect of your anxiety. Besides, it might also be cases of hyperactivity disorder or high functioning anxiety. At times, an overactive thyroid may also be the reason for never feeling tired. 

After reading the entire article, you’ll have a clear idea about never feeling tired. It’s not necessarily true that these are why you never feel tired. But this article will help you understand better. So, without further ado, let’s begin. 

3 Reasons Why Am I Never Tired

There’s only so much your body can take before it gives up. And that’s normal. 

Although rare, you can feel energized all the time. It may happen for many reasons. But mostly, it’s because of your anxiety and stress. 

This section highlights two main reasons for never feeling tired. 

Before we get into it, it’s essential to remember that these two aren’t the same. Conditions like anxiety disorder and panic disorder may cause you to feel hyperactive. 

However, high functioning anxiety is itself a disorder. Well, off the books, at least. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get right into it.

High Energy as an Anxiety Symptom

Excess energy is not a prevalent symptom in GAD, panic disorder, and social anxiety. It might feel as though the world is yours to take when you get this surge of energy. 

You feel like you could complete your work extremely fast and then turn to do the next thing. Besides, you might feel like you need to do something or run right at this moment. There is often a severe need to burn the energy. 

Sleeping can be challenging at times because your mind feels like it’s racing 5000 miles an hour. If you had to explain your state, you’d probably go for the words ‘pumped’ or ‘adrenalized.’

It’s also common for people not to relax when they experience this feeling. 

You might also feel like you can take on multiple new projects despite having a full schedule. These are all indications of excess energy. 

Several people say that they need to accomplish more increases with stress. This nervousness and excess energy might occur frequently or rarely. The surge of energy might accompany, precede, or follow different sensations of anxiety. Other times, it may happen by itself. 

You might feel it all the time, or you may feel it occasionally. It may also have different ranges from moderate to severe. 

The excess energy can vary from one moment to another or by the day. So, these variations are relatively common in those who experience them. 

Besides these, you might even notice a spike in your sugar cravings when you experience excess energy anxiety symptoms. 

When you behave apprehensively, your body activates an innate stress response. In turn, it may cause multiple psychological, emotional, and physiological changes in the body. It also enhances your ability to respond to danger. 

Often, this is called the fight or flight response. When your body faces a threat, the stress response stimulates it and brings its energy resources into play. 

The stimulation serves as fuel for the body to either flee or fight. 

When stress occurs too often, the body doesn’t get enough time to recover. Meaning it doesn’t get enough time to reset itself back to normal. So, your body remains in a semi-stress-response-ready state, called stress-response hyperstimulation. 

Since there are no threats, in reality, your body is constantly ready with adrenaline. It may cause fidgetiness and anxiousness as if you need to be in constant motion. 

The hyperstimulation may keep your body ready to respond to stressful situations, causing excess energy. This symptom of anxiety may not be harmful. But it is an indication that you’re overly stressed and need to relax. 

There are things you can do to help your anxiety symptoms. The incoming section will highlight some managing hacks. So, keep an eye out for that. 

High Functioning Anxiety 

Although high functioning anxiety isn’t a condition that the medical community recognizes, it is real. 

Over the years, it has evolved and transformed into a catch-all term. It refers to the people living with anxiety but considers themselves reasonably functioning. 

People with high functioning anxiety feel as if their anxiety propels them forward. The opposite may be true for others, leaving them frozen with anxiety. 

They’re the example of your typical Type A personality, excelling at life and work. However, what you see on the surface might necessarily not be the case on the inside. 

But most of the time, a high-functioning anxious individual will appear to be the ultimate picture of success. They might arrive at work before their coworkers. Besides, people may also use “driven” to describe them. 

High-functioning anxious people rarely ever miss a deadline. Besides, they’re also willing to help other people. Their lives always seem busy and full of life. But others might not notice that these individuals are churning with anxiety all the time. 

The fear of failure might drive these people towards success. 

They might desperately need a holiday or hangout. And they’re also impeccable at portraying that nothing’s wrong. If these traits sound familiar, you might have your answer. 

There are some positive sides to it and some negative sides. The positive sides include:

Besides, the people with high functioning anxiety are very passionate as well. They also might plan for the future. 

People may perceive high functioning anxiety characteristics as ‘cute’ or their personality’s part. However, these traits are mostly an outcome of their anxiety. It’s easy to think that they don’t feel any distress. But the truth is, they do. And to a great extent at that.

Despite considering themselves as high functioning, they might go through the following days. So, there are a few negative aspects to it too.  

Besides these, research suggests that they constantly overthink everything. These people also avoid eye contact and have a hard time saying no. 

Sometimes, other people misinterpret these individuals and think they’re cold and unemotional. 

People with high functioning anxiety have a restricted social life. They might have difficulties falling asleep, and they have a racing mind. These aren’t uncommon characteristics when you’re hyperactive.

The future intimidates these people. Also, constantly compare themselves with others. So, you can imagine the level of emotional turmoil these people live with. 

The medical community doesn’t acknowledge high functioning anxiety as a mental illness. 

So, this area lacks research, making it difficult to determine its causes. However, we can’t disregard it entirely because some people have this disorder. 

With the few studies that have been conducted on this subject, there are some suggestions regarding its causes. Experts don’t fully know all of them. They hypothesize that this disorder occurs as a combination of multiple factors. Such as:

People with mental health conditions like anxiety are more at risk for developing this disorder. Besides, childhood characteristics like shyness or nervousness may also contribute to the risk. Stress can trigger anxiety at any point. So, severe stress constantly may also be another factor. 

Finally, some people with this disorder have an overactive thyroid. An overactive thyroid can be at the root of several mental health illnesses. 

Anxiety often doesn’t come empty-handed. Usually, it’ll knock at your door with depression by its side. The problem is, individuals with high functioning anxiety may consider themselves perfectionists. 

So, they aren’t likely to see any problem with themselves and are unlikely to seek help. Anxiety, in any form, impacts mental health and self-esteem significantly. 

Primary treatment options may include psychotherapy and medication for anxiety disorders. The treatment is most effective as a combination rather than on their own.  

Psychotherapy involves letting people with anxiety talk freely. Cognitive behavior therapy or CBT is one of the most effective treatments for most anxiety disorders. A therapist will generally teach you breathing exercises and coping strategies. 

They might also teach you some relaxation techniques to manage your anxiety symptoms. 

There are also some anxiety medications you can take. For example, Zoloft, buspirone, or Prozac are some of them.

Besides, you can also try other things to manage your anxiety symptoms. I’ll talk about those in the next section. 

Insomnia and Stimulants 

In addition to these reasons, you can also feel hyperactive for insomnia. You might not associate fatigue with tiredness. In some cases, people unknowingly train their minds not to sleep when they need rest. 

People with insomnia sometimes report they can function without problems with only four hours of sleep. They typically take on a project and work on it with little to no sleep. This might go on for months before their body gives out, but they don’t feel tired at all. 

But it can also produce less than necessary hormones, making you feel lethargic. 

These feelings are two sides of the same coin. The majority of people experience tiredness but can’t sleep. But other people may not feel tired at all when they have insomnia. 

Besides, stimulants like coffee and chocolate can keep you awake and active for a long time. Granted, they won’t make you feel the energy all the time. But they will keep all the fatigue at bay for a bit. 

It’s essential to go to the doctor if you feel like something is wrong. The doctor will give you a proper diagnosis. So, try not to jump to conclusions based on this article. 

Tips to Manage Your High Energy

Anxiety isn’t easy to manage. But there are some tricks you can have up your sleeves to help your case. If you can cope with your stress efficiently, you can reduce your energy levels too. So, here are a few things you can try to reduce your stress or cope with it. 

It might also help with self-esteem issues and reduce anxiety and depression symptoms. There are several ways you can practice mindfulness. 

FAQs

What happens if you don’t get tired?

Staying active means requiring less sleep. Sleep deprivation can lead to severe consequences like hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, or stroke. It also increases the risk of having depression, low sex drive, and obesity. 

What do you call a person who never gets tired?

A person who never gets tired is called indefatigable. In other words, it means that you’re very relentless, persisting, and untiring. 

Why do I feel the most awake at night?

Experts say there’s a problem with your circadian rhythm if you stay most awake at night. It’s a temporary condition. So, you can fix it by reducing screen time before bed or having a relaxing bath. Practicing sleep hygiene will also help. 

Final Words

Hoping that by now you know the answer to “why am I never tired?” You might have high functioning anxiety or an anxiety disorder, but don’t be alarmed. Getting a doctor’s diagnosis on having high energy is vital. 

So, it’s best not to conclude anything alone from this article. But you can try the tips to manage high energy. And hopefully, it’ll all work out for you. Good luck, and best wishes to you. Hope we meet again!