Everyone knows allergies usually make people sneeze and have runny noses, but did you know they can also make you feel tired? Many patients experience fatigue and low energy without the hallmark signs of allergies. This article explores how allergies can make you tired, even if you don't have the usual symptoms.

One of the key symptoms of allergies is inflammation. Often times, this happens in obvious places like your sinuses (hay fever) or on your skin (eczema). Other times, this happens in other parts of your body, or may be too minor to cause typical allergy symptoms. This hidden inflammation can result in your allergies being masked, as the typical symptoms such as sneezing, itching, or a runny nose don't manifest.

Even if you don't notice the hidden inflammation, your body does, and studies show that people with seasonal allergies report more fatigue and disordered sleep, along with elevated inflammatory markers in their blood, during allergy season compared to people without allergies (Tamm et al., 2018).

Allergies can also drastically affect your mood and stress levels. The study of psychoneuroimmunology looks at how your mind, body, and immune system all talk to each other. When the immune system is activated, whether by allergies, infection, or other inflammatory triggers, the resulting release of pro-inflammatory signals can act on the brain to produce "sickness behaviour," including fatigue and low mood (Dantzer et al., 2008).

The best way to get diagnosed is to get an allergy test done. This can be done by signing up for our treatment plans or at one of our partner clinic locations.

Getting treated is simple and can be done in the comfort of your home. Most patients start to see results within 3–6 months, and see life-long remission of their allergies after 2 years of treatment.