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Iron deficiency and tiredness
The common deficiency cause of tiredness, especially with heavy periods or a low-meat diet.
Iron moves oxygen, and low iron makes everything feel heavy: tiredness, breathlessness on stairs, pale skin, restless legs, and sometimes cravings for ice or chalk. It is most common with heavy periods, pregnancy, frequent blood donation, and diets low in meat without deliberate substitutes.
The check is a blood test — ferritin, the storage form, is the number that matters for symptoms, not just haemoglobin. Do not self-supplement on suspicion: iron is toxic in excess and the dose belongs to a clinician who has seen the result. Food helps maintain, not repair: red meat, liver, legumes with vitamin C, and tea and coffee away from meals (they block absorption).
Check first
A ferritin blood test — the storage number, not just haemoglobin.
Reference, not medical advice. If tiredness is progressive, unexplained, or comes with weight loss, fevers, night sweats or breathlessness, see a clinician. Nothing here diagnoses.