Isn’t tiredness just a natural part of ageing?

“There’s no reason at all why you should feel any more tired at 60, 70 or 80 than you did at 25 or 30,” says Dr Di Cuffa. “But unless you take steps to keep active (regularly walking uphill and using stairs as often as you can) your muscles will weaken with age and this is a major cause of later-life fatigue. “Other things that take their toll include smoking, drinking, stress and poor diet. They all impact on the health and length of your telomeres (markers of how well you’re ageing). These can be measured in private tests and some people discover they are biologically much younger than their chronological age, while others are years older. Shortened telomeres are a sign of an inflamed or diseased body and fatigue is a typical symptom. The good news is that improving your lifestyle – with better sleep, less stress and a good diet – can lengthen and improve the health of your telomeres, and could even improve fatigue symptoms within a year.”