Doctors are recommending a pill for people struggling with daytime tiredness – and it costs as little as 4p. Tiredness might be put is down to a bad night’s sleep or staying up too late but it could actually be a sign of a vitamin deficiency.
There are a string of vitamins and minerals we need in our diets to stay healthy. Anyone feeling sleepy often and struggling to focus could be experiencing a lack of vitamin B12.
Vitamin B12 is a key nutrient the body needs but cannot produce. It can support healthy red blood cell formation, while boosting energy levels, improving memory and helping prevent heart disease.
READ MORE: Weather maps reveal -6C Arctic freeze to bring snow to UK next week
Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp. Join our dedicated community to get the latest updates.
The vitamin is also needed to maintain a normal nervous system, reduce tiredness and fatigue, GloucestershireLive reports. According to the National Institutes of Health, vitamin B12 is a ‘nutrient that helps keep the body’s blood and nerve cells healthy’.
It also ‘helps make DNA, the genetic material in all of your cells’. The National Institutes of Health said Vitamin B12 also ‘helps prevent megaloblastic anaemia, a blood condition that makes people tired and weak’.
The body stores 1,000 to 2,000 times as much vitamin B12 as people would typically eat in a day, which means the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can take several years to appear. A vitamin B12 deficiency may also present itself in other ways, including pale skin, heart palpitations, loss of appetite, weight loss, and infertility.
The hands and feet could also become numb or tingly – a sign of nerve problems. Other symptoms include problems with balance, depression, confusion, dementia, poor memory and soreness of the mouth or tongue.
A tub of 180 vitamin B12 tablets is just £7.60 at Boots – which means it costs just 4p per pill. There are also a number of alternative options.
Many retailers sell Vitamin B12 tablets. This includes Holland and Barrett, Amazon and Superdrug.
But shoppers don’t need to rely on vitamin B12 tablets as many foods contain it. They include fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, clams, oysters, beef liver, nutritional yeasts and other products which are fortified with vitamin B12.
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
