Mounjaro is a weekly tirzepatide injection that’s FDA-approved for those with type 2 diabetes. Although it’s designed to help type 2 diabetics manage their blood glucose, it can also be prescribed off-label for weight loss and weight management for those with obesity.
Clinical trials didn’t find tiredness as a side effect, but users are reporting otherwise.
Below, we’ve covered why Mounjaro can make you feel tired and how you can use the RISE app to get more energy.
Heads-up: Mounjaro is a relatively new drug, so there’s a lot we don’t know about its side effects. Scientific research is lagging behind the increase in users.
“In the clinical trials we have so far, tiredness isn’t reported as a side effect of Mounjaro. However, some users report feeling tired on Mounjaro, and the drug can cause side effects, like vomiting and diarrhea, which can make it hard to get enough sleep," says Dr. Chester Wu, who is double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, and provides sleep medicine services, medication management, and psychotherapy to adults at his private sleep medicine and psychiatry practice.
Mounjaro may make you feel tired. Tiredness isn’t listed as a side effect of Mounjaro, but users have reported it online. And Mounjaro can cause side effects — like GI issues — which can disrupt your sleep.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t list tiredness as a side effect of Mounjaro, but that conclusion comes from .
The FDA states clinical trials are conducted under “widely varying conditions” and rates of side effects “may not reflect the rates observed in practice.” In non-trial conditions, there are many factors that could impact side effects, including health conditions and medications.
Plus, these trials included people with type 2 diabetes, so it’s unclear whether Mounjaro could cause fatigue in those without the health condition.
And to be listed as a common side effect, it has to occur in 5% or more of users. It’s unclear whether fatigue happens in a smaller percentage of users. This may sound small, but as use of the drug increases, this can end up affecting a lot of people.
Fatigue is listed as a of Zepbound, which contains the same active ingredient (tirzepatide) in the same doses as Mounjaro.
Beyond scientific research, there are anecdotal reports of Mounjaro causing tiredness.
Some users report feeling tired when taking a 5-mg dose of Mounjaro, but not the starting 2.5-mg dose. Others report fatigue on the day they take Mounjaro and for the next two days, feeling tired after eating, or getting tired more quickly after exercise.
published in Brain Sciences analyzed Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok posts about the side effects of semaglutide and tirzepatide type 2 diabetes and weight loss drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, and Mounjaro.
Users mentioned sleep-related issues the most, such as insomnia, anxiety, depression, and general mental health issues. Some said tirzepatide triggered insomnia.
Heads-up: Tiredness and sleepiness aren’t the same thing. Tiredness is when you feel fatigued, but you might not be able to fall asleep. Sleepiness is when you could fall asleep if you tried. Mounjaro may cause tiredness and sleepiness (more on why soon).
Because this gets confusing: Tirzepetide — the active ingredient in the drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound — is a dual-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 receptor agonist) and a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist, or GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist. Semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus — is only a GLP-1 receptor agonist.
As a dual-acting receptor agonist, Mounjaro can be a more effective treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity, as it targets multiple pathways involved in glucose regulation and weight management, compared to single-acting receptor agonists like Ozempic. But this may mean it comes with more fatigue. More research is needed into all of these weight loss and diabetes medications.
We’ve covered more on GLP-1 receptor agonists:
And GLP1/GIP receptor agonists:
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It’s unclear why Mounjaro makes you tired. It may be due to eating fewer calories, low blood sugar, changes in dopamine levels or exercise, or side effects like GI issues and anxiety disrupting your sleep.
Here’s more on how Mounjaro can make you tired:
You may also feel tired due to the common culprits of high sleep debt and circadian misalignment, which can tank your energy whether you’re on Mounjaro or not. We cover how to fix those soon.
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Mounjaro can affect sleep by causing side effects like vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, and depression. You may also change your diet and exercise habits on Mounjaro, which can impact sleep. For example, hunger pangs from cutting calories can keep you up at night, and exercising less can make it harder to drift off.
Mounjaro may cause insomnia. A into social media reports of GLP-1 receptor agonist side effects found some users reported their insomnia got better, while others said it got worse. There were reports of tirzepatide triggering insomnia in some.
Mounjaro may cause sleep problems that look a lot like insomnia. But it’s not clear whether these sleep problems can be classified as clinical insomnia.
The (ICSD-3) defines insomnia as having:
Having these sleep problems at least three nights a week for at least three months could be a sign of insomnia. Having them for one to three months could be a sign of episodic insomnia.
Seek medical advice if you think you have insomnia. You may need different, or additional, treatments compared to other Mounjaro sleep problems.
Mounjaro may improve your sleep, either straight away or with time. As a diabetes treatment, Mounjaro can help type 2 diabetics manage high blood sugar levels. And as diabetes is linked to and sleep disorders like sleep apnea, better management of the condition may lead to better sleep.
Mounjaro can also help you lose weight, which may reduce snoring, sleep apnea, and your odds of health conditions like high blood pressure and heart disease — which have been linked to like insomnia.
GLP-1 receptor agonists may improve sleep apnea outside of weight loss. We’ve covered more on whether Ozempic can potentially help sleep apnea here.
Healthy lifestyle changes are usually encouraged on Mounjaro, and these can help you sleep. You may start exercising or eating smaller, healthier meals.
Mounjaro may even reduce your cravings for alcohol and cigarettes, and cutting down on these can also improve your sleep.
Plus, the we mentioned earlier found reports of tirzepatide helping some people wake up feeling refreshed and rested. And GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists helped improve insomnia, anxiety, and depression for some.
Learn how sleep helps you lose weight here.
It’s unclear how long Mounjaro fatigue lasts. Fatigue may improve as your body gets used to the drug. You may also start sleeping better as other side effects improve.
You’d usually stay on a for four weeks before moving up to a higher dose. GI issues tend to happen when your dose increases, but it’s unclear whether the same happens with fatigue. Long-term studies are needed.
The common side effects of Mounjaro include:
These side effects were reported by of users in clinical trials. It’s not clear whether Mounjaro caused fatigue in a smaller percentage of people.
Serious side effects include allergic reactions, pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), diabetic retinopathy complications, kidney problems, and gallbladder problems like gallbladder disease.
Mounjaro has a boxed warning of an increased risk of thyroid C-cell tumors and a thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC).
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You can improve Mounjaro fatigue by paying back sleep debt, getting in sync with your circadian rhythm, improving your sleep hygiene, managing GI issues and anxiety, eating a balanced diet, and getting some exercise.
Here’s how:
The best way to feel less tired is to get the right amount of sleep for you. RISE calculates how much sleep you individually need. Despite what you may hear, it’s not simply eight hours for everyone. When we looked at how much sleep 1.95 million RISE users aged 24 and up needed, we found it ranged from five hours to 11 hours 30 minutes.
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While fatigue isn’t listed as a side effect of Mounjaro, some users say the drug makes them feel tired and other side effects can disrupt your sleep.
Use RISE to get better sleep and more energy while on Mounjaro. The app helps you pay back sleep debt, sync up with your circadian rhythm, and perfect your sleep hygiene.
Users say RISE makes a real difference to their days.
“It showed me how my late nights add up to sleep debt, which sabotages my energy. Since I've been using RISE, no more afternoon crashes.” .
And it doesn’t take long — 80% of users feel more energy within five days
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RISE makes it easy to improve your sleep and daily energy to reach your potential
