Tired of being tired? Find out why and fight it

You don't have to limit your life to fight fatigue, CBS News medical contributor Dr. Holly Phillips writes in her new book. The key is to find hidden, energy-draining aspects in your life.

"The breakthrough in this book is just to let everyone know that no matter how full your life is, you can have more energy and you deserve to," Phillips said Monday on "CBS This Morning."

Phillips said we're living during an epidemic of exhaustion -- and she's not alone. Last year the CDC declared insufficient sleep a public health crisis.

In "The Exhaustion Breakthrough," Phillips compiles hundreds of common, but commonly overlooked, causes of fatigue - from hidden medical conditions to lifestyle factors.

She offers a seven-day exhaustion breakthrough challenge that encourages drinking at least 13 cups of water a day, keeping a whole-food diet and sleeping alone.

"There are things in bed that take two people, sleeping is not one of them. So during the exhaustion breakthrough challenge, you do sleep alone," she said. "You get rid of the partner, the kids, the dog, the cat and you see if the quality of sleep improves. Because it's not how many hours you spend in bed but how well you sleep that affects your energy."

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• National Sleep Foundation's new recommendations for a good night's rest
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Phillips also recommends performing an hourly body check. She said it completely changed her life more than anything else in the book.

"What you do is every hour you set an alarm and you take two minutes out from whatever you're doing to do a body inventory," she said. "You start at your head and you move to your toes, looking for areas of discomfort or tension. So is my brow furrowed? Am I clenching my jaw? And you move to the bottom."

It's a practice, she said, that can help people connect their body and mind -- an important step to feeling more energized.

Trying to fight that midday slump? Phillips said a "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology" study suggests skip the coffee and take a 10-minute walking break.

"In this study, they compared two groups of people who had hit a mid-afternoon slump. One group had coffee and chocolate, the other took a 10-minute walk. Two hours later the people who had taken a 10-minute walk had more energy," Phillips said.

She said it's not necessarily about running long distances, it's about increasing metabolism and getting oxygen in your body to help get you through the day.

Above all, Phillips hopes her book will teach people to challenge complacency regarding exhaustion and that pushing through is not a badge of honor.

Want to know more? Phillips answered your questions in a "CBS This Morning" Facebook Q&A below: