Energy drain…you are totally wiped out and your get up and go has got up and went? Join the club. Most of us feel that way at times and for women it is one of the most common complaints to their doctor. (Gee, I wonder why?!)
Actually, it is your body’s cry for help..not only can fatigue make you tired but can also make you sick. (Remember the saying, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired!”?) There is more truth to that than not.
Your brain needs some down time and your body needs some time to recuperate from all that you ask it to do, in addition to just maintaining autonomic processes.
Here are a few suggestions to help you feel better and have a better quality of life:
Breathe! Breathe from your diaphragm several times each day when you are feeling tired or just about to go into an energy draining meeting. To help you get the idea, put your hand over your belly button. Inhale. Focus on expanding your stomach and chest – pull that air in! Most of us ‘shallow breathe’ where we either do not breathe in deeply enough to fill our lungs or we breathe ‘backwards’ by trying to fill our lungs by contracting our diaphragm rather than expanding it. (If you sing this is probably one of the first lessons you will learn.) You can fill a balloon with more air by expanding it than you can by deflating it.
Move! Stretch, walk, and yawn with your whole body. Take frequent breaks to keep your body alert. Stride to the bathroom. If you look at a computer screen most of the day, relieve eyestrain by focusing on something distant every 30 minutes or so. When watching TV, use the time during commercial breaks to get up, stride to the bathroom and look out the window to relieve eyestrain.
Get Serious about Play! Acting like a serious, responsible adult is no fun and is exhausting! Not to mention all those routines get b-o-r-ing! Your brain needs some downtime.
Mix it up during the day, open email jokes and pass them on, flip through a magazine, call a friend, daydream, play with your kids, buy a CD and play it while your car pooling, waste time! All these little mini-breaks will help make your routine a little less of a well, routine!
Get out and enjoy the sunshine! Guess what?! With the warmer weather finally here I’m getting outside more (walking my dogs). Within just the past few days I’ve gotten more sunshine than I have in probably 3 years at the least! And I am suddenly full of energy! I can’t sit still! (Which is really saying something for the couch slug I was all winter!)
Actually, bright light has caffeine-like effects and makes you feel more energized! If you just can’t make it outside, spend some time in a room that is drenched in natural light! You’ll feel a whole lot better!
Get enough sleep! Return to a regular bedtime and wake-up time and try to stick to it! (Yes, even on weekends.) If you feel you need more sleep on a particular night go to bed 20 or 30 minutes earlier than usual.
Studies have shown that the majority of Americans are sleep deprived and that can also equate to carrying around extra pounds! (Something makes us think, “If I eat some food I will feel less sleepy. Wrong!) What happens on holidays when you eat maybe just a little too much – and try to compete with the stuffed turkey? You get so very sleepy!!
Drink enough water! Again those same studies as above have shown that dehydration is a problem! And it goes hand in hand with overeating. Even being just a little dehydrated lowers your blood volume and affects the functioning of your brain! If you don’t like just plain water, add either a little lime or lemon juice. It also helps to alkalize your body!
Signal your body with light! All during the day you have been energized by natural light and in brightly lit working areas. When it is time to settle in for the night, dim the lights in your house by exchanging those high wattage bulbs with lower watt bulbs or utilize the lower settings on your lamps that have 3 settings. What this lower light does is signal your body to secrete the melatonin so you can get to sleep.
Lower the noise levels. When you lower the lights and turn on the reading lamps, lower the decibels. If you live in an area where it is noisy, carpet can help, as can a white noise machine or even simply turning on a fan to help mask the noise.
It is a proven fact that during the day if we work in an area where we cannot control the sound, we have to work harder to ignore it; which in turn stresses us out and drains our energy.
Eat breakfast! They really aren’t kidding when everyone tells you it is the most important meal of the day! Just look at the word “breakfast”. It tells you exactly what you are doing – breaking the fast from the night time.
And no, sugary cereal does not count as a good breakfast! It is sugar, which will indeed give you an energy boost at first, but then quickly fades and so do you. Eat some protein – it will stays in your stomach longer and gives you staying power!
What’s that you say? You’re not hungry in the morning? Well, you probably ate too much last night.
Lose the pounds. Why does it always come back to that? Sigh* Yes, toting around a few extra pounds will make you very tired. So find some exercise you like and do it. You can even play around with it if you want to, exercise every other day, or exercise everyday during the week then take the weekend off. Just don’t take more than two days off or you might fall off the exercise wagon.
Did you know that it takes 21 days to establish a habit?
