6 easy things to change to stop feeling tired
Want to stop feeling tired? From stress to red wine and a rubbish diet, check out your personal energy drains and find out the best way to fuel up.
Overdoing the lattes
Relying on caffeine to get you through the day can be a real energy drainer as it will stop you sleeping and can also magnify your body’s reaction to stress – one study found that drinking just three cups of coffee a day significantly increases stress hormone levels.
So limit yourself and don’t drink it beyond early afternoon – a study found that drinking caffeine even six hours before bed can affect sleep.
Eating on the run
Grabbing food here and there and relying on processed food can leave you run-down and exhausted. Eating lots of sugar or refined carbs like white bread, cakes and biscuits may give you an instant boost, but what goes up must come down, so it will be followed by a dip that leaves you feeling worn-out and low in energy.
Choose meals and snacks that combine unrefined carbs like wholegrain bread or porridge, with a protein food, like beans, nuts or poultry, and eat little and often to keep blood sugar levels stable.
Burning the candle at both ends
If you are trying to pack too much into every day you are probably worrying about getting it all done and not giving yourself enough time to relax before bed.
Try crossing some things off the bottom of your to-do list, and make a resulution to slow down and relax early in the evening. Write down the things you are fretting about in a notebook, well before bedtime, to deal with tomorrow.
A glass of wine
Although alcohol may help you relax and drop off initially, but even a couple of drinks can affect the quality of your sleep – more than that and you can wake feeling that you’ve had hardly any rest.
Alcohol interferes with normal sleep patterns – when you drink a lot close to bedtime you go straight into deep sleep and miss out on REM sleep. During a normal night you will have 6-7 cycles of REM sleep, which helps you wake feeling refreshed, but after alcohol this can be reduced to one or two.
Slouching
Slumping and slouching doesn’t just make you look tired, it also puts stress on your joints and muscles, and restricts your breathing, which reduces your lungs’ vital capacity, sapping your energy.
To check your posture, stand upright, feet apart, and let your arms hang down. Relax your shoulders and imagine a string attached to the top of your head pulling you upwards and stretching your spine. Your ears, shoulders and hips should be aligned to keep the natural curves of your spine.
Stress
Any big change in your life, even a welcome one can increase stress levels. Stress triggers the release of the fight or flight hormone cortisol, which increases levels of fat and sugar in your bloodstream to energise your brain and muscles.
Under usual circumstances your body will return to normal, but if you’re under constant stress the continuous release of cortisol can leave you feeling jittery and exhausted. One quick way to reduce the physical impact of stress is to take a few minutes to close your eyes and focus on taking deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly. This will help increase oxygen levels in your bloodstream and counter the fight and flight response.
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