We have days where we just don’t have the energy to accomplish pressing tasks. Here are the things you can do to achieve and maintain adequate energy levels throughout the day.
So many things to do yet so little time. It’s a question we often ask ourselves when we have tight schedules. We get drowsy just before an important meeting or before doing a crucial task. Let’s discuss the ways to increase your energy levels so you can get things done.
We have this ideal image of us becoming as the Flash or Superman getting things done in haste. But we just can’t do it – we find ourselves helpless as we struggle with sleepiness and stagger throughout the day because we don’t have the energy. In most cases, time is of the essence so we have to do with what little energy we have. Let’s examine how we can deal with fatigue and avoid it from doing havoc in our lives.
Why Low Energy Levels Can Be Harmful?
It hurts you more than you think. Jobs and relationships take a hit. You can feel that you’re short tempered when you are tired or lacked enough sleep. The lingering fatigue turns us short tempered and easily angered, even when we do not mean it.
You may not realise that you exhibited nasty behaviour towards your spouse, children, co-workers or neighbours. Not getting enough sleep can make it difficult for you to make important decisions. Fatigue can be deadly on occasions like when driving or working on heavy machinery. All of that because you’re just tired. Imagine that.
Steps to Boost Energy Levels
Sometimes, we are dreadful of starting the work day because we anticipate that it is far beyond our energy levels. We get bored with people, things, or events, since we have to guess how much energy we need to spend on them.
We naturally lose energy levels as we age. Doctors call fatigue anergia, and its estimated that up to 50% of the adults aged 60 and above have it. Sometimes, fatigue can be the effect of medicines or underlying health conditions like a flu (see your GP), but if you are otherwise healthy, here are the things we can do.
Lingering tiredness could be a sign that your body simply needs rest. That could be true especially if you are hounded with fatigue on an almost everyday basis. Insert breaks through stints of work. Caffeine may offer some respite, but it’s not the proper solution.
Take a nap if you have to. A regular sleep schedule, where you hit the bed and wake up at set time everyday, helps tune our body clock so we become alert at waking times.
You might be working too hard or focused too much on a particular thing that you probably need some sort of a break. Have a break or file for a sick leave. Spend sometime doing other than work to refresh your mind and body.
Speaking of sleep, we have an insightful article that can give you idea on how to have improved sleep times.
It Could Be Time to Stick to a Healthier Lifestyle
The solutions to fatigue may sound easy, but sticking to it may be difficult in real life because we are busy and have tight schedules. Sleep deprivation, where you sleep less than eight hours daily for weeks and have little deep sleep, can cause lingering fatigue. So get your schedule and make adjustments so you can increase sleep hours. It might improve your mental function and vitality as you get ahead in years.
A change in lifestyle could might be the thing you need, with more physical activity and a more healthy diet. Exercise does not always mean going to the gym. Get moving to increase blood flow in the body. Brisk walking in a beautiful park, washing your car, and playing sports count as exercise, and they are not boring. Find ways to insert physical activity in your schedule, like playing a bout of table tennis or shoot through hoops, during breaks at work. Be creative.
Your diet and the way you eat has a lot to do with energy levels. Eating breakfast and having a regular schedule for meals may help improve energy levels. Small frequent meals (mini meals) spread throughout the day is better in maintaining sustained energy without bogging you down, as done by athletes.
Some foods have a helpful effect on reducing fatigue. A publication suggests that daily meals should revolve around whole grains (brown rice, oats, bulgur, and shredded wheat), leafy veggies (kale, spinach, broccoli), colorful vegetables (carrots, squash, tomato, bell peppers, sweet potato), and fruits (apples, bananas, oranges, kiwis, berries). For your protein, you may have to forego red meat and go for omega 3-rich fish (salmon, lox, sardines, anchovies), which may help lower down inflammation that could contribute to fatigue.
Certain things have an effect on energy levels. Taking a cup of joe or tea may help reduce sleepiness. Drinking cold water also works and also resolves dehydration that might cause tiredness. On the other hand, sun exposure causes your body to undergo heat stress that result to fatigue.
Doing something when you are tired requires a lot of effort. We become frustrated whenever we get tired and only managing to finish half of our tasks. Making the switch to a healthier lifestyle and having scheduled rests, offer a more permanent solution to low energy levels, and you have to do it before it affect your career and relationships.