Feeling tired or exhausted is a normal sign that it’s time to rest and sleep. But if you are constantly fatigued or excessively tired over time, you’re not healthy. The good news: With simple changes and natural remedies, you can defeat fatigue and live vibrantly.
Often, the American lifestyle is one of too much stress, too much work, too much worry and not enough relaxation or sleep. This makes you fatigued. And when this fatigue is prolonged, or allowed to exist for weeks on end, it can become chronic. Chronic fatigue is one of the most debilitating health issues you can grapple with. It saps your energy and joy for life. Often, it can lead to depression.
The problem is that many people bring prolonged fatigue on themselves through their daily actions and choices. Fatigue-inducing actions include:
- Working too many hours.
- Experiencing too much physical or mental stress at work.
- Taking on too much without the ability to say no.
- Not reducing psychological stress.
- Not getting seven solid hours of sleep per night.
- Using external stimulants like caffeine, sugar or drugs to keep you energized.
- Eating a poor diet high in simple carbohydrates, sugars and fats.
- Not drinking ample amounts of water.
- Wearing down your nervous system with smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.
Banish Fatigue
Suffering chronic fatigue is something most people can vanquish. If you examine the list above, you can see that all of these examples are based on personal actions and behaviors. Change these and you naturally change your energy levels. Here’s what you can do:
- Set a standard sleep and wake schedule, and try not to deviate from it. Recent studies indicate that seven hours of sleep per night is not only ideal but the healthiest.
- Do not consume caffeinated or sugar-laden beverages that dehydrate you while also causing spikes and drops in blood sugar. This leads to fatigue.
- If you experience fatigue in the middle of the day, take a nap (if possible), go for a walk or take a personal day to go home and recharge. One lost day may forestall suffering fatigue for weeks or longer.
- Try to get your work done within the standard eight-hour day. This may mean prioritizing your time, managing your schedule more efficiently or reducing your workload. Learn to say no to extra tasks before you are overwhelmed. Again, this means balancing your health with your work.
- Learn and practice daily stress-management and stress-reduction techniques, like mindful breathing and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) reframing methods. Aromatherapy also helps, as do hot showers and soothing baths at the end of the day.
- Avoid all external stimulants that produce artificial energy. These provide only short energy boosts while dragging your body down. If you need energy, go for a brisk five-minute walk or do some jumping jacks. While it sounds counterintuitive, it takes energy to make energy. The more you exercise or move your body, the more energy your body produces naturally.
- Eat only whole grains when deciding on breads and pastas; they take longer to break down and turn to sugar in your body. They do not cause the same spikes and dips in energy that simple carbs do. Getting your carbohydrates from vegetable sources is even better.
- Try to not overstimulate your sense organs. That means creating work and living environments that are not overly crammed with images, sounds, smells and clutter. Such things tax your nervous system and can lead you to feel fatigue.
Good Health
Energy is the elixir of good health. Fatigue drains you of vibrancy.
Five things lead naturally to optimal energy:
- Oxygen: Without oxygen you cannot live. Yet most people breathe shallowly, using only a portion of their lung capacity. They do not bring in enough fresh oxygen into the body, nor do they expel enough carbon dioxide. Breathing deeply a few times every hour, as long as the air is fresh, can help energize your body, aid in detoxification and invigorate your cells.
- Food: Necessary for life, food is your fuel. Eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables while cutting back on sugars and processed foods goes a long way toward creating natural energy and stabilizing sugar crashes.
- Water: Water is remarkably important for all functions in the body from the elimination of toxins to the moistening of the lungs and other organs to keeping the muscles loose. Drinking water to stay hydrated is a valuable resource for preventing fatigue.
- Sleep: Sleep allows your body to shut down and begin to repair itself from the stresses of the day. You need this time to regenerate, clean and repair. Without ample sleep on a nightly basis, you will surely experience fatigue and, often, chronic pain.
- Movement: As mentioned before, it takes the use of energy to create extra energy. The more you can walk, jump or exercise, the more energy your body naturally starts producing. Being sedentary leads only to more sedentary behaviors which, in turn, lead to low energy, tiredness and fatigue. Get up and move.
On the other hand, be sure to forgo No Doze or pills supposed to pep you up and combat jet lag.
Naturally Tired
Being tired is a natural part of each day, signaling a time to rest. Since fatigue is largely self-induced because of our lifestyles, it is clear that making changes in your daily behaviors, actions and choices can naturally reverse fatigue and prevent its return.
Live a vibrant life full of energy by making the adjustments to your life that can keep fatigue at bay. It may take some effort at first, but routines are easy to maintain after a brief period of introduction.
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