Fatigue can be caused by a lack of nutrients, dehydration, adrenal fatigue, emotional stress or even food intolerance, and you can experiment to see what factors are contributing to your fatigue.
Learning from other people’s experience can give you a head start on overcoming fatigue. One thing is for sure, the body can be brought into balance once we understand what is affecting us. Most of the time, a healthy diet and exercise can recover our energy, the task then becomes understanding how to eat healthy with all the information thrown at us about fad diets and slimming products.
If you are feeling tired all the time, here are ten simple solutions to getting rid of your tiredness so you can get your spark back and get on with loving life!
1. Get more nutrients
There is a learning curve when it comes to understanding what nutrients are, which ones we need, and where we can find them. If you are deficient in nutrients, you will most likely experience fatigue. If you try to eat about four delicious salads each day with a variety of colorful organic plants, you will most likely feel your energy go up. Make sure you don’t douse the salad in processed dressing and either make your own or get really healthy ones.
Unfortunately, the mass produced iceberg lettuce salads with ranch dressings make people very turned off to the idea of vegetables and rightfully so, they’re gross.
Your body needs healthy fats found in nuts, seeds, avocados and healthy oils like olive oil or grape seed oil. Make sure you get about 40 grams of protein daily and eat every 2-3 hours. If you’re only getting a couple hundred calories per day, you will get very tired. There are many things you could be deficient in, such as iron, potassium or magnesium.
A raw and organic multivitamin with B vitamins, folic acid and amino acids are a good start to help you feel less tired as well (take them with food or you will get nauseous).
2. Do some yoga and be more active
If you only eat healthy but are completely sedentary, chances are you will not overcome your fatigue. Practicing yoga once a day will help you get access to more energy. You energy is stored in your body; it just needs to be released by getting your spine mobile and your digestion moving. In ancient cultures, they would dance around the fire to heal the community. Dancing moves the spine in all different directions and gets the body energized.
Many types of movement can give you energy. Dancing, water aerobics, acrobatics, power walking, Pilates, spinning, surfing and many more activities are all great ways to get moving and overcome your fatigue. If you are chronically fatigued I recommend starting with something that barely takes any energy, like restorative yoga or walking with a friend and build up to the more active classes.
I like classes because having other people around you will keep you going for the full hour or so, which is how long a class usually lasts.
3. Consume less caffeine and sugar
Did you know that too much caffeine can actually have the opposite effect of giving you energy? If you have fatigue, keep it to one cup of coffee in the morning max, and then switch to herbal tea if you like a hot beverage to keep you cozy. Don’t go for coffee drinks with sugar because you will just crash from it in an hour or so.
Sugar is just as detrimental as caffeine energetically, and the only types of sugars you need are from fruit. I go for organic raw honey if I want to sweeten something because it has minerals and vitamins, but beyond that, just say no ladies.
4. Drink more water
One of the first signs of dehydration is tiredness. Most people don’t know that, and most people are chronically dehydrated. Sugar drinks, juice and caffeinated drinks are diuretics which make you have to urinate and thus dehydrate you. Alcohol also dehydrates you. Many people think if they drink something with water in it, they are getting hydrated but this is not the case at all.
Because most of the foods in the American diet besides plants are acidic, it’s important to drink alkaline water. You can also eat plants that have high water content.
5. Listen to better music
I believe music is medicine and works in subtle ways to either energize you or calm you down. I like Spotify because you can search different moods and playlists and find music that moves you. I think making music a regular part of your day can help overcome feeling tired. If you think of tiredness on one side of the scale, the other side is energized.
If you’re feeling tired, listen to energizing music and it will help get you revved up. I like workout playlists and upbeat house music. If you’re feeling tired and you put on slow music, it will only make you want to go to sleep. It’s a good tool.
Music can affect us negatively if the lyrics are promoting low self-esteem and bad habits. If you listen to a lot of the music on the radio, it’s about broken and hopeless love sagas or abusing your body with drugs and alcohol. Rise above this and realize it affects us subconsciously.
When I started to notice how the type of music I listened to affected my mood and experiences, I quickly changed my habits. Words are a strong force and you want them to be used for good in all ways.
6. Have more fun
When we were young we had wild imagination and did crazy things. We drew on walls and hung from the couch upside down. Why can’t we build forts, make paper snowflakes and have finger food dinners on the floor? I recommend introducing a sense of play into your life to get you energized.
I like to do things to lighten my mood and the mood of those around me. Maybe it’s wearing something ridiculous or doing something you’re really bad at. Having something fun to look forward to can help you overcome the sense of dread and boredom that may be hanging over your head.
Having fun helps to manage our stress levels and reduce inflammation in the body. Smiling, hugging, and laughing all release chemicals in our body that affect us positively. Attitude is key here. If we are being a negative Nancy, we will get tired, there’s no doubt about it. Recent scientific studies are finding that our emotions, specifically positive emotions create a ‘vibe’ which means a vibration.
Everything has a measurable effect and emotions aren’t secluded from that. Emotions create physical responses in the body and the more we focus on positive emotions, the more we are able to generate them and energize ourselves.
7. Do less partying
If you went to or are in college, chances are you’ve been to parties. I think parties are healthy in doses, but they can really detract from our lifestyle. We have to balance them out with other activities like work, relaxing, sleeping, taking care of our health and spending time with family or children.
Usually parties leave us feeling tired the next day and cut out our motivation to get to the gym or go on that hike. Maybe you should just leave the party earlier than usual and get to bed at a reasonable time. If you stay up till 3am, you can’t expect to have normal amounts of energy the next day. I’m not saying you should be a square, but reel in the cowgirl, and introduce her to moderation.
8. Have better sleep
How much sleep do you think you get on a regular basis? 6 hours? You should be getting about 7 ½ and sometimes more if you’ve been working really hard. They say the optimal amount of sleep for women is right around there, and depending on your stress levels, it might even be more. It’s not just the amount of sleep though; it’s the quality of sleep.
Oversleeping can make you tired too. Try not to get more than nine or ten hours, or it will be hard to shake off the fog of sleep.
If you try not to have caffeine after 12pm and try not to eat chocolate or sugar before bed, you will find your sleep more restful. You should wake up with lots of energy and not feel like you’re dragging yourself out of bed. If you get enough sleep, exercise and nutrients, your sleep will be more restful.
Try not to look at lit screens right before bed because it messes with the chemicals your brain needs to release to fall asleep. Try reading a book before bed to improve your chances. Take time to get ready for bed by making sure it is comfortable, your clothes are comfortable, and you feel relaxed for at least twenty or thirty minutes before going to bed. If you work out right before trying to go to sleep, chances are it will be very hard to get to Dreamland.
Check out herbal supplements and teas that can help you sleep more restfully at your local health food store or online. If you have trouble getting up early, it can be changed. First of all, going to bed earlier will help. When I started getting up earlier, it took some time to adjust to it, but then my body starting waking up regularly before my alarm.
9. Consume less gluten
Gluten is in bread, pasta, cereal, pizza and desserts. It’s in almost all processed foods and it makes many people lethargic. Gluten is a protein that is often rancid in processed foods and irritates people’s stomachs. Many people will have ups and downs of energy during the day and can’t put their finger on why. This is a hard intolerance to diagnose and tests are also not a sure thing.
The best way to find out if you have more energy without gluten is to cut it out of your diet for a few weeks completely and see how you feel. It’s important to look up how to eat gluten free when you decide to, because gluten is hidden just about everywhere.
It’s much easier to eat gluten free today than it was just a few years ago. There is a lot of controversy over this subject because so many companies are being affected by people that are switching their dietary habits. I had chronic fatigue for years, and I’ve been gluten free since 2007 and have lots of energy every day now.
10. Try to reduce your stress levels
Try a meditation class or guided meditation on a CD. Arming ourselves with tools to cope with stress is an invaluable course of action. When we begin to develop the ability to notice how our stress affects our body, we will know when we need to take a break and clear our minds. If you feel like you are putting too much pressure on yourself, take some time to think and write things down about how you could lower your stress levels.
We often feel pressured to just deal with it, no matter what, and don’t feel like we have a choice. We always have a choice with what job and relationships we have in our lives. If you feel stuck, face what makes you feel that way.
Sometimes tiredness comes from fear. Our fear can create stress which physically affects our body.
Emotions do affect us, but luckily, we can deal with our emotions by choosing to direct our thoughts towards positive things that we are grateful for. We should ask ourselves where the fear is coming from and what we need to change to get it under control.
Finally, I encourage you to get clear with what your dreams are. What is it you are truly passionate about? Often when we aren’t excited about what we’re doing with our lives, we will feel tired. If we don’t have something exciting to work towards, we will have to force our motivation. Get fired up about your goals and choose something to work towards that means something to you.
Never just work to make money, work because it will bring you one step closer to your goals. That’s my two cents. I was tired all the time growing up, and until I started doing yoga every day and eating healthy (without gluten), I had no control over my energy. It’s great to know there are simple solutions for us though, right?
Hopefully, you will find more energy after applying these tips, and feel free to leave comments below…thanks for being a part of YouQueen.
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