Are you tired? You’re in good company.
We are tired for various reasons, including life stage, health, diet, sleep hygiene, circumstance, habits, and mental health… so what works for your variety of tired will vary depending on you.
There are things people do to try to wake up, like drink coffee, shake it off and push through, and get some fresh air… or sugar. Aside from the fresh air, the rest simply adds to the undue stress and breakdown of your nervous system.
Today, I’ll cover 19 habits that contribute towards sleepiness and what you can do to reverse it. The first 5 is food related. The next 4 is sleep related. The next 4 has to do with the mind. The next 3 is about breath and exercise. And the final 3 is on screen time.
Do you drink coffee? Like every other drug, coffee weakens the nervous system, makes you chemically dependent, and tired when it wears off. For the flavored latte and frapuccino drinkers, the syrup is a double whammy. Drink water instead. You’d be surprised how well water works to energize you. Ever see a plant badly in need of water? Ever see what happens to it when you water it? Same happens to you too. Sip on it, don’t gulp it down. Drink it throughout the day instead of all at once. Iced-cold water might wake you up in the moment, but warm to hot water detoxes your system, making you much less tired in the long run. If you wanna go the extra mile, try hot water sips and a cold shower instead, first thing in the morning. Cold showers flush out your organs, strengthens your nervous system, and washes away aches and pains.
If you must have coffee because you love the taste of it (that’s me), enjoy a smaller cup after a substantial meal instead of on an empty stomach. Treat it like a celebratory dessert instead of an energy injection.Do you consume sugary drinks (like Vitamin Water), food bars and other processed snacks? Instead, have fruit for sugar and olives (over chips) for salt. If you don’t prefer olives, a small handful of salted almonds, walnuts, or cashews is good. Or a few cubes of cheese from a clean dairy source if your body can handle the dairy.
Do you eat more than your body needs? If so, your body will go into a food coma to try and process the overload. Or it might give you food sensitivities. Consider intermittent fasting. To do this right, you’ll want to include a sufficient amount of good fats to carry you through to the next meal. Fats include: olive oil, butter, ghee, eggs, coconut oil, fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout, anchovies), avocado, olives, nuts (almonds & walnuts are good ones), seeds (flax & chia), dark chocolate (70% or more), and cheese. If you’re having chicken, have it with the skin. If you’re having beef, choose the fattier varieties. For meats, ideally limit it to no more than twice a week and 4 to 6 oz per serving (depending on weight and activity level). The easiest way to intermittent fast is to have an early dinner and then to make your next meal a late breakfast or lunch (basically, wait until you’re actually hungry to eat). This timing will help you get a good night’s sleep since you won’t be going to bed full, and it will increase your energy and focus throughout the day.
Do you drink alcohol? Even one glass of wine can affect your energy for the next one to three days. Decide if it’s worth it or not. If you must have a glass, like coffee, enjoy it after your meal instead of before.
Do you eat too much bread, cereal, and pasta? Carb consumption releases insulin, which lowers the level of amino acids in the blood, which allows tryptophan to get through the blood brain barrier and affect your neurotransmitters, which in turn makes you tired. Lower your carb intake. Replace it with a vegetable (not pasta or potato) salad and a little bit of protein. If you must have a piece of bread, again, enjoy it after your meal. Basically, have your meal in the opposite order that the restaurants like to serve you.
Do you get enough rest? Take a short nap if you didn’t get enough hours of sleep, and/or go to bed early today. If you do get enough hours and you’re still tired, I recommend meditation to give your brain some space to recharge on a more conscious level. Meditation allows you to consciously observe and release, so what you process during meditation increases awareness and teaches command over your thoughts. This increases calm instead of agitation, reactivity, and drama.
What time do you get to bed? You may be sleeping during the wrong hours. The sleep you get before midnight produces more restful sleep, and the less hours of sleep you’ll need. If you get to sleep after midnight, the more hours you’ll need and the less rested you’ll feel. Ideally, it’s best to fall asleep by 10 pm (and up by 6 am).
Do you press the snooze button? You think just 15 more minutes would do you good, but it makes for a start to a sleepier day. Some experts say that pressing the snooze button is the killer of your dreams, that’s how bad a habit this is. If you insist on doing it, then go ahead and press the snooze button, and then sit up, close your eyes, and meditate until the snooze button goes off. If you’re a multiple snoozer, then keep snoozing the button to see how many snoozes you can meditate for. Yes, gamify it.
How long do you go horizontal (or in the fetal position) during the day? Notice how long you stay there when you “wake up” in the morning, and even when you “rest” during the day. The longer you’re there, the more tired you’ll get.
Do you put certain tasks off for months and months? And when you finally do them, they only take 15-20 min, and you’re so relieved you finally did them, right?! You know what I’m talking about, we’ve all been there. If there’s another task like that on your plate, do it now. This hack works better than coffee.
Are you thinking too much? Many of us ruminate. Instead, help someone in need, right now. It doesn’t have to be a major ordeal. You’ll feel purposeful, connected, and refreshed. You’ll realize a power you didn’t know you had.
Are you a worrier? Stop it. Worrying isn’t a solution, nor it is responsible. Every problem is either something you can control or it isn’t. It's either something that’s real or anticipated (i.e you’ve made it up). If it’s real and you can control it, then worrying is silly. Just act. If it’s something you can’t control or something you’ve made up (anticipation is worse than the real thing), then worrying isn’t going to make it go away, it only serves to ruin your or someone else’s day. Let it go.
Busy? Take command over your time and pad ample space in between your busyness. This can be as simple as not picking up that phone when you wait in line, are driving, or in an elevator. Add 10 to 20 extra minutes to the time you think you’ll need to do something. Scrap the myth that multi-tasking is effective because it’s not. Dive into a little “boredom” and discomfort. It will ultimately soothe your nervous system, plug you back into yourself and your sense of humanity, and it will give you back your creativity, which is a happy, restful space to be for us humans.
How are you breathing? 9 out of 10 students come to me with shallow and reverse breathing, which triggers a non-stop flight-or-flight response, causing chronic stress and exhaustion. Learn the one simple breath. Breathe down to your solar plexus, which is just below your diaphragm. If you breathe all the way down to your sacrum all day, that too, can make you tired. So focus on getting that breath just down below the diaphragm, expand when you inhale, and exhale completely.
Do you sit all day? Take breaks to move your energy UP. Instead of walking to the fridge, walk outside and stop frequently to enjoy the sky (even the gray ones). I promise you your 20 minute walk will gift you more up-time than your attempts to push through your exhaustion. If you just aren’t ready to carve out the 20 minutes, or if the weather is un-walkable, do ten frogs. It will shift your energy in just 1 to 3 minutes. If your knees bother you, do only as many as you can, slowly.
Are you doing too much cardio? Yes, too much cardio can also make you tired as it doesn’t allow your body to recover properly, causing inflammation and poor quality of sleep. Exercise in moderation releases endorphins, which releases stress and pain, and it increases sleep quality. If you’re not doing cardio at all, start light, but you gotta do something to get that heart rate up every day. Remember that cardio doesn’t have to be high impact.
Are you a news junkie? Stop watching. Especially right before bed and first thing in the morning. Even during the day, it’s much better to read the headlines and listen to deep interviews instead of commentaries. This will give you more context and less inflammation, reducing stress and raising empowerment.
Does your phone have command over you? Turn off most of your notifications and go into your apps only when YOU determine it’s time for you to check in, not when others, or your algorithms, tell you it’s time.
Do you scroll social media right before bed and right when you wake up?? Stop it. Like the news, this depletes your energy, sense of joy, and ability to focus. Short of abstaining, consider reducing going into your social media accounts to a couple of times a week (or once a day to start), get what you’re looking for, and then get out before it sucks you in. My daughter had a post-it note on her mirror growing up. It said: You are better than Netflix. Likewise, you are better than all of your apps. You really are.
Love, Savitree
It’s scary how many of those I can relate to. Now I will yawn 🤣