A lot of people complain that they are tired from the moment they wake up in the morning. In this post, let’s figure out how to get rid of the “zombie” feeling — the syndrome of an eternally tired person — where to find vital energy, and what should be done to break the vicious cycle of fatigue.
Healthy sleep
Most likely, and it is more appropriate to say — for sure, you have heard about how many hours a day each age group should sleep. And even if you take these numbers into account when you set the alarm clock and also consume some products from their website, you can still wake up in the morning with a feeling of fatigue. If so, then you should pay attention to sleep cycles.
The fact is that at night we go through several sleep cycles with different levels of brain activity. And so, if you wake up during one of these stages, you feel like a zombie. That is the risk of any alarm clock — it can wake you up at the wrong moment.
Each of the cycles lasts up to 90 minutes. So, you can experiment: try to go to bed on time and get up without an alarm clock (use it, for example, only on weekdays to be safe).
And pay attention to a small detail that will change your sleep life for the better — the unloading ritual. To go to bed relaxed, you need to disconnect from everything that you usually do before going to sleep. Do not scroll through the news feed and switch off electronic devices, and you will feel that your sleep quality is becoming way better.
Sunlight
Even if you apply the previous tips, it may happen that the fatigue does not go away, so what? Here, sunlight comes to the rescue. Now let’s analyze this thesis in more detail.
Nowadays, many people have a sedentary lifestyle. We rarely move and are surrounded by screens that keep us inside, away from the sun, which dramatically affects our fatigue. The fact is that sunlight regulates the level of melatonin, a hormone that is necessary for sleeping. And sunlight is a source of vitamin D, which not only supports the health of bones, the immune system, and lungs but also stimulates the body to not get tired.
Also, more than one study showed that there is a correlation between vitamin D and fatigue — the more vitamin D in the body, the more energetic the participants of the experiments felt. Good news: a 20-minute walk on sunny summer days is enough to increase the amount of this vitamin in the body.
What about in winter? Sometimes during the cold season, you can feel a lack of sunlight. This is why so many people suffer from the seasonal affective disorder. If this is about you, then it is worth resorting to a substitute for vitamin D in the winter period. But do not forget to walk — even a five-minute walk in winter will relieve you.
Exercise
And now let’s talk about physical activity. You might think that to get rid of fatigue, the best thing to do is to do heavy training every day, but it is not so. In fact, light exercise like a 20-minute walk can also be effective.
Scientists found that students who exercised for 20 minutes in the afternoon three times a week had an extraordinary increase in energy. Moreover, the results of these students were many times better than those of the group of individuals who practiced more intensively. Therefore, the conclusion: if you are eternally tired, then exercise a little, and you will have a great increase in energy. The main thing is to regularly do at least some kind of sport.
Caffeine
You can compare coffee with drugs: with frequent use of any substance, our body gets used to it and begins to develop immunity. In the case of coffee, there are many adenosine receptors in the brain and throughout the body. And most types of caffeine, in fact, replace adenosine and block receptors, which makes you temporarily feel energetic. And with regular caffeine consumption, the body gets used to it and creates more adenosine receptors, which means that over time, more caffeine is needed to maintain performance.
And the logical question arises, how can you wean yourself off coffee, and what can you replace it with? It’s all easier than it seems. First, replace coffee and energy drinks with tea. It contains many times less caffeine. There is such a wild variation of tea flavors in the world that you will definitely find the one that suits your taste. If you are an avid coffee lover, you can start with such types as “Earl Grey” or “English breakfast”. And if you want to feel the taste even closer to coffee, then add milk.
You can also track your habits with Habitica. In particular, this program will help you arrange a kind of destruction of unnecessary habits, for example, drinking coffee. You set up the program that you don’t drink coffee for a month, and that way you will have the motivation not to consume it because you have a clear goal that you write down every day.
Water
Also, a very important daily habit is to drink a lot of water. Get used to carrying a bottle of water with you, it won’t replace all the caffeinated drinks you pour yourself, and it doesn’t taste too juicy, but water will help you get rid of dehydration. After all, even a slight lack of water can make you tired, because every part of the body, including the brain, needs water to function normally. So drink as much water as possible.
Hopefully, the above recommendations will come in handy, and you will manage to change your habits, hence, you will eventually become as energetic as you used to be.