And you can’t seem to shrug off that tired feeling and experience low energy all day long.
Feeling tired all the time, from the moment you get out of bed, can be an annoying problem. Especially if that feeling persists for several days in a row, and you just don’t feel 100%.
You think to yourself, wait, I’m ok, aren’t I? Then you kind of try to get on with things and start to realize you aren’t feeling ok, you’re feeling tired all the time.
Ah, coffee, another coffee. That will do it. Hang on. Still not 100%.
Maybe I need to work out more or something?
Perhaps I’m not eating enough or eating right?
Why am I feeling so sluggish and tired today, and more often these days?
Something, I have to change something.
What is it?
More often than not, this is exhaustion or extreme fatigue. W
Fatigue is a common problem involving a physical and mental state of being extremely tired.
Medicalnewstoday.com Medically reviewed by Judith Marcin, MD on August 15, 2017— Written by Yvette Brazier
The two types of fatigue or exhaustion:
Physical fatigue: It’s physically hard to do things you usually do, such as walking up the stairs, or taking out the trash.
Mental fatigue: It’s harder to concentrate on things and stay focused. You mostly feel sleepy or have difficulty staying awake while working.
It’s the onset of burnout or Burnout Syndrome. And that means you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for too long. Your mind and body are telling you they want time out!
Burning the candle at both ends can happen for many reasons:
- Too little sleep
- Working too many hours
- Not exercising
- Exercising too much
- Stress
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Loneliness
- Lung, Liver or Kidney disease
Many reasons, as noted, but mostly, with the absence of an illness, it’s down to a simple lack of sleep, working too many hours, and little or no exercise.
How to stop feeling tired all the time?
There’s no quick fix or pill for this. What you need is time.
- You need time to relax your body and mind, and to recharge your batteries.
- Most importantly, you need rest and sleep.
- What does my sleep schedule look like?
- Am I really getting enough hours a night?
- Is my sleep restful or am I waking up frequently?
Recent scientific studies show that a lack of sleep causes many significant changes in the body and increases your risk for serious health concerns such as obesity, disease, and even early death.
Healthline.com
These are the things you need to analyze and adjust if needed. Once you have reached the extreme fatigue or exhaustion stage, your body and mind are sending you a serious
If you want to stop feeling tired all the time, you have to take action, fast!
If you don’t listen and push on anyway, you’ll be rewarded by your body and mind going on strike in the form of a breakdown. And this is the mistake many people make, thinking they must push on, can deal with it, walk it off, as they say.
In reality, none of us can walk it off or push on forever. Quality sleep and reasonable rest time during the day are vital to our overall health. Please read more: Why do we need Sleep?
Tiredness and heart health.
Being overly tired causes negative emotions to arise. You can become agitated more easily, annoyed by everyday situations, impatient, and find yourself generally feeling down, pissed-off, and stressed out.
If you are frequently feeling those kinds of negative emotions, it’s very stressful for your heart as well as your mind. In situations like this, we find ourselves digging a deeper hole than we often can’t get out of alone—a classic Catch-22.
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Adequate rest and sleep are vital components to your heart health. The condition of your heart isn’t something you can see or be aware of, without a medical check-up.
If you feel tired, you can mostly do something about it by resting or sleeping more. But your heart health isn’t something you can observe daily, at least not until it may be too late, and heart disease may have set in.
Sleep is essential for a healthy heart. People who don’t sleep enough are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease—regardless of age, weight, smoking, and exercise habits. Getting enough good quality sleep is important if you want to lower your risk of these conditions.
sleepfoundation.org
Facing the mirror and taking action.
Once you have reached the stage of exhaustion or even burn out, you’ll have to first of all face it and be honest with yourself. Next, you’ll need at least a week of reasonable recovery time.
Meaning, stay at home time, lying on your sofa reading, sleeping, having massages, and catching up on sleep while eating healthily and drinking lots and lots of water.
After two or three days of rest, start to take relaxing, slow walks in the fresh air. Not too long or too far. About 30-minutes or so is a great way to begin and get back into a sensible movement routine.
You can find inspiration for walking right here. Please read why walking is so good for us.
Don’t work out or get back into your usual jive too fast, as if you do, you’ll end up back in the burn out zone and feeling tired all the time quicker than you know it!
How to not relapse?
That’s the critical question, and the answer is simple:
Respect your body and mind.
Action plan:
- Listen to your body
- Don’t push yourself always at the redline
- Don’t work all hours under the sun
- Get 8-hours of quality sleep, every night
- Rest multiple times a day
- Take a power nap for 15-minutes twice a day
- Take mini-walks 3 to 6 times day, inside or outside
- Move frequently
- Stand up from your desk or work position, move and stretch at least once an hour
- Slow yourself down, in mind and body
In summary.
Our bodies are incredible machines, but we can’t endlessly drive ourselves at the red-line without causing damage.
Our bodies are durable, and we can keep driving them for
If you own a beautiful high-tech machine such as a Ferrari or Porsche, you will go out for spins to enjoy it, but you won’t red-line that car forever ever, all day long, will you? Because you know, if you do, the engine will fail, and your vehicle and money will be down the drain.
If you are continually pushing yourself to the limit, redlining your engine, you are going to feel tired all the time. And think about what you’re doing to your heart in the process!
Give yourself ample time for rest, recovery, and sleep, as these attributes are equally important to your overall health as a healthy diet and exercise are.
Take time to Rest, Recover and Sleep.
Take care and look after yourself – In order to achieve a balanced lifestyle, you must make sure you are healthy. Your body needs plenty of rest, exercise
bhliveactive.org.ukand healthy food. It’s important to take some time out from a busy day to enjoy activities and unwind by reading or meditating.
Find your balance, as without it, we fall.
Live Well, look after yourself, and thank you for reading.
Rob Hourmont
Former Olympic Athlete & Certified Health Coach.
“It is my mission to educate people on how to lose weight, how to build a healthy, strong heart, body, and mind, supporting a longer life.”
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