5 Reasons Why Your Energy is Low
Do you ever feel like after drinking your morning coffee, you’re ready for another refill and you’re still yawning? Mid-day rolls around and you’re ready for a nap, so you reach for your most powerful dose of caffeinated beverage…
Whelp if those are areas you are shaking your head yes to, then you’re in the right place. So, why… why do we feel that way, and why can’t we get enough energy to just last us the whole day. Here are 5 reasons that could possibly be bringing down your energy. Now before we begin, I am not your doctor, and if you have symptoms you are concerned about, please consult a medical provider. However, here are a few areas to work on at home.
1. Dehydrated
Do you know that caffeine actually dehydrates you? WHAAAAA?!?! NO! Not my wonderful sip of magical juice. Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news, however, for every cup of coffee, drink a cup of water. Use a 1:1 ratio. Coffee particularly acts as a diuretic and the more you pee the more water you lose from your body. So simple rule of thumb again common denominator in every blog so far STAY HYDRATED!
2. Haven’t Eaten Enough
We discuss this slightly in other articles about sustaining your metabolism. Well utilizing my fire metaphor again. You do not put a huge pile of wood on your fire to last all night, you slowly add pieces at a time. Same scenario for the food you eat. You don’t just eat all your calories in one sitting. You eat every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going, and your energy up. When someone consumes a large meal, especially one with a higher amount of carbohydrates, it spikes their insulin level and eventually leads to a crash. SO, you get a rush of energy just to come crashing down like a sugar high. Instead, eat every 3-4 hours making sure your meals have a balance portion of protein to carb ratio with some fats too.
3. Poor Sleep Habits
Are you tossing and turning, dreaming so much you feel more exhausted when you wake up? Only getting 2-4 hours of sleep? If so, it’s time to do a little checking in with yourself. First, try and go to bed earlier to get the quality 8 hours of sleep. If you’re like me and can’t shut the brain off to actually get to sleep, and you keep tossing and turning, it’s time to do some evaluation. When I couldn’t sleep properly, I read article after article thinking there was something medically wrong with me. When in reality I was overstimulated by all the electronics in my life. Shut the screens off 2 hours before bed, and do a little light reading or meditation. Or work on a fun project/hobby you wanted to start. If dreams are keeping you up at night, a few practices I have implemented, dream catchers (really work), nightstand journal (purge out the dream to go back to sleep), or recognizing your dream is going to habit, understanding it’s a dream, and tell yourself you’ll wake up rested regardless. Poor sleep can be caused by stress.
4. Stress
EW! This 5-letter word should be a 4-letter curse word. I have not met one person that states they love stress. No one brags about who has the best stress. YET, we all discuss it like it’s the new FAD. We need to prioritize self-care, mental health, and de-stressing more. Stress triggers a flight or fight even freeze response. Everyone handles stress differently, so no it may not cause low energy. However, for some this could be the main cause, overworking your CNS (central nervous system) to the point of exhaustion. If you feel like this factor relates to you, take a second to take a deep breath. And then go do one thing that is for yourself that is not work-related, or on a checklist. GO HAVE SOME FUN!
5. Over-caffeinated
Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Stop reaching for the mid-day pick-me-up. It may taste yummy, however, every good thing has a toxicity limit. Caffeine is one of those. Too much caffeine can start to have the reverse side effect. So stop killing your adrenals, drink some water, go do a fun task, and take a 20-30 min power nap. Just DO NOT reach for that 4-6 cup of coffee, or that second Redbull. P.S. It won’t give you wings I tried it already.
Implement these techniques at home, and see how your energy level changes.