Sometimes it seems that no matter how well you sleep, and how early you hit the pillow, you still find yourself barely capable of opening your eyes when your alarm starts ringing in the morning.
No, you’re not imagining it; we are all becoming more tired. Statistics show that 35% of us wake up feeling unrefreshed every single day, but more of us are getting between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. So what gives?
If you’re waking up and hitting snooze regularly, it's time to uncover the health issues behind your fatigue.
The top tips for fighting fatigue and winning your battle with the snooze button.
1. Get Real About Your Coffee
There’s nothing wrong with having a coffee in the morning, but it’s time to be honest with yourself about how much caffeine you’re really drinking, and how it may be affecting you.
Is your morning coffee a single shot, or are you having a large? If the latter, you may as well count it as two coffees. And are you using coffee as an afternoon pick me up when you hit your 3pm slump? Consider this, every time you drink coffee, your adrenal glands are stimulated, telling your body that it needs to get out of danger (that doesn’t even exist). Your body responds to this by releasing cortisol, your stress hormone. Repeating this process on a daily basis can lead to a mild form of what’s called ‘adrenal fatigue’, and inhibit your ability to sustain energy levels throughout the day, as your stress hormones are so overstimulated.
Try: Limit yourself to one coffee a day, or even going cold turkey. You may feel rubbish for the first week, but without this 'toing and froing' of your adrenals thanks to caffeine, you may find yourself feeling better than ever.
2. Avoiding Red Meat? Make Friends With Your Vitamins
Do you eat mostly vegetarian meals? Or do you avoid red meat on a weekly basis for health reasons? Many of us don’t eat the recommended 2-3 serves of red meat needed for the nutrients that directly affect our energy levels; vitamin B12, iron and magnesium.
Deficiency in all of these nutrients is extremely common. If you don’t want to up your intake of red meat, you can look for alternative food sources rich in iron and magnesium, such as legumes and tofu for iron and cacao for magnesium. However, vitamin B12 is only readily available in animal based foods, such as meat, poultry and eggs.
If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, it will be difficult for you to reach your recommended daily intake without supplements. As vitamin B12 is responsible for converting food into glucose for energy, you’ll certainly notice the difference if you’re missing out on this essential nutrient.
3. Stop Sacrificing Sleep For Exercise
What time is it when you’re hitting the snooze button? If you’re regularly hitting snooze at 5am because you promised yourself you’d go to that early morning spin class, and choosing to wake up at 6:30am instead, your body might be trying to tell you something. If getting up early to exercise means having only 5 or 6 hours of sleep as opposed to 8, it could be more detrimental in the long run.
Research has shown that a lack of sleep creates hormonal imbalance, encouraging our bodies to store more fat, and interfering with our appetite-controlling hormones. So if you’re hitting snooze at 5am, it’s time to make a choice: simply stop setting the alarm for 5am and aim to get 8 hours of sleep per night, OR start switching off the TV or Netflix earlier to ensure you get a decent night’s sleep, making you actually want to leap out of bed at 5am.
At the end of the day, sleep is just as essential for getting results from your workout regime as the exercise itself.
4. Consider Ubiquinol
If you find you’re often lacking in energy it may mean that your Ubiquinol levels are low! Ubiquinol is a powerful antioxidant that is found naturally in the body. Its role is to extract energy from food and assist in powering the body’s overall energy levels. Science shows that as we age or put our bodies under stress our Ubiquinol levels decline, often leaving us feeling fatigued and lacking in energy. It is very hard to boost your Ubiquinol levels from food sources, so your healthcare practitioner may recommend supplementation.
5. Stop Cutting Carbs
Most of us have resorted to cutting carbs at some time or another, whether it be axing them from our diet completely or simply reducing our carb intake drastically. And while you should definitely look to have a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, protein and healthy fats, cutting carbs could be the culprit behind your exhaustion.
Carbohydrates are quite literally our brain’s fuel; they are needed for energy. Without them, our brain runs out of glycogen, and starts burning fat for energy.
While this may sound like a positive, it’s not sustainable in the long run and fat is not your body’s preferred food source. So if you’re finding that even opening your eyes in the morning, let alone getting out of bed, is a huge struggle, you may be suffering from ‘low-carb flu’, and it could be time to start reintroducing complex carbs like brown rice, quinoa and starchy vegetables.
Words: Stephen Eddey
Naturopath and Principal of Health Schools Australia
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