Top 5 Energy Drainers And How To Beat Them

5 mins to read

Some things can drain our energy and make us feel so tired that we may not even realise why. Explore some reasons why you might be feeling tired.

Energy & exercise

At home, there are appliances that use more energy than others without you realising.

Similarly, when it comes to our human bodies, some things can drain our energy and make us feel so tired that we may not even realise why. It takes just one lifestyle factor to make us feel like we cannot keep up with our daily activities. Being aware of what these may be could help you to address them before they sap your energy.

Let’s look at five of the top energy drainers and how to beat them.

Inadequate sleep

A helpful way to understand the critical role of sleep is to understand the important processes that occur during sleep. The body releases hormones that aid in cell repair and control the body’s use of energy.

During sleep there are two types of sleep that we go through in 90-minute cycles. The Sleep Health Foundation explains that the first three hours of sleep consist of the deepest stages of sleep (Slow Wave Sleep). Later in the night, we experience more REM sleep, or dreaming sleep.

Sleep specialists believe the last stage of non-REM sleep, known as deep sleep, is the main time when renewal and repair processes in the body occur. According to Harvard University, this stage of sleep appears to play the greatest role in energy, enhancing the body’s ability to make ATP, the body's energy molecule. If you fall short on deep sleep, you will likely wake up feeling less refreshed than if you had adequate deep sleep.

If you are feeling the effects of inadequate sleep, a nap may help you get through the day. However, keep it to no more than 20-30 minutes by setting an alarm and aim to have it in the earlier part of the day to prevent it from affecting your ability to get to sleep later in the evening.

Making efforts to go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time in the morning can assist with developing a routine for a consistent sleep pattern.

Other steps you can take include setting up a soothing bedtime environment, avoiding stimulants such as electronics, caffeine or alcohol, and avoiding exercising close to bedtime.

Poor diet

What we choose to put in our mouths can either give us an energy boost or weigh us down. Conversely, if we don’t eat enough, this can impact our energy negatively.

Eating regularly, around every 3-4 hours, can help prevent an energy dip and major hunger pangs, which can lead to overeating and of the wrong foods. This can include a snack, for instance, and then, 3-4 hours later, your main meal. If you are eating this regularly, smaller but nutritious meals should be sufficient.

Avoid processed foods and try to have whole foods as much as possible. Avoid eating saturated fats, as these digest more slowly and, according to The American Heart Association, can take oxygen and energy-delivering blood from the muscles.

Try to consume a mix of food groups and macronutrients, in particular protein, complex carbohydrates and fibre, as this will help provide a sustained source of energy. Instead of restricting your diet, enjoy everything in moderation and have the unhealthy foods less often. For example, a little bit of fat and sugar or processed food is not going to damage your diet and energy levels as long as you enjoy them in small amounts and moderately.

A useful way of understanding how your plate should look is to picture it half filled with vegetables and fruit, a quarter of it filled with lean protein and a quarter filled with complex carbohydrates such as brown rice. Then, in smaller amounts, are healthy, unsaturated fats such as those from nuts and olive oil.

Avoid foods high in added sugars as these deliver energy quickly, leading to a rapid rise in blood sugar levels but then also a quick crash in energy levels.

Avoid overeating by being mindful of how satisfied you feel and slowing down eating whenever possible. This can help you to eat only until you are satisfied, and you are not too full.

Stress

While stress is needed in certain situations to drive action or to get out of an unsafe situation, prolonged stress can hamper energy levels. When stressed, this takes a toll on the body, drawing energy out of it to deal with the stress.

When stressed, you go into fight-or-flight mode, and the stress hormone adrenaline is released to help you feel energetic. However, as the adrenaline wears off, you may feel tired.

To alleviate stress, try to carve out some time for yourself, no matter how small, as this break could make a big difference during a day filled with stress.

This could be to just sit in stillness, doing something that you enjoy, such as reading, going for a walk, journalling or cooking. Engaging in relaxation practices, such as yoga and meditation, can teach you how to breathe to reduce stress, which can be useful and applied in everyday stressful situations.

Social support is important as talking to others or leaning on them for other support can help to reduce the load of emotional stress.

Engaging in some form of exercise, even as simple as walking, can help reduce stress. According to Harvard University, aerobic exercise like walking increases breathing and heart rate so that more oxygen reaches cells throughout the body. This can help to reduce tension in muscles and heart.

Lack of exercise

When you feel tired, the last thing you feel like doing is exercise. However, being highly sedentary can increase the risk of fatigue. According to University Health News, lack of exercise can cause deconditioning of the body’s musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems and a depressed mood, all of which can lead to fatigue.

Some may find it surprising that moving can help you to feel more energetic. How this happens, according to Harvard University, is that during exercise, your body produces more mitochondria inside the muscle cells. Mitochondria are considered the powerhouses of cells, turning the food we eat into fuel for our bodies and creating oxygen from the air we breathe. Having more mitochondria increases the body's energy supply.

Exercising also boosts oxygen circulation to help the body use energy more efficiently.

Understanding these processes can help us see the benefits we are missing out on from not exercising.

Exercise can also help combat stress, which is an energy sucker. Exercise can also aid us to sleep better at night, to help replenish energy levels.

It can be as simple as just taking a walk, as Harvard University reports, that can deepen breathing and relieve muscle tension. Moving as much as possible during the day can help to improve energy levels. For example, one study suggests that interrupting prolonged sitting with light-intensity walking breaks may be an effective measure to counter fatigue.

You can spread this out by taking a short walk break in the morning of 10 minutes and another 10-minute walk in the afternoon. Another study found spreading out physical activity throughout the day improved mood and decreased feelings of fatigue.

Negative thoughts

It may start with one negative thought after a stressful incident, but it can spiral out of control and take up a lot of energy ruminating or dwelling on it, taking you away from enjoying your life and distracting you from focusing on what's important.

Northeast Physicians Group suggests a technique used for cognitive behavioural therapy to help train your brain to question these negative thoughts and reason through them.

First, question whether the negative thought is true.

Then, think of all the reasons the negative thought may not be true, giving examples that counteract the negative thought.

Other tools you can use to deal with negative thoughts include practising gratitude, focusing on your strengths, taking a break and focusing your energy on another task.

Try to refrain from judging yourself or others by recognising your own reaction, observing it, and then letting it go. Another helpful technique, as suggested by The Seleni Institute, is to look for a positive quality when you find yourself negatively judging yourself, someone else or a situation.

REFERENCES

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2013/04/benefits-slumber#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20night%2C%20your%20heart,the%20body's%20use%20of%20energy.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response