5 Step Guide To Reducing Tiredness
Are you tired?
It can be really difficult to pinpoint a reason for your fatigue.
If you start to google ‘reasons for tiredness’ you can get some bizarre diagnosis!
In my role as a Health & Fitness coach…
One of the most reported benefits from my clients over the last 5 years is that they feel more energised.
So I’m going to share with you my 5-step guide for reducing tiredness and improving how you feel on a daily basis!
1. Sleep
Thank you for stating the obvious Harry!
Without enough sleep, you’re going to feel pretty tired.
Staying up for the odd social occasion isn’t going to hurt too much.
But a consistent lack of sleep over time will wreak havoc on your energy levels…
As well as dampen your results in other ways too.
When trying to improve our sleep…
We need to consider the Quantity, Quality and Consistency of your sleep behaviours!
Quantity is really quite straight forward…
We are looking to get 7-9 hours of sleep of per night.
Many of us, simply don’t get anywhere close to that.
If you’re not achieving this on a regular basis, then sleep is definitely something to work on.
You’ll be amazed just how much of a game-changer it is.
If you want any reminders on the extent that sleep is going to impact your health, fitness and physique, then be sure to check out episode 3 - Is sleep really that important?
Knowing we need enough sleep is great…
But what can we do to improve our sleep quality?
A few of my top tips are:
A cold room
A dark room
Remove sleep distractions… especially your phone.
Have a bedtime routine
No alcohol or caffeine before bed
Keep a pen and paper near your bed to clear your mind before trying to sleep
Getting restful & restorative sleep, isn’t an accidental process.
So be sure to try out a few of the tips I just mentioned.
Sleep consistency is where we can really fine tune our approach to sleep.
The goal of consistent sleep, is to fall asleep and wake at the same time every day.
That’s right… even weekends.
Constantly changing the times we sleep and wake messes with your body clock.
If we can get into a consistent sleep pattern, we will have more consistent energy levels.
The message for this section is that….
If you’re struggling with tiredness, you need to take your sleep very seriously.
2. Eating Enough Calories
Sleep gives us energy.
But we also get energy from our food and drink.
Just the same way that it’s possible to under-fuel your car for a journey.
It’s possible to underfuel our bodies for a day.
I see under fuelling being most prevalent when someone is trying to lose weight!
Part of that process may mean that they have to reduce their calorie intake.
So, often, I see people take that idea to the extreme and drastically underfuel themselves.
But… What happens?
- Movement begins to reduce
- Workout quality deteriorates
- A person gets hungry and irritable.
- Sensible Food decisions become harder to make
This leads to excessive fatigue and eventually either a binge or burnout.
But… Don’t I need a deficit calories for weight loss?
Yes.
Remember…
It is possible to be on higher calories and still have a deficit !
This is one of the most challenging discussions I have with clients who are in the habit of underfuelling.
So, To illustrate how that’s possible…
Imagine I get paid £1000 per month and I spend £1500… that means I have a deficit of £500 per month.
You could give me more money, let’s say £2000 per month…
But I increase my spend to £2500.
I’d still have a deficit of £500 even though I’m on more money.
So as long as our calorie burn increases, in proportion to our calorie intake.
We can still maintain a deficit, on higher calories.
I’ve done this first hand with various clients who were underfuelling….
We’ve increased someone’s calories, as well as their activity levels more or less simultaneously.
This has led to sone very successful and sustainable weight loss transformation.
Without the clients encountering burnout or fatigue.
3. Training & Exercise
It may seem counter intuitive to think that training can actually increase energy when it requires energy to do!
The benefits of training for our energy levels are evident in both the short-term and long-term.
In the short term, we get an immediate release of hormones that increase our energy and vitality.
I’ve had countless clients walk into a workout feeling tired and dreading the session…
Only to leave feeling great again!
Another short term benefit of training is that it improves sleep quality…
…which as we already said is our number 1 factor associated with tiredness.
In the long-term,
Training is going to play a major role in how we feel.
Being overweight and having too much body fat is another reason for excessive tiredness.
As resistance training is the most effective method for reducing body fat, this is a great investment for us to make as a long term solution to managing our energy levels
So training sounds pretty good.
But is it possible to over do it?
I like to think that for the average Joe or average Jane, there is no such thing as over training, just under recovering.
So a word of caution is that we don’t want to be training far beyond our ability to recover.
As this can then actually contribute to fatigue…
Reducing the benefits that training should offer us, when it’s in the right dosage.
4. Stress Management
High levels of stress are associated with excessive fatigue.
There are 2 ways to reduce stress.
Remove the stressor
This may be easier said than done a lot of the time.
For example, if your job is causing you stress, I’m not suggesting you just go and quit tomorrow.
However sometimes it is possible to completely eliminate a stress.
And I wouldn’t rule out making major lifestyle changes if it’s effecting your health and wellness significantly
We may not be able to fully eliminate a stress, but we can maybe partially eliminate it.
Using the example above of work-related stress.
Maybe we could enforce stricter office hours.
Perhaps putting our emails and phone notification settings to do not disturb.
The second thing we can do is…
2. Introduce stress management tactics
We may not be able to eliminate a stress, but we can reduce our overall stress levels by implementing stress management tactics.
We all have individual ways we like to unwind…
But it can sometimes be hard to think of ways to de-stress that don’t involve a glass of wine and Netflix.
Try to look for stress management tactics that actually contribute to improved health and wellbeing.
Perhaps going for a walk
Reading
Playing a musical instrument
Playing games
Anything that gets you to relax, switch off or maybe even have a laugh.
Stress management should be a regular feature in the life of busy people
5. Deficiencies
Finally…
If you’ve been:
- Getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep on a consistent basis.
Eating the right amount of calories from highly nutritious foods.
Regularly training in an effective way.
Intentionally working to reduce stress
… But you’re still feeling excessive tiredness
I’d consult a medical professional.
It may be that you have an underlying condition or a deficiency that is causing your fatigue.
The challenge is…
I see a lot of people rush straight to a medical solution to the problem.
Thinking that they can just be given a pill or potion to improve energy levels.
Sometimes, that may be what is required
But….
I believe people have a tendency to look there first, because it requires the least time, effort and organisation.
It isn’t necessarily easy to prioritise sleep, control your calorie intake or make time for exercise.
But it’s definitely worthwhile.
None of these practices need to be extreme.
One of the main goals of this podcast is to highlight how these healthy habits can be integrated into our everyday lives.
If we can successfully do it… then we will be able to enjoy the many benefits of looking, moving and feeling at our best!
Yours in coaching,
Harry