TL;DR: Hydrating, eating, sunlight exposure, exercise, caffeine, breathing, and napping are all methods to reduce fatigue. Utilize them when you are feeling tired.
Introduction
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep. — E. Joseph Cossman
Some days you’re just going to be tired. You can stick to your sleep schedule as religiously as possible but every once in a while you’re going to end up feeling like you didn’t get enough sleep. Maybe you went out for some drinks with friends and didn’t end up getting back home until super late, or your neighbours were having a party and blasting music all, keeping you up all night. Maybe you had too many things going on in your mind and couldn’t fall asleep or maybe you slept enough yet still mysteriously feel tired. Whatever the reason for not sleeping well, one thing always remains the same: you feel like crap the next day.
On days like these you want nothing more than to hide away in bed all day and rest. Unfortunately for most of us on at least 5 days a week this is not an option. Your boss probably isn’t going to care that you didn’t sleep well last night. Life goes on and you just need to suck it up. This article will outline a few techniques to try to make days when you’re tired suck a little less.
What to do
There are numerous things you can do to combat tiredness on those days where you didn’t sleep very well. When you’re feeling tired give some of the following methods a try.
Hydrate
Water is essential for carrying nutrients to where they need to go in the body and removing waste [1]. If you’re dehydrated your body will have a more difficult time getting essential nutrients to where they’re meant to be, making you feel tired. By the time you are feeling thirsty you are already dehydrated.
Carry a 1 litre water bottle with you wherever you go. Try to drink from it every 15 minutes and drain it at least 4 times a day. Set a reminder on your phone at the start to remind you to drink while you get into the habit. Often when you feel tired you might just be dehydrated.
Eat
Food is the body’s main source of energy. If you don’t eat enough your blood sugar levels can get low, making you feel tired and lethargic [2]. Blood sugar can be raised by eating carbohydrates.
If you’re feeling tired try eating some carbs. Good choices are rice, potatoes, fruit, oats, vegetables and milk. Try to avoid eating candy, chocolate or other sugary refined carbs as not only are they unhealthy but they can also lead to a blood sugar crash after a quick spike, making you feel even more exhausted.
Get some sun
Light is one of the main controllers of our circadian rhythm, which is in essence our internal clock that tells us when to be asleep and when to wake up. It is usually controlled by the sun, where our ancestors would wake up with the sunrise, be outside all day underneath the sun, and then go to bed when the sunset.
Spending all day in a poorly lit office building can throw off your circadian rhythm and make you feel even more tired than you already are. Try to get outside as much as possible. Take a break and go soak up some rays for a few minutes. Consider walking to work if it’s a nice day out or eating your lunch outside. Talk to your boss and see if it is possible to move your desk closer to a window.
If getting outside really isn’t a possibility there are also various lights that you can buy online that mimic the light from the sun. Put one of those on your desk and shine it in your face while you work to help wake you up.
For more info on circadian rhythm and lights effect on it check out our article here
Exercise
Spending all day sitting down is enough to make anyone feel exhausted, regardless of how much sleep they got the night before. Try to get up and move around as much as possible throughout the day. Spend at least 5 minutes on your feet every hour and stretch whenever you can. Even if you’re feeling completely exhausted, try to make it to the gym to get a light workout in. It really does help.
A study [3] from the University of Georgia performed on around 6800 people found the following results:
“More than 90 percent of the studies showed the same thing: Sedentary people who completed a regular exercise program reported improved fatigue compared to groups that did not exercise. It’s a very consistent effect.”
Caffeinate
Coffee is the age-old antidote to tiredness, but it really does work, at least for a little bit. When you’re awake, the firing of neurons in your brain produces a by-product called adenosine [4]. Adenosine then binds to adenosine receptors in the brain, slowing down nerve cell activity, making you feel tired and drowsy [5]
Luckily, caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors in our brain, making us feel more awake and alert. So if you need a boost to your energy a nice big cup of coffee, tea or even an energy drink can really help.
For a more thorough explanation of how caffeine affects the brain, check out our caffeine article.
Breathe
Deep breathing increases oxygen levels in your blood which slows your heart rate, decreases blood pressure and improves circulation, leading you to feel less fatigued [6]. When you’re feeling tired try sitting back, taking a deep breath in through your nose and holding it in your diaphragm for about 5 seconds before releasing it. Repeat this about 5 times until you feel a bit more awake and alert.
To learn more about how our breathing affects us, as well as some additional breathing techniques, check out our article on breathwork.
Nap
It goes without saying that sleeping is a good remedy to not getting enough sleep. If you’re feeling tired, a good remedy is to sneak off for a bit and get some shut eye. Try to keep naps short, no more than 10-20 minutes, as longer naps have been shown to increase grogginess in most adults [7] sometimes making you feel even more tired than you were before. Try not to nap too late in the day or else it can affect your sleep cycle, making it difficult to fall asleep that night, which in turn will just delay your tiredness until the next day.
If you don’t have time to take a nap or find it difficult to sleep in the day, even just closing your eyes and resting for 5-10 minutes can help you to feel a little more awake and alert.
Go to bed on time
At the end of the day, if we are being honest with ourselves, most of the nights we don’t end up getting enough sleep is because of our own choices. Maybe you decided to play one more hour of video games past your regular bedtime or decided to stay up to watch one more episode of your favorite show on Netflix, or were just mindlessly scrolling through social media when you should have been sleeping. The best and ultimate remedy to being tired is to get enough sleep. Pick a bedtime and stick to it as best you can. Give yourself an hour to wind down before going to bed, meaning no screens or over stimulating activities. Don’t stay up excessively late partying on the weekend because it will only screw you over on the weekdays. Just go to bed on time, it’s worth it!
Conclusion
Just because you didn’t sleep well doesn’t mean your day needs to be a write-off. When you’re feeling tired try some of the methods outlined in this article in order to feel a little less crappy.
References:
[1] https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/fight-fatigue-with-fluids
[2] https://www.healthline.com/health/hypoglycemia
[3] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061101151005.htm
[4] http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep
[5]https://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine4.htm
[6] https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/natural-tips-sleepiness#2
[7] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/napping/art-20048319
