Many cases of tiredness are due to stress, not enough sleep, poor diet and other lifestyle factors. Try these self-help tips to restore your energy levels.
If you feel you're suffering from fatigue, which is an overwhelming tiredness that isn't relieved by rest and sleep, you may have an underlying medical condition. Consult a GP for advice.
A good way to keep up your energy through the day is to eat regular meals and healthy snacks every 3 to 4 hours, rather than a large meal less often.
Read more about healthy eating.
You might feel that exercise is the last thing on your mind. But, in fact, regular exercise will make you feel less tired in the long run, so you'll have more energy.
Even a single 15-minute walk can give you an energy boost, and the benefits increase with more frequent physical activity.
Start with a small amount of exercise. Build it up gradually over weeks and months until you reach the recommended goal of 2 hours 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as cycling or fast walking, every week.
Read more about starting exercise.
Find out the physical activity guidelines for adults.
If your body is carrying excess weight, it can be exhausting. It also puts extra strain on your heart, which can make you tired. Lose weight and you'll feel much more energetic.
Apart from eating healthily, the best way to lose weight and keep it off is to be more active and do more exercise.
Read more about how to lose weight.
Many people don't get the sleep they need to stay alert through the day.
The website of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has information on sleeping well.
Tips for sleeping well include:
Stress uses up a lot of energy. Try to introduce relaxing activities into your day. This could be:
Whatever relaxes you will improve your energy.
Read more about how to relieve stress.
There's some evidence that talking therapies such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) might help to fight fatigue, or tiredness caused by stress, anxiety or low mood.
See a GP for a referral for talking treatment on the NHS, or for advice on seeing a private therapist.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends that anyone feeling tired should cut out caffeine. It says the best way to do this is to gradually stop having all caffeine drinks over a 3-week period.
Caffeine is found in:
Try to stay off caffeine completely for a month to see if you feel less tired without it.
You may find that not consuming caffeine gives you headaches. If this happens, cut down more slowly on the amount of caffeine that you drink.
Although a couple of glasses of wine in the evening can help you fall asleep, you sleep less deeply after drinking alcohol. The next day you'll be tired, even if you sleep a full 8 hours.
Cut down on alcohol before bedtime. You'll get a better night's rest and have more energy.
The NHS recommends that men and women should not regularly drink more than 14 units a week, which is equivalent to 6 pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of low-strength wine.
Try to have several alcohol-free days each week.
Read more about how to cut down on alcohol.
Sometimes you feel tired simply because you're mildly dehydrated.
A glass of water will do the trick, especially after exercise.
Read about healthy drinks.
Written by Camille Peri
With more and more of us getting less and less sleep, it’s tempting to reach for an energy drink or an espresso when we feel sleepy at work. But consuming caffeine to combat sleepiness can lead to a vicious cycle.
The java jolt that helps you stay awake can take up to eight hours to wear off. Caffeine can also reduce your sleep time, alter the normal stages of sleep, and decrease the quality of your sleep.
How can you stay awake naturally? The most obvious thing is to get enough sleep and practice good sleep habits, sometimes called "sleep hygiene." For instance, you probably know that it's best to go to sleep ad get up at the same time every day, power down your screens ahead of bedtime, keep your bedroom dark and cool. You need to do that for good health, as well as feeling rested.
But on the occasional day when that doesn't happen, try some of these 12 jitter-free tips to take the edge off sleepiness.
In one well-known study, Robert Thayer, PhD, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, studied whether people were more energized by eating a candy bar or taking a brisk 10-minute walk. Though the candy bar provided a quick energy boost, participants were actually more tired and had less energy an hour later. The 10-minute walk increased energy for two hours. That’s because walking pumps oxygen through your veins, brain, and muscles.
If you work at a desk, get up frequently for short walks. At meal breaks, walk to a restaurant or, if you bring your lunch, head for a nice spot to eat it. Whether you take a walk outside or just in the building where you work, it will make you feel more alert and refreshed.
There are two things to remember about naps: Don’t take more than one and don’t take it too close to your bedtime.
“Nap between five and 25 minutes,” says Barry Krakow, MD, author of Sound Sleep, Sound Mind: Seven Keys to Sleeping Through the Night. It’s best to nap about six or seven hours before you would normally go to bed. If you must take a late nap close to bedtime, make it a short one.
Napping on the job can be touchy. If you need to nap at work, do it during your break and use a vibrating alarm clock, if necessary, to make sure it doesn’t spill over into your work time. Sleeping at your desk is usually not a good idea, but many companies now provide nap rooms for employees.
“If you can’t nap, even resting quietly with your eyes closed for 10 minutes or so will help,” says Allison T. Siebern, PhD, a fellow at the Stanford University Sleep Medicine Center in Redwood City, Calif.
Continuous fixation on a computer screen can cause eyestrain and worsen sleepiness and fatigue. Look away from the screen for a few minutes periodically to relax your eyes.
Sugary snacks give you a quick energy boost followed by the sugar “lows,” when low blood sugar produces mental fogginess and lethargy. Snacks such as these will provide better overall energy in the long run:
If you’re fading fast, engaging in conversation can get your mind moving again. “Talk to a colleague about a business idea, politics, or religion,” says Krakow, medical director of Maimonides Sleep Arts and Sciences, Ltd. in Albuquerque, N.M. “It’s a very strong behavioral stimulator -- especially when it’s a conversation about politics.”
Environments with dim lighting aggravate fatigue. Studies have shown that exposure to bright light can reduce sleepiness and increase alertness.
Try increasing the intensity of your light source at work.
Deep breathing raises blood oxygen levels in the body. This slows your heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and improves circulation, ultimately aiding mental performance and energy.
The idea of deep-breathing exercises is to inhale to the abdomen, not the chest. You can do them at your desk. Sitting up straight, try this exercise up to 10 times:
Another technique, called stimulating breath, is used in yoga for a quick energy boost and increased alertness: Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed but relaxed. Make your in-and-out breaths short -- do about three of each cycle in a second.
Then breathe normally. You can do this for up to 15 seconds the first time and then add on five seconds each time after until you reach a minute.
“Driving while sleepy is as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol,” says Siebern. Common tricks such as opening the windows and turning on loud music won’t keep you awake for very long behind the wheel. “Have someone else drive or pull off the road and take a nap until you’re no longer sleepy,” Siebern says.
If you’re on an extended trip, change drivers often. Stop at least every two hours to take a walk and get some fresh air.
In 2004 Finnish researchers who studied people working 12-hour night shifts found that monotonous work is as harmful as sleep loss for alertness. At work or home, try to reserve more stimulating tasks for your sleepy times. Or switch to more engaging work responsibilities when you feel yourself nodding off.
Dehydration can cause fatigue. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids and eat foods high in water such as fruits and vegetables.
Our circadian rhythms, which regulate our sleep-wake cycle, are influenced by daylight. Try to spend at least 30 minutes a day outside in natural sunlight. (Sleep experts recommend an hour of morning sunlight a day if you have insomnia.) Even a step outside for a breath of fresh air will revive your senses.
In an analysis of 70 studies involving more than 6,800 people, University of Georgia researchers found that exercise was more effective in increasing energy and reducing daytime fatigue than some medications used to treat sleep problems. Regular exercise also improves quality of sleep.
Try to exercise 30 minutes a day. If you decide to exercise hard some days, your energy level may drop for a bit and then surge for a few hours.
Eating a meal that contains both protein and carbohydrates within two hours after a heavy workout will lessen the initial energy loss. Be sure to finish your workout a few hours before bedtime so you are not energized when you try to sleep.
If you find that you can’t stop nodding off when you need to be alert, consult a doctor or sleep specialist. You may have an underlying sleep disorder such as excessive sleepiness or narcolepsy, which can be treated. Your doctor may prescribe medications to help you with a sleep disorder. If you have trouble falling asleep because of stress or other reasons, cognitive behavioral therapy can help you develop good sleep habits and relieve sleep anxieties.
Parting with loved ones is always hard. Psychologists of family centers who are ready to help people overcome various periods of crisis tell how to survive a traumatic situation.
By contacting the specialists at My Family Center, you will receive comprehensive psychological assistance - individual or family consultations, you will be able to participate in group interactive classes in order to see the situation from a different angle in a supportive environment and get a resource to overcome life's difficulties.
Difficulties of parting
Entering into a relationship, a person consciously or unconsciously seeks to fulfill his basic need for love. But the understanding of love is very different for everyone, our expectations are not always justified and coincide with the vision of a partner.
“When the feeling of dissatisfaction becomes constant, and there is less and less joy from relationships, then it makes sense to think about whether these relationships have a future and whether they are worth keeping. Of course, everything here is very individual, and before making a decision, it is important to be honest with yourself and your partner.
Most often it happens that in the depths of the soul the decision has already matured, but there is not enough psychological strength to implement it. A person still hopes for something, is in captivity of self-deception, is afraid of the future, or is not ready to take responsibility for his life ", — tells the psychologist of the Vostochnoe Degunino Family Center Svetlana Timchenko .
The main difficulty in parting lies in the emotional attachment to the partner, and it is sometimes much stronger than the arguments of reason. Sometimes, after physically breaking up, people cannot psychologically “pick up” themselves from the relationship. This may take years.
“The fact is that our ego often plays tricks on us. Even at the stage of falling in love, when everything is fine, it automatically, unconsciously tries to appropriate not only the joy from the relationship, but also the person who gives it to us. And then, when natural developmental difficulties arise in a couple and our expectations from a partner are not met, there is a feeling of disappointment, loss.
The main pain arises not even from the partner’s actions and his “non-ideal”, but from the collapse of our illusion of expectations from him” , the psychologist notes.
What is a relationship for us
We invest in relationships mentally, psychologically, physically and financially, and also spend precious time on another person. This is akin to an investment, and we unconsciously expect to receive dividends in the future in the form of stability, security, loyalty. The partner seems to owe us, and if this does not happen, and he does not pay the bills, then the ego feels robbed.
Two paths to a healthy relationship crisis
How to do it?
Step 1 . First of all, accept and live all the gamut of feelings that will inevitably cover you, since the acceptance of a new reality will require considerable mental strength and time. Here, a healthy supportive environment (close people, psychological support groups, individual psychological consultations) will help you. Allow yourself to accept help from others, because how you live through the trauma will depend on your emotional state in future relationships.
Step 2 . After the first wave of feelings, believe and admit the idea that there is still a lot of interesting and pleasant things ahead in life. Your ability to experience happiness should not depend on anyone, no one is responsible for how much you can extract positive emotions from various events.
Step 3 . Turn towards personal interests, remember if you forgot what you used to love, what attracted attention and what gave you positive emotions.
Each of us has a huge potential and extraordinary abilities. Maybe it's time to realize an old dream? We live in a time when a lot is possible. As an internal support, you can choose for yourself the image of some hero who is close to you, who would serve as a motivating force.
If you can’t immediately navigate in the area of interest, then just switch. Let variety into your life, try different things :
It is important to work with your self-esteem, it often falls when you break up, since devaluation is a common behavioral strategy between former partners.
Try to communicate more with positive people who prove by personal example that there is happiness, learn from them the ability to overcome difficulties and find reasons for joy.
Appreciate what you have, be attentive even to the little things, get into the habit of counting 10 pleasant moments at the end of the day.
It is very important to take time for yourself and remember that the most important person in life is YOU, nothing will happen without you.
The key moment in parting
This is gratitude. No matter what happens, no matter how much pain your partner causes, it is very important to abandon the position of resentment and find the best and valuable for you, for which you can thank him. After all, every person we meet on our way is a teacher through whom we gain invaluable experience, develop and grow as a person. If you still cannot thank the person, then it remains to thank the situation itself and learn from it.
“Meetings and partings are part of our lives. If you do not try to appropriate something and forcibly hold it, then it turns out that there are simply no losses, but there is invaluable time to realize one's potential.
Take care of yourself and you simply won’t have time to suffer” , - sums up Svetlana Timchenko .
Source
Press service of the Moscow Department of Labor and Social Protection
Alena Lepilina
Sometimes life is so exhausting that you want to say: “Burn everything with fire! Life has failed, and I leave the effort. Someone gives up and closes in on himself, and someone comes to self-destructive behavior: addictions, aggressive and risky behavior, sleep disturbances, inability to relax - everyone has their own problems.
People were not created to immediately live in the conditions of the 21st century. However, we adapted perfectly, but it came at a high price. In the past, people lived in small villages and knew each other well - even the appearance of a casual traveler or a fair was a big event.
Any person knew who he would become when he grew up, since, as a rule, everyone continued the work of their fathers and mothers. They went to bed at nightfall and got up at dawn. Life was predictable.
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Thousands of years of living like this has shaped our brains, our beliefs and our response to stress. As long as we are young, everything is fine. But as we get older, things get worse. The fact is that before people did not experience 35 years, which means that the human body did not have time to adapt to the effects of prolonged stress.
All organs and tissues of our body suffer from stress. Ultimately, serious damage is done to the brain. If you look at a CT scan of the brains of people suffering from chronic stress, you will see large white gaps where brain tissue would normally be.
Humanity is currently in a state of permanent stress due to fundamental changes.
We are under attack by a flood of information: from television, the internet, our mobile phones, magazines and newspapers. We constantly make choices and decisions that drain our willpower. We live with artificial lighting, heating and cooling, and this allows us to work longer. 
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Modern life is basically unsuitable for us, but we are so hypnotized by advertising, acquisitiveness and mass media that we fail to see this crucial fact. Now that we have faced the threat of a real economic collapse and seen how merciless and indomitable capitalism can be, many have had to give up their illusions.
Perhaps the best antidote and prevention of burnout can be building strong relationships with loved ones. When we can share our experiences with family and friends, despair subsides and we are able to see new horizons.
Retrieved
You may not know it yet, but science has proven that human relationships have proven to be the single most important source of life satisfaction, regardless of age or culture. People who feel connected to others live longer and have fewer health problems than those who isolate themselves from society. Those who care about others are happier than the selfish ones who pursue only their own interests.
If we go back in time and remember the happiest times in our lives, we will surely see that most of our memories are connected with people.
It's okay, you won't be a millionaire until you're forty. It turned out that the fairytale prince has a boyfriend. You set the bar too high and worked hard to get where you wanted to be, and now it looks like you won't succeed.
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So, does disappointment and failure mean that life is over? Please imagine that it was our efforts to cope with stress and frustration, and not just stress and frustration in and of itself, that became the main cause of our state of intense depression.
And now we will consciously pull ourselves together and start from scratch, in a new way. We will learn to consciously control stress and make intelligent decisions. We will be able to change our ideas so that life acquires a new meaning. And it's not that hard at all, it just takes time and effort.
We set ourselves unattainable goals or were in too much of a hurry. The circle is closed. But no matter what way we choose to deal with the vicious cycle of stress, there is always a chance to break it.
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Meditation, exercise, change of mind, new goals, openness to the world - any positive change can set in motion a spiral of adaptation, where each subsequent change strengthens what has been achieved. Our reaction to a positive event makes another more likely, and so on.
If we smile at people more often, they smile back more often, and we get a dose of endorphins. If you continue in the same spirit, you can change your life.
Non-stop stress enters our body, and we try to live with too much adrenaline. The result is exhaustion, apathy, loss of strength. But, fortunately, this can be dealt with.
1. Be prepared for stress
Learn relaxation exercises, meditation, breathing practices.
And try to become aware of your emotions. As soon as you realize that everything is about to go to hell, turn to the life-saving techniques that you have learned.
2. Don't give in to momentary desires
There is a great temptation to take medicine or drop into a bar around the corner, burst into yelling and say hurtful words when the mood is at zero. Take your time! Analyze your judgments and desires. If the situation calls for your intervention, wait until you can control yourself.
3. Don't Forget the Essentials
Remember fundamental values and act accordingly. What is more important - blow off steam or maintain a relationship with a loved one?
4. Get a pet
The presence of a pet in the house will help you cope with stress better, and walking with a dog will open up new opportunities for communicating with people.
5. Pay attention to the state of your body
If you are too anxious, angry or frightened, first calm down, and for this, do relaxation exercises.
