I’m a GP – six common mistakes that could be making you tired

It is not nice feeling tired. We all know that exhaustion is exhausting – but we don’t always realise the bigger impact that tiredness can have on our physical, mental and emotional health. When we feel low in energy, we find it harder to concentrate and focus, we tend to reach for unhealthier foods to give us a boost and we have an increased sensitivity to pain. Emotionally, we tend to be more irritable and low, we may find ourselves being argumentative, and more likely to say no to socialising or doing the very things that make us feel more energetic. If we are not careful and don’t take steps to restore our energy levels, tiredness can set off a self-sabotaging cycle. There are many reasons why we feel tired, including the more significant underlying medical conditions – such as anaemia, diabetes or thyroid disturbance – and it is always important to get advice from your doctor if you have any concerns. However, there are also lots of other reasons why we might feel tired which relate to our daily habits – and it is these that we can notice and change. So, what are some common mistakes that make us feel low in energy, but that we can easily improve? Shorts Sleep smarter The mistake: You may think this is obvious – sleep more and you will feel less tired. And you would be right – however, there are some specifics about how and when we sleep that might be tripping you up. One of those is an irregular sleep schedule; you press snooze on your alarm, you lie in on weekends or you don’t stick to a set bedtime. All of this might sound boring, but it matters. Your sleep/wake cycle relies on your circadian rhythm or body clock. This is a complex chain of events, set off by natural light reaching your retina (the back of your eyes) and messaging parts of your brain called the hypothalamus and in turn, the pituitary gland. This system regulates a rise and fall in the amount of melatonin (the sleep hormone). In order for it to work, it needs regularity and certainty. The solution: Follow a defined wake-up time and bedtime, no matter what the day. Avoid the snooze button, and get up within five seconds. Importantly, get outside in natural daylight within 30-60 minutes of waking as research has shown this increases alertness, improves mood and reduces stress. Avoid electronic devices for at least an hour before bed to avoid the blue light that is emitted disrupting your sleep. And, make sure you are getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night, no matter what distractions come up. Move more The mistake: This doesn’t just include lack of regular exercise or movement, but also sitting too much during our daily lives. A lot of the jobs we do are sedentary and we tend to sit in one chair, looking at our laptops for up to eight hours a day. This increases muscle tension in our upper shoulders, neck and lower back and makes us feel sluggish. Although you might think that exercise makes you more tired, it actually does the opposite. Exercise releases serotonin, endorphins and dopamine which boosts our mood, reduces our perception of pain and gives us energy. It also encourages better circulation to our brain which improves focus and concentration, as well as encouraging easier and better sleep. The solution: However busy you are, try to find ways to fit in movement; that might be a walk at lunchtime, or walking to and from work, or getting off the bus a stop earlier. Think about taking the stairs rather than a lift or what exercise you could do at home. You may want to try and fit in a group exercise class a few times a week as research has shown that doing things with others mean you are more likely to keep them going. Set a reminder to stand up and move every 30-60 minutes while working. Try to rest your eyes as often as you can (Photo: Anastasiia Krivenok/Getty/Moment RF) Easy on the eyes The mistake: The world we live in forces us to use electronic devices for pretty much everything we need to do; work, admin tasks, communication and so much more. We need to be aware of our eye health and how that may be making us feel tired. Not taking enough breaks from screens and staring at them too much causes us to reduce how often we blink, resulting in dryness and irritation. The bright light from devices can also strain our eyes, as well as overworking our eye muscles when focusing on screens for too long. All of these things can make us feel or say we feel tired, when actually it is our eye health. The solution: Get an eye test to make sure you are not straining your eyes because you need glasses. Make sure you follow the 20:20:20 rule to reduce digital eye strain and help your eyes relax; take a break every 20 minutes and focus on something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. Make sure you are taking time to blink more frequently so that your eye can naturally lubricate itself, or use eye drops to help dry eyes. Meal muddles The problem: Our bodies need a regular source of foods that can provide us with a steady source of energy. Skipping meals does the exact opposite of this; we get hungry and then naturally turn towards high sugar foods in order to get a boost of energy. Unfortunately, all that does is to give us a rapid energy spike followed by a sudden crash. The solution: Choose slow-release foods like eggs, oats, beans or lentils, oily fish or sweet potatoes or grains, and make sure you stick to scheduled meal and snack times so you can feel more energetic for longer in the day. Think about carrying snacks with you that will fit into your lifestyle if you do feel hungry or tired. Most of us don’t drink enough water (Photo: Olga Rolenko/Getty/Moment RF) Hydration helps The problem: Research estimates that 75 per cent of us do not drink enough water or fluid. When we are dehydrated, we feel more tired and less able to concentrate, we feel pain more and we can get headaches. NHS guidelines advise we should be drinking six to eight glasses of fluid per day, varying according to how active we are. A lack of hydration can be a very common mistake that makes us feel tired. Caffeine also plays a part – it can give us a short burst of perceived energy but in the long run, makes us feel more tired. Caffeine is also a diuretic which means it makes your kidneys produce slightly more urine, and so can dehydrate us even more. Alcohol acts in the same way as well as disrupting our deep sleep cycles, making us more tired from both. The solution: Get yourself a water bottle and set yourself a target each hour or each section of the day to drink a certain amount. Choose water over other drinks and start to think about how you could ‘eat your water’ by choosing foods which contain a lot of water; this might include cucumber, tomatoes, watermelon, celery or oranges. The strain of stress The problem: Chronic stress makes us feel tired. We often don’t realise that we are stressed until we start to experience the physical symptoms it brings. We end up being in constant fight-or-flight mode, with high levels of cortisol (our stress hormone) and adrenaline, which uses up a lot of energy. We also sleep badly because we are worrying and we have a level of background inflammation which uses up energy. We need to take proactive steps to reduce stress. The solution: Ask yourself if you are stressed, and be honest in your reply. Identify the cause of the stress in your life, and one by one try to come up with some actions you can take to reduce the problem. Talk to someone who understands and write down what you can do, what you can delegate and a timeline of actions. For those things you can’t change, learn to accept them and work instead on stress reduction strategies proven to work like mindfulness, meditation, deep breath work, exercise and time in nature.