I feel you…no matter what you do you feel tired every single day. Even when you get eight hours of sleep you wake up feeling like you got hit by a truck and you’re reaching for an extra-large coffee by 3 pm just to make it to a reasonable bedtime. A part of you thinks that this is just a normal part of having kids, getting older, working 40 plus hours per week or being stressed out.
Let me tell you something…you don’t have to be exhausted all of the time no matter what is going on in your life. There are simple steps you can take to increase your energy and capacity to do more in your life…or let’s be real, have enough energy to just do what’s already on your plate without feeling like death warmed over every ding-dong day.
Here are the most likely reasons you’re tired all of the time.
2 Reasons You’re Tired All the Time
- Your blood sugar is whacked out every day.
Most people wake up and feel so tired that the first thing they reach for is an extra large cup of coffee. They slug that back as a way to wake up and get motivated for the day. Except, when you do that you’re immediately jacking up your blood sugar, which means that the pancreas needs to release insulin to process the sugar you just ingested, which is your caffeine coffee. This often starts a blood sugar rollercoaster that most people stay on all day, because once the coffee wears off (and if you didn’t eat a protein rich breakfast) your blood sugar will crash, which can cause you to feel moody, shakey, irritable, nauseated and so much more. To fix this a person will often eat a carbohydrate or sugary snack like crackers, candy or even fruit. This again will spike the blood sugar creating a quick and short-lasting fix. In the short-term, being on a daily blood sugar roller coaster will cause you to feel mood swings, fatigue, brain fog, irritability, queasiness, PMS, etc. In the long-term, blood sugar that is constantly spiking and dipping can cause more serious health issues like diabetes, heart issues, kidney problems and overall metabolic dysfunction.
How to best support blood sugar?
Start your day with 30 grams of protein at breakfast and drink your coffee AFTER you have something to eat. When you postpone your coffee until after or during breakfast your blood sugar will remain steady, which means sustained energy throughout the entire day instead of spikes and crashes. My #1 trick to getting enough protein at breakfast and your coffee too? Put collagen peptides in your morning coffee for an easy 18 grams of protein. Add two eggs and you’ve hit 30 grams of protein easy-peasy. Calories don’t have to go up in order to get enough protein in the morning for sustained energy, balanced moods, mental clarity and long term health.
- Your hormones aren’t balanced
The endocrine system is made up of glands that produce different hormones like estrogen, thyroid, progesterone, cortisol, testosterone and more. These hormones play a large role in our mood, growth, development, metabolism, energy, reproduction, sleep, libido and appetite. If this system is out of balance then any of the above listed areas of our lives can be impacted. If you suspect you have a hormone imbalance then it’s important to see your doctor to get your hormones tested. When testing hormone levels, work with a practitioner that will test at different times of the month if you are a menstruating woman. This is because hormone levels fluctuate at different times of the month and it’s important to get a picture of what your hormones are doing across your entire menstrual cycle and not just on one particular day. In addition, if you’re testing your thyroid please ask your doctor for a “full thyroid panel,” which includes TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3 and thyroid antibodies. Most doctors will only look at TSH, which is a pituitary measurement only and does not tell you how your body is converting T4 to the active form T3 in the body. And, testing TSH only does not tell you if there could be an underlying autoimmune or inflammatory reaction happening in the body as evidenced by thyroid antibodies.
How to best support hormones?
In order to best support hormone balance it’s important to get your digestion working optimally. This means having at least one bowel movement per day that is darker brown, looks like the shape of a banana and comes out easily without straining. When digestion is working well our body is able to process excess hormones via the liver and excrete them instead of having them get reabsorbed by the body. When excess hormones are reabsorbed by the body a person can have hormone imbalances. In addition, our endocrine system is very sensitive to onslaughts from the outside world. Things like chemicals on our food and toxins in our water, beauty products, plastic water bottles, take-out containers, lawns, furniture and on and on. Therefore, it’s important that the body be able to process these toxins out of the body so they don’t wreak havoc on the endocrine system. The main ways to get toxins out of the body are to excrete them via bowel movements, urine or sweat. So, make sure those systems of your body are working optimally by eating fiber rich foods like legumes, vegetables, nuts, seeds and avocado.
Kick fatigue to the curb!
So many people believe that getting tired and fatigued is just what happens as we get older and age. Sure, everyone slows down a little bit with the absence of youth, but that doesn’t mean that you need to feel fatigued and lacking in energy every single day. You can get your energy back with simple steps like balancing your blood sugar with protein for breakfast and getting your digestion more optimal with fiber rich foods.
