HOW TO WIN UP OVER AUTUMN FATIGUE AND HAVE MORE ENERGY DURING THE DAY?
During the summer, work goes hand in hand. In the morning we wake up full of energy, rest and motivated to give our best at work or school. The energy does not leave us even during the afternoon and it is not until around eight o'clock in the evening that we start to feel a little tired. Then autumn comes and we feel as if someone has pushed a button and started the power save mode.
You get up in the morning until the third alarm clock, and you consider it your best performance. You wander helplessly in the kitchen with the intention of making coffee that will, perhaps, save you. When you find out that it doesn't help either, you turn on the autopilot and with a vision of an afternoon nap you will endure the working morning. And exercise in the afternoon? It comes to you as a complete sci-fi.
Confess which one of you met in this description? It may reassure you that you are certainly not alone in this. In today's article, therefore, we will get acquainted with dietary supplements and ways that can help you turn to autumn fatigue.
Why are we tired in the fall?
There are several reasons why we feel more tired in the fall. It can even be a combination of several factors that will make an otherwise productive person a tired sloth.
The period when it is still light at nine in the evening and we can spend time outside, again, a few months await us. When the sun shines all day, you can't be in a bad mood and spend the day under the duvet in bed. However, this changes in the autumn.
In the morning you get up in the dark and you also return from work or school in the dark. One does not enjoy the sun's rays, which can conjure up a good mood. According to statistics, up to 40% of Europeans suffer from vitamin D deficiency and for 13% this deficiency is serious.
In this case, vitamin D supplementation could at least partially help. It is also used to improve mood in people who have long-term mental health problems.
2. Deteriorated weather
Someone is literally enjoying the dry autumn season, or is looking forward to a pleasant reading by the fireplace with warm socks on their feet and tea in their hands. For some, on the contrary, it can be suffering, because instead of the usual sports in warm weather, he has to run in rain, winter and cold wind. In the worst case, they can't even dig into the sport, and then there are remorse, an even worse mood, and maybe even the desire to drive away the fluff with some goodness. The same scenario can be repeated the next day. Autumn and winter are similar in characteristics to the Nordic weather, in which mental problems predominate. The connection between fatigue, bad mood and weather is therefore definitely not accidental.
3. Change of diet
You may not even realize it, but the time of year can have a big impact on the composition of your diet. Often you are not even hungry on hot days. However, when you feel hungry, you try to drive it away with a salad that will refresh you at the same time, chilled dairy products, lighter popsicles or frozen or seasonal fruits. But what food will you choose for autumn? Naturally, you will look for warmer and richer foods. For example, a light chicken salad may be replaced by St. Martin's goose or main course soup, and a scoop of ice cream is replaced by sourdough buns. Try to remember how you feel after such foods. You may realize that this is another possible explanation for your fatigue. Because if you have a really hard lunch, you probably won't avoid the afternoon "coma".
4. Less movement
The dry weather encourages us to spend time at home with the family. If you have a step measurement application on your phone or smart watch, be sure to see how many steps you take in the summer and how many in the fall. Are you surprised? When it's warm outside, you don't mind going to the store at eight in the evening. Now? You'd better get in the car than stumble somewhere in the winter and darkness.
You can also notice the differences in your sports activity. How much did you work out in the summer when the fitness centers were open and the sun was shining, and how much now, when the gyms are closed and outside, it's not so nice at all? Most of us have seen at least a slight decrease in physical activity.
5. Seasonal affective disorder
However, the feeling of fatigue can also stem from a much more serious cause, such as poor eating habits or decreased activity. It is a "seasonal affective disorder" that is a depressive disorder. It is also associated with a lack of sunlight. However, the disease also affects hormone levels and can ultimately lead to severe feelings of anxiety and depression. As mentioned above, it often occurs in the Nordic countries, where there is a lack of sunlight. During the autumn and winter, however, it is not avoided even by people in Central Europe. If you feel that you are also bothered, it is advisable to seek medical help.
9 ways to turn around with autumn fatigue
Now that we have listed the most common causes of autumn fatigue, we can finally get into a fight!
1. Focus on diet
If you put poor quality fuel in the car, it will not go as it should. Our body also works. If you feed him fast food, processed foods, and heavy meals, you can't expect to be full of energy. Even your body will not function properly. If you feel tired in the fall, diet is the factor you should start with. Don't know how to do it? Can the article How to calculate energy and macronutrient intake for weight loss or muscle gain help you?
Try to focus on simple rules of healthy eating:
Start eating when you feel a slight hunger and stop eating when you feel about 80-90% full. If you are already full, you do not have to eat the whole portion.
Try to eat 3 main meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and supplement them with 1 - 3 tens as needed.
Make sure you have a source of protein in every meal, such as dairy products, meat, plant meat substitutes and the like. You can read more about protein sources in Article 20 of foods, which you can easily add protein to your diet.
Don't forget complex carbohydrates (eg whole grain side dishes) and healthy fats (eg nuts, extra virgin olive oil, omega-3 fatty acids).
Consume fruits and vegetables regularly. You should eat about 400 g of vegetables and 200 g of fruit a day.
When planning a menu, you can follow the so-called a healthy plate that will serve as a great helper.
Fatigue can bother us a lot during the day. If this is also your problem, we do not recommend that you go on a diet and be in a caloric deficit. It could further deepen the feeling of fatigue. A balanced caloric balance is ideal. That means you will not lose weight or gain weight. This is just a slight caloric excess. If you don't want to do caloric calculations, start by following common sense. You probably know which foods are the healthier alternative.
2. Don't forget to drink
An important factor that affects fatigue is the drinking regime. You should drink 30-45 ml per kg body weight per day. In practice, this means that a 60-kilo woman should drink 1.8 - 2.7 l and an 80-kilo man 2.4 - 3.6 l. However, this is the bare minimum. The need for water will increase, for example, in sports, when you should replenish at least as much fluid as you have sweated. Your drinking regime should consist mainly of drinking tap water or unsweetened mineral water.
If you feel it is unrealistic for you to drink so much fluid, do not despair. Water from food is also included in the income. Did you know that, for example, strawberries, melons or autumn boiled pumpkins contain 90-99% water? Thanks to these foods, fluid intake will be easier for you.
If you do not pay attention to your drinking regimen, in addition to fatigue, you may also suffer from dizziness, headaches, general weakness, cracked lips, kidney problems, impaired heart function, indigestion and many other problems.
3. Move regularly
Exercise generally has a positive effect on health. It improves overall health, sleep, helps to lose weight, improves cognitive function and even has a positive effect on the overall feeling of fatigue. Each person should engage in moderate-intensity activity or 74-minute high-intensity activity for at least 150 minutes per week.
To begin with, it is advisable to include regular activity at least 3 times a week to create a habit. Don't put off sports, even if you don't want to at all. Your reward will be an influx of endorphins, which will overwhelm you with a feeling of happiness. Over time, you will find yourself in a state where, even when you get tired, you will be looking forward to sports that will put you in a good mood and a surge of new energy, thanks to which you will be better able to cope with everyday challenges.
4. Don't sleep too much or too little
During sleep, a person rests and gains strength for the next days. In addition, however, many processes take place in the body at the same time, which have a great impact on human health. If you are not a professional athlete, it is ideal for you to sleep 7-9 hours. According to studies, people who sleep little or heavily are at increased risk of seeking medical attention over time due to health problems.
So if you planned to sleep as much as possible to do your best for your health, we will probably disappoint you, but it will not be very effective. If you sleep too much, you may feel the same unpleasant feelings you feel when you lack sleep (fatigue, malaise, feeling like after a night out).
5. Avoid alcohol and cigarettes
Alcohol consumption is closely related to the previous point - the quality of sleep, which is significantly negatively affected. In addition, if you indulge in alcoholic pleasures, it will more often happen that you will have to go to the toilet at night for the diuretic effect of alcohol, which will also disrupt your sleep. After a boisterous party, you will wake up the next day, at best, only tired, and at worst, you will still be accompanied by an unpleasant monkey.
To avoid these negative consequences, stick to the maximum recommended amount for alcohol intake:
Women - 10 grams of alcohol: 125 ml of wine or 0.3 l of beer, or 40 ml of hard alcohol
Men - 20 grams of alcohol: 250 ml of wine or 0.5 l of beer, or 60 ml of hard alcohol
Smoking will certainly not have a positive effect on fatigue. If a smoker tells you that he has to bounce out on a cigarette to take over a little, it will probably not be a cigarette that gives him energy, but fresh air and a short break from work that even a non-smoker can afford.
In the long run, we get toxins into the body with cigarettes that have a negative effect on the immune system. At the same time, smoking has a bad effect on fatigue and causes a decrease in performance in athletes, which you definitely do not want. Therefore, we will not recommend any amount for cigarettes. The less you smoke, the better for you. However, it is ideal to put an end to this bad habit completely.
6. Try to reduce long-term stress
In life, we encounter two types of stress - acute and chronic. In connection with fatigue, we are mainly interested in the negative effects of the latter, ie chronic stress. It is a type of stress when we feel under pressure for a long time, which has a negative impact on our body, as well as increased fatigue.
There are many ways we can reduce stress, depending on the cause. If you feel that one task after another is falling on you at work, and this causes you stress, the solution may be a better organization of the day, which will bring order and a certain certainty to your life. By planning what and when to do, you get more insight. In addition, you may be internally satisfied with the feeling of ticking off the individual items that you have managed to fulfill.
However, if you are stressed by other stimuli, such as a bad family situation, the current pandemic and others, the so-called mindfulness method. It is a psychotherapeutic method that, among other things, helps reduce stress and fatigue. How to practice this method? Simply put, you are about to become aware of the present moment.
From the beginning, it is easiest to apply this method in the room of your home. Make yourself comfortable and focus on your breath. Calm down and try not to think about anything. If you can't concentrate on just breathing, try counting inhale and exhale times. It will certainly happen that unwanted thoughts will come. However, it is necessary to realize that you are thinking of something, to put this idea into the background and to focus on your breath again.
This way, you can keep yourself present during all activities. If you do anything, always try to focus on just one particular thing - for example, running, eating or washing dishes. Perceive this activity with all your senses. As a result, you will get rid of negative thoughts at a given moment and learn to control them so that they do not control you.
7. Make yourself happy
Do you know the feeling when you are not in your skin all day, you don't want anything, you feel like a beaten dog and then something comes along that will please you? Your day will turn 360 degrees in a second and you will be full of energy. That is exactly why you must look for similar joys. There is nothing wrong with making yourself happy when there are so many options.
You can buy a nice piece of clothing, a healthy sweet, read a book, play with a dog, listen to a podcast, order dinner instead of cooking, plan to play board games with your family and so on. You will see that even small things can improve your day.
8. Respect your needs
Do you follow all the principles that should reduce fatigue, but still that "carrot" found you and touched you in all directions? Accept it and take the situation as it is. Every day is not one hundred percent, just as you cannot function to the maximum every day. If you wake up in the morning and feel that this is not going to be your day, don't blame yourself. Try to do your best to make you feel as comfortable as possible despite the fatigue and do not go to extremes. It is normal to occasionally postpone training, take a nap in the afternoon, or stretch out on the couch and watch TV instead of cleaning. If it doesn't happen every day, you don't have to be remorse. You will see that if you indulge in doing nothing from time to time, you will be all the more eager to embark on new challenges during the next day.
9. Add the necessary vitamins and minerals
The lack of vitamins or minerals in the body, which can cause this discomfort, can also be hidden behind fatigue in the autumn. If you can't get them into your body with a varied diet, you can also help with food supplements. In the next part of the article, you will learn which are key to fatigue.
Adaptogens
Adaptogens are substances that help the body better manage physical and mental stress, reduce fatigue and anxiety. These include, for example, Ashwagandha. Its effects have been studied, for example in relation to sleep. The researchers found that after eight weeks of Ashwagandha, people who had insomnia had a reduced sleep time, improved sleep, and a feeling of tiredness after waking up.
Find out more about it in the article Ashwagandha - an inconspicuous herb that hides miracles
Recommended daily dose of Ashwagandha: 300 - 500 mg daily.
Similar effects can be expected from ginseng or an inconspicuous herb called Rhodiola Rosea (Pink Stonecrop). It is able to significantly reduce fatigue and, in addition, possible burnout due to long-term stress.
What do you need to remember?
Autumn fatigue can be caused by many factors, which manifest themselves in varying intensity. If you feel that it also applies to you, focus primarily on a balanced diet, drinking regime, move enough, sleep 7-9 hours, have fun and try to reduce stress levels.
At the same time, realize that sometimes everyone does not have their day, and sometimes fatigue hits each of us. Therefore, it is not a good idea to unload your legs from time to time and do nothing. You will see that one lying day will give you energy and the desire to embark on new challenges.
Do you have a proven way to turn around with fatigue? If so, we'd love for you to share it with us. If this article was beneficial for you, don't forget to share it with your friends so that they too can win over the autumn fatigue.
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