{"id":2756,"date":"2014-11-01T17:27:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T17:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=2756"},"modified":"2014-11-01T17:27:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T17:27:38","slug":"why-youre-tired-all-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=2756","title":{"rendered":"Why You\u2019re Tired All the Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Junk<\/a>Lack of sleep isn\u2019t the only thing sapping your energy. Little things you do (and don\u2019t do) can exhaust you both mentally and physically, which can make getting through your day a chore. Here, experts reveal common bad habits that can make you feel tired, plus simple lifestyle tweaks that will put the pep back in your step.<\/p>\n

Skipping your workout to save energy actually works against you. In a University of Georgia study, sedentary but otherwise healthy adults who began exercising lightly three days a week for as little as 20 minutes at a time reported feeling less fatigued and more energized after six weeks. Regular exercise boosts strength and endurance, helps make your cardiovascular system run more efficiently, and delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. So next time you\u2019re tempted to crash on the couch, at least go for a brisk walk\u2014you won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t drink enough water<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being even slightly dehydrated\u2014as little as 2% of normal fluid loss\u2014takes a toll on energy levels, says Amy Goodson, RD, a dietitian for Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine. Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume, explains Goodson, which makes the blood thicker. This requires your heart to pump less efficiently, reducing the speed at which oxygen and nutrients reach your muscles and organs. To calculate your normal fluid needs, take your weight in pounds, divide in half and drink that number of ounces of fluid a day, Goodson recommends.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not consuming enough iron<\/strong><\/p>\n

An iron deficiency can leave you feeling sluggish, irritable, weak, and unable to focus. \u201cIt makes you tired because less oxygen travels to the muscles and cells,\u201d says Goodson. Boost your iron intake to reduce your risk of anemia: load up on lean beef, kidney beans, tofu, eggs (including the yolk), dark green leafy vegetables, nuts, and peanut butter, and pair them with foods high in vitamin C (vitamin C improves iron absorption when eaten together), suggests Goodson. Note: an iron deficiency may be due to an underlying health problem, so if you\u2019re experiencing these symptoms of iron deficiency, you should visit your doc.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a perfectionist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Striving to be perfect\u2014which, let\u2019s face it, is impossible\u2014makes you work much harder and longer than necessary, says Irene S. Levine, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. \u201cYou set goals that are so unrealistic that they are difficult or impossible to achieve, and in the end, there is no sense of self-satisfaction.\u201d Levine recommends setting a time limit for yourself on your projects, and taking care to obey it. In time, you\u2019ll realize that the extra time you were taking wasn\u2019t actually improving your work.<\/p>\n

You make mountains out of molehills<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you assume that you\u2019re about to get fired when your boss calls you into an unexpected meeting, or you\u2019re too afraid to ride your bike because you worry you\u2019ll get into an accident, then you\u2019re guilty of \u201ccatastrophizing,\u201d or expecting that the worst-case scenario will always occur. This anxiety can paralyze you and make you mentally exhausted, says Levine. When you catch yourself having these thoughts, take a deep breath and ask yourself how likely it is that the worst really will happen. Getting outdoors, meditating, exercising, or sharing your concerns with a friend may help you better cope and become more realistic.<\/p>\n

You skip breakfast<\/strong><\/p>\n

The food you eat fuels your body, and when you sleep, your body continues using what you consumed at dinner the night before to keep your blood pumping and oxygen flowing. So, when you wake up in the morning, you need to refuel with breakfast. Skip it, and you\u2019ll feel sluggish. \u201cEating breakfast is like starting a fire in your body by kickstarting your metabolism,\u201d Goodson says. Goodson recommends a breakfast that includes whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fat. Good examples include oatmeal with protein powder and a dab of peanut butter; a smoothie made with fruit, protein powder, low-fat milk, and almond butter; or eggs with two slices of whole-wheat toast and low-fat Greek yogurt.<\/p>\n

You live on junk food<\/strong><\/p>\n

Foods loaded with sugar and simple carbs (like the ones you\u2019ll find in a box or at the drive-thru window) rank high on the glycemic index (GI), an indicator of how rapidly carbohydrates increase blood sugar. Constant blood sugar spikes followed by sharp drops cause fatigue over the course of the day, says Goodson. Keep blood sugar steady by having a lean protein along with a whole grain at every meal, says Goodson. Good choices include chicken (baked, not fried) and brown rice, salmon and sweet potato, or salad with chicken and fruit. This article originally appeared on Health.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lack of sleep isn\u2019t the only thing sapping your energy. Little things you do (and don\u2019t do) can exhaust you both mentally and physically, which can make getting through your day a chore. Here, experts reveal common bad habits that can make you feel tired, plus simple lifestyle tweaks that will put the pep back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-2756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-junk-food"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Junk-food.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-Is","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2758,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756\/revisions\/2758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}