How to Banish Afternoon Fatigue. By Dr. Mercola. Many people experience a slump in energy levels by the time the afternoon rolls around. A number of factors may contribute to this phenomenon. The most common cause is post- lunch hypoglycemia, which is related to your inability to burn fat. Besides alterations in your diet, intermittent fasting is one of the most effective ways to switch your body from burning carbs to burning fat, thereby boosting your mental and physical stamina. Poor sleep also plays a role, of course, and recent research highlights the interconnectedness between sleep and exercise. Diet Is Key for Maintaining Your Energy Levels. There are two fuels your body can use, sugar and fat.
The sad reality is that our ancestors were adapted to using fat as their primary fuel and over 9. By switching your body from using carbs as its primary fuel to burning fats instead, or becoming . Overall, being adapted to burning fat instead of carbs has a number of benefits, including. One way to tell if you're fat adapted or not is to take note of how you feel when you skip a meal. If you can skip meals without getting ravenous and cranky (or craving carbs), you're likely fat- adapted. This can improve athletic performance, and helps burn more body fat. As explained by Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, if you can handle exercising without having to carb- load, you're probably fat- adapted. If you can work out effectively in a fasted state, you're definitely fat- adapted. First, Replace Carbs with Healthful Fats. Keep in mind that when we're talking about harmful carbs, we're only referring to grains and sugars, NOT vegetable carbs. You need very little if any of the former, and plenty of the latter. In fact, when you cut out sugar and grains, you need to radically increase the amount of vegetables you eat since, by volume, the grains you need to trade out are denser than vegetables. Afternoon fatigue is a common complaint. One of the most common causes is post-lunch hypoglycemia, which is related to your inability to effectively burn fat. The reason your friend's 'gluten-free' diet is making them feel better probably has nothing to do with gluten. F-Factor is more than just a diet to help you lose weight and become healthier. It allows you to have a joyful. You also need to dramatically increase healthful fats, which include: . Trans fats should also be avoided, but contrary to popular advice, saturated fats are a key component of a healthy diet. A reasonable goal will be to have as much as 5. Most people will likely notice massive improvement in their health and overall energy levels by following this approach. To help you get started on the right track, review my Nutritional Plan, which guides you through these dietary changes one step at a time. How Intermittent Fasting Can Help. Once you've addressed your diet, you can try intermittent fasting. This will effectively help shift your body from carb- to fat- burning mode. Please do not embark on a fasting regimen if you're still subsisting primarily on processed foods and fast food meals, however. Since it involves skipping meals, making sure you're getting high quality nutrients with each meal you do eat becomes all the more critical. Intermittent fasting involves timing your meals to allow for regular periods of fasting. It takes about six to eight hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores and after that you start to shift to burning fat. A global leader in the beverage industry, the Coca-Cola company offers hundreds of brands, including soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks and other beverages in. Union Officer Aviator Spiderman Standard - Original apt. 9 axcess Candie's Frigits Deluxe Humidifier and Misting Fan Invicta Men's Lupah Revolution Combat Black. World's heaviest woman who doctor called a 'little sumo wrestler' when she weighed in at 1,000 pounds can now lift her arm after undergoing life-saving surgery. If you keep replenishing your glycogen by eating every eight hours (or sooner), you make it far more difficult for your body to use your fat stores as fuel. Remember, your ancient ancestors never had access to a 2. By necessity they regularly engaged in periods of fasting as they had no choice. This equates to 1. Once you have made the shift to burning fat as your primary fuel, you will be shocked at how your cravings for sugar and junk food virtually disappear. Other categories of people that would be best served to avoid fasting include those living with chronic stress and those with cortisol dysregulation. The combination of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of both fat and glycogen for energy. Fighting Fatigue with Exercise. The issue of afternoon fatigue was recently covered in a Wall Street Journal. Personally, I believe that altering your diet and implementing intermittent fasting will have a far greater impact than making alterations to your exercise schedule alone. But, that said, some of the advice given may be helpful in conjunction with your dietary changes. As reported in the featured article. Midday is the ideal time to exercise, some fitness experts say. A workout then can give you an energy boost lasting three to four hours.. If you prefer working out in the evenings, it's best to avoid exercising two to three hours before bedtime to avoid sleep disruption.. On the other hand, if you are a morning exerciser and not getting seven to nine hours of sleep, Lona Sandon, a Dallas fitness instructor and assistant clinical nutrition professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, suggests getting to bed earlier or exercising in the evening. To avoid midday fatigue and preserve energy throughout the day, most trainers recommend doing more moderate workouts, meaning those in which you hit 7. You might be better off with restorative yoga so your brain can slow down. Besides that, compelling research shows that prolonged sittingin and of itself is a major contributing factor to chronic disease and reduced lifespan—evenifyou exercise regularly. Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA's Life Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, the reason for these ill effects are due to the fact that when you sit, you're not interacting with gravity. The act of standing up makes your body interact with the forces of gravity, which is what produces beneficial health effects. Interestingly, the lipoprotein lipase is dramatically reduced during inactivity, and increases with activity, the most effective activity being standing up from a seated position. Lipoprotein lipase is an enzyme that attaches to fat in your bloodstream and transports it into your muscles to be used as fuel. So essentially, simply by standing up, you are also actively helping your body to burn fat for fuel. Vernikos's book, Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, and interviewing her, I was inspired to give some serious attention to this because even though I perform a lot of structured exercise, including high intensity interval training, I too was guilty of sitting down a vast majority of the rest of the day. Vernikos, squatting is an extension of standing. If you squat and stand, you can get the maximum benefit of working against the force of gravity. Moving every 1. 0 minutes or so will also get your blood pumping to oxygenate your cells, which will also combat fatigue. I mix it up though and try to do six to eight different moves every 1. The ones I currently use are one legged squats, two legged squats, lunges, jump squats, hamstring stretches and pectoral doorway stretches. An Obvious Culprit: Poor Sleep.. If you're not sleeping well, it will be next to impossible to avoid lagging energy levels. According to recent research, maintaining a regular exercise program can help improve your sleep over time. It can also boost your cognitive performance, as evidenced by a number of studies. In one recent study evaluating the effect of exercise on sleep,4 volunteers with sleep complaints took two- hour forest- walks to assess how it affected their sleep patterns. According to the authors. Furthermore, extension of sleep duration was greater after an afternoon walk compared to a forenoon walk. Over time, however, exercise will tend to improve your sleep patterns, even if you're struggling with more serious sleep problems. As reported by Yahoo News. Head researcher Baron told the New York Times that people with insomnia tend to be 'neurologically different' and have a 'hyper- arousal of the stress system.' Breaking a sweat in the gym one day isn't likely to override the system, she said, and could even exacerbate it. Still, if you struggle with insomnia and currently don't exercise, Baron said that it's advisable to start - - but don't expect miracles. The process could take months, which can be frustrating for someone suffering from sleep deprivation. You have to keep at it and not get discouraged.'. Two key points to remember if you're having difficulty sleeping include the following. For more tips, please see my article 3. Steps to a Good Night's Sleep. This means removing items associated with entertainment, recreation, work and hobbies, and turning your bedroom into a single- purpose space—one for sleeping. Of utmost importance: Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and quiet. These three factors can have a major impact on your sleep. In regards to temperature, studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 6. Fahrenheit, so keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 7. As for light, even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin, hormones involved in your body's circadian rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. So close your bedroom door, get rid of night- lights, and most importantly, cover your windows. I recommend using blackout shades or heavy, opaque drapes. Also cover up your clock if it has a lit display. Alternatively, you could wear an eye mask to block out any stray light. Again, the artificial glow from your TV, i. Pad, computer or smartphone can serve as a stimulus for keeping you awake well past your bedtime by disrupting melatonin production. I recommend turning off all electronic gadgets at least one hour before bed. As Rothstein suggests, that time is far better spent reading a good old fashioned book, practicing relaxation techniques or meditating. Banish Afternoon Fatigue with Appropriate Diet and Lifestyle Changes. So remember, if you're frequently battling with afternoon fatigue, check your lunch selections, first of all. More often than not, you'll find that the more carb- heavy your lunch, the more apt you are to feel tired an hour or two later. To remedy the situation, focus on shifting your diet from carbs to healthful fats.
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