Whether it is the 3 PM lull or a day after day drain, loss of energy hits us all at some point. Family Chiropractic & Wellness is on your team to fight fatigue with five tips to help keep yourself from a complete body and mind power outage.
Fatigue Fighter #1: Never Skip Breakfast
Multiple studies have show that people who eat breakfast report being in a better mood, and have more energy throughout the day. Set the tone for the rest of your day but getting your metabolism going soon after rising. It’s the fuel your body needs to sustain the entire day. Eating high-fiber and carbohydrate-heavy (such as a high-fiber, whole wheat cereal) at the start of the day will keep you alert and thus more productive.
Fatigue Fighter #2: Snack Healthy
While a candy bar might give you a boost of sugar, it will leave you dragging again an hour later. Instead reach for high protein and complex carbohydrates like a peanut butter sandwich on whole-grain bread, or look for snacks full of magnesium like a handful of almonds, hazelnuts or cashews. These will boost energy longer than eating simple carbs like M&M’s.
Fatigue Fighter #3: Take Breaks
While multitasking helps get many tasks completed in a shorter amount of time, it can be very taxing on your brain. Further, rapid eye movement that usually accompanies such work can overload and strain both your eye muscles and brain activity causing increased fatigue. Taking short breaks (5-10 minutes at most) throughout the day to calm yourself, bring your heart rate down, and take control of your energy will also aide in prolonging your energy levels. Closing your eyes, taking deep breaths, and literally allowing yourself to think of nothing for a few minutes can actually help you get more done in the course of a day with the added energy and focus.
In one study conducted at Louisiana State University and published in Computers and Industrial Engineering, researchers found that workers who took four breaks per hour (usually just 30 seconds each), followed by a 14-minute break after two hours of sitting at the computer, reported higher performance and worked faster and more accurately than their co-workers who had not taken any breaks.
Fatigue Fighter #4: Get Moving
Family Chiropractic & Wellness cannot continue to stress the importance of movement enough. While you may dread physical activity when you are exhausted, movement will actually give you more energy. Whether you take a stroll around the neighborhood or the perimeter of the cubicles at work, a brisk 10-minute walk each day to get your blood moving has shown to not only increase energy but your mood as well. Robert Thayer, PhD, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, found that such brief, yet daily activity resulted in up to two hours of increased energy levels.
Fatigue Fighter #5: Chiropractic Care
The chiropractors at Family Chiropractic & Wellness are specialists of the spine and nervous system, and we understand that neurological dysfunction usually begins in the spine. As such, the nervous system is responsible for providing energy by delivering impulses that travel from the brain, down the spinal cord, and which then branch out to all points of the body through a dense network of nerves.
If a vertebra becomes misaligned and pinches nerves, energy impulses can be blocked, resulting in complete physical and mental fatigue. We call these spinal misalignments “vertebral subluxations,” and Family Chiropractic & Wellness can help reopen the energy pathways within your nervous system!
Call Family Chiropractic & Wellness today for an appointment to discuss a custom action plan to help alleviate your pain and/or fatigue and achieve your optimal health goals at 812-373-3376.
