You're Too Damn Hot!
And 9 Other Surprising Reasons You Feel Tired All the Time
If you work until 2 a.m., get up at 5 a.m. for boot camp, and finish the day with a cabernet – or six– you don’t need an endocrinologist to tell you why you hit a wall at 2 p.m. every afternoon.
But if you’re one of the roughly 70 percent of all American adults who struggle with sleepiness every day and you feel like you are doing everything right, I know how frustrating that can be.
Here are 10 surprising reasons why you may be getting very, very sleepy — and what to about them.
Reason 1. You’re Too Damn Hot (Not in the Good Way)
First things first: Six to eight hours of quality sleep each night is the best way to boost your energy, metabolism, and brain power. If you are having trouble falling asleep, try lowering your core body temperature first, as this can help induce sleep. Turn down the heat. Take a cool shower. Kick off the heavy blanket. And keep your bedroom cool – about 65 degrees or less.
Reason 2. Your natural melatonin is lagging.
Melatonin is the sleep hormone. You can also help boost your melatonin– the hormone that regulates sleep– by drinking six ounces of tart cherry juice before going to bed. Tart cherries contain natural melatonin, and the carbohydrates increase the production of serotonin, which is a calming brain chemical that can help you fall asleep.
Reason 3. You’re Not Breathing Properly
Take a deep breath... and not just when you are meditating. Sometimes, as people get older or even a little less fit, they start to “chest breathe,” or not fully fill their lungs. Short chest breaths can tire you out and, believe it or not, stress your body out.
Learn to “belly breathe”: Take a deep breath so that your belly rises before your chest does. Try placing one hand on your belly and the other on your chest if you need a guide. Inhale slowly until your belly rises, then hold your breath for two seconds, then exhale slowly and repeat. Belly breathing will literally breathe new energy into your body. You’ll see!
Practice five deep breaths before you go to bed, when you wake up, and several times throughout the day at work. When you feel stress rising, you’ll have a well-practiced technique to calm your nerves and channel your focus.
Reason 4. Your Leg Strength Is Lagging. If you’re weak in the knees, you won’t have the energy to get up and go. Test your leg strength. Do the Wall-Sit Test to challenge your quads, glutes, and hamstrings.
Here’s how: Stand with your back flat against a wall and feet about 2 feet away, shoulder-width apart.
Slide down the wall until your knees form a 90-degree angle.
Keep your back flat and core engaged. Cross your arms over your chest.
Hold this position as long as possible without shifting, rising, or collapsing.
Here’s how you know how you did:
● Under 30 seconds: Needs improvement
● 30–60 seconds: Average – work on it
● 60–90 seconds: Good
● 90+ seconds: Excellent
This test doubles as a great daily exercise to build those all-important lower-body muscles. Do it while waiting for the tea to steep.
Reason 5. You’re on a Sugar Rollercoaster
Use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to monitor your glucose levels. This is a tiny device that you insert on the back of your arm that tracks the sugar in the fluid between your cells and transmits that data to your smartphone. Wearing a CGM can teach you to choose the right foods and keep your sugars stable.
Wild swings in glucose can make you “hangry,” disrupt your sleep, fatigue your body, cause you to store fat, and fog up your brain. And here’s why the CGM is so great: Everyone reacts to food, stress, exercise, intermittent fasting, and even the times of day and the order in which you eat carbs and protein and fat differently. You will learn exactly what impacts your sugar and how to keep it stable and also slow your biological aging.
One lesson you’ll likely learn: If you start your snacks and meals with bread, pasta, beer, wine, or any other fast-absorbing carbohydrates, your glucose will likely jump up and down like a kid on a backyard trampoline with mind-numbing, fatigue-inducing effects.
Try starting your meal with meat, beans, nuts, fish, or cheese. Eating a bit of protein before every meal and snack will slow the digestion of the carbohydrates you eat afterward. That will prevent sugar spikes and quick drops that cause fatigue, brain fog, and cravings for more Doritos Flamas!
Reason 6. Booze Has Drowned Your Bs
Alcohol, particularly wine, drains B vitamins from your system. So, if you drink, I strongly recommend taking B vitamin supplements to support brain health. Studies show that riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), folate (B9), and cobalamin (B12) help keep your brain young and alert and go a long way toward preventing neurodegenerative conditions. Try methylated B vitamins in case you have MTHFR, a gene variant that interferes with regular B vitamin metabolism.
Reason 7. The Siren Song of Your Sofa
What do you do immediately after dinner? Is it get cozy with your couch cushions? Bad move. Instead, take a brisk walk. It will help move glucose from your meal (and your bloodstream) into your muscles for energy, preventing sugar spikes that can cause you to overeat and feel tired.
Aerobic exercise also increases blood flow to the brain, promoting the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which fuels the growth of new neurons. Doing as little as 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week may reduce your dementia risk by 41 percent, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
Reason 8. Your Mornings are Dark and Stormy
Darkness in the morning will make you want to stay in bed. Instead: Let there be light! First thing every morning, get outside to greet the sun. When sunlight bathes your brain through your eyeballs in the a.m., it recalibrates your circadian rhythms, your body’s internal clocks. It does this by telling your brain to stop producing melatonin, the sleepy hormone, which, in turn, makes you more alert. Try getting up 15 minutes earlier tomorrow and go outside for some wakeup sunshine, then at night, get to bed 15 minutes earlier. In a few days, your internal clock will be set for energy.
Reason 9. You Need a Tea at 3
Skip that coffee break. Blasphemy, you say? Not if you’re nodding off at work. Sometimes, a tea break is a better pick-you-up than coffee to power you to the end of the day. Research suggests that the combination of caffeine and the amino acid L-theanine, both found in black tea, can energize you more effectively than coffee, boosting mental alertness and eliminating the urge to nap on your keyboard.
Reason 10. Table for One
Social interaction is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your brain, boost your energy, and feel happier about life. Dozens of studies have shown the association between loneliness and most chronic diseases of aging, including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Some experts say loneliness is as damaging to cognitive ability as smoking, drinking, and obesity. So, join a bowling or darts league, call a friend today, and never miss poker night.