12 habits that quietly steal energy every day
Miscellaneous / / October 15, 2021
Even watching a favorite TV show or a lamp turned on at night can leave us exhausted.
Have you ever wondered why you often find yourself practically exhausted in the evening? Perhaps, harmless habits, which many do not even pay attention to, are to blame.
Imagine that energy is a glass of water with a hole in it. There are two ways to maintain a sufficient amount of water in it: constantly add liquid or eliminate a gap.
To maintain a high energy level all day, you can have more good habits: For example, eating right, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. And you can exclude bad habits from your life that take energy.
1. Watching too emotional TV shows and shows
An abundance of complex and emotionally exhausting content can lead to mental exhaustion. This is because we often identify ourselves with the main characters, imagine ourselves in their place and we feel thathow they feel.
“This experience allows a person to see the world in a different way and gain access to emotions that he could not experience before,” explains MD, psychiatrist Leela R. Magawi.
However, strong emotions can lead to excessive nervous excitement. Suppressing overexcited signals requires even more mental effort, which means we get tired faster. Moreover, this applies to both negative and positive experiences, since they activate similar connections in the brain.
How to solve the problem
Choose content carefully and note how you feel while watching, as well as over the next hours and even days. This will help you find trigger topics that are causing unnecessary excitement.
Another way is to limit the number of overly emotional films, TV series and shows and dilute them with more calm and neutral ones.
2. Take long breaks between meals
Our body receives energy from what we eat, and its main source is carbohydrates. Qualified dietitian Caroline Lacey notes that parts of the human body, such as the brain, can only use glucose, the simplest carbohydrate, for energy.
In addition, our body storesThe liver & blood sugar / Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California some stores of glucose in the liver - in case blood sugar drops, for example, between meals.
Uma Naidu
When we eat more carbohydrates, especially simple ones, our insulin levels rise in our blood. After eating, it reaches its maximum, and the amount of sugar in the blood may decrease. It makes us feel tired and empty.
How to solve the problem
Usually, experts advise you to eat every five hours, but here everything is individual and depends on many factors. It's best to carry snacks with you at all times, such as healthy protein bars, nuts, or fruits.
3. Leave a mess on your desktop
Work in mess hurts our attention. As a result, we spend much more time on the most basic tasks and they consume energy.
How to solve the problem
Maintain order on your desk - let each thing have its own clearly assigned place.
Leela R. Magawi
I recommend spending 10-15 minutes every workday cleaning the table while listening to relaxing music. This will create new, rewarding and positive behaviors.
4. Planning too much in advance
One glance at a calendar with five or more tasks recorded for each day can trigger a surge of anxiety and reluctance. going out. And now your energy is already running out, and you have not even started doing business yet.
Tyson Lippe
Psychiatrist.
Planning things ahead helps you set aside the right amount of time for each task and make sure you haven't forgotten anything. However, excessive foresight deprives one of flexibility and forces one to live in the future, and not in the present.
How to solve the problem
Use planning only in certain areas of life: for work tasks, important meetings or family celebrations, making an appointment with a doctor. The rest of the time, try not to burden yourself with unnecessary hassle.
“Allocation of free time for hobbies, leisure or even doing nothing helps to feel like a free person who is in control of his life, ”emphasizes Tyson Lippe.
5. Opening too many windows in the browser
The sheer number of tabs overtaxes not only the computer, but also the brain.
Rena Mafi
Neurologist.
Switching from one tab to another creates the illusion that you are doing an incredible amount of work. In fact, you do not fully delve into any of the tasks, which means that you cannot be truly effective.
How to solve the problem
Monitor regularly what you open in your browser. Ask yourself if you need this tab right now, and if so, why. Any page that is not work-related can be added to the Reading List or closed - most likely, it is just a distraction.
6. Answer incoming calls immediately
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have provenG. Mark, D. Gudith, U. Klocke. The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress / University of California, Irvinethat it takes us more than 20 minutes to regain concentration after any distraction. And telephone conversations definitely fall into this category.
Rena Mafi
Calls can be energy-consuming. The nervous system must not only switch to another task, but also "process" the conversation in which you do not see the body language and facial expressions of the interlocutor. And this carries an additional load on the brain.
How to solve the problem
Before pressing the green "Accept Call" button, stop and think if this is a good time to interrupt what you are doing, and if you are ready for the conversation at this moment.
Rena Mafi advises asking colleagues, family and friends to send you a “proactive” message before calling. This will give you additional time to understand whether you want to talk or not, and relieve you of the thought that now you need to urgently look for a free minute amid the work or home bustle.
7. Quit tasks halfway
You are probably familiar with this situation: today there are many things to do, you have almost finished one of them, when suddenly something more urgent appeared. As a result, the initial work had to postpound on later and headlong to take on a new assignment. But the brain doesn't work that way. A small piece of attention is involuntarily "postponed" along with that very unfinished task.
Rena Mafi
When your attention "disintegrates", your brain starts working twice as hard. He thinks not only about the new task, but also about the one that you had to temporarily quit.
The more often this happens, the more resources the brain spends. No wonder we feel tired well before the end of the working day.
How to solve the problem
Unfortunately, it is impossible to protect yourself from the appearance of new assignments, but there are a couple of tricks that will help the brain to cope with them more efficiently.
Rena Mafi advises to work with the settings on your phone or computer and regularly check for new messages only when you really have the opportunity to do so.
You can also set aside more time for the task than is necessary. Then, even with the appearance of new cases, you will be able to finish the previous assignments on time and only then deal with the next ones.
If these tactics don't work, try sketching out what you need to complete in the previous task when you can return to it. This will save you from unnecessary thoughts, because you will already have a strategy for further actions and you will be able to cope with the assignment much faster.
8. Slouch
Doctor Noin Safdar notes that poor posture puts additional stress on muscles, joints and tendons. As a result, the body needs more energy, which leads to fatigue.
How to solve the problem
If you keep on your own perfect pose difficult, use special tools: a comfortable office chair with a suitable backrest, an orthopedic pillow or even a corrective corset.
Take note👈
- How to fix your posture: simple exercises and tricks
9. Breathing wrong
Most often this happens when the head is full of many thoughts and problems. Shallow breathing reduces the amount of oxygen entering the body - and therefore into the blood, organs and cells. This can trigger connections in the brain that lead to fatigue.
How to solve the problem
Whenever you feel stress rolls in, do a few deep breaths and exhalations. It is better not to wait for depletion of moral strength and do breathing exercises during work breaks, as well as at the beginning and end of the day.
Try diaphragmatic breathing. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your stomach. Inhale through your nose, while sticking out your abdomen and keeping your chest still. Exhale through your slightly pursed lips, tighten your abdominal muscles and allow them to return to their original position.
Find out more😤
- Do you want to change your life for the better? Breathe deeply
10. Leave small tasks for later
Reply to a message, replace a burnt out light bulb, record a pet to the vet - gradually all these small things turn into a huge list, from which the head is spinning. And even the simplest tasks seem impossible simply because of their number.
Constant thoughts like “I need to finally do this” can cause feelings of guilt and even anxiety.
How to solve the problem
Ideally, any task that takes less than five minutes should be done right away. If this is not possible, it is better not to rely on your memory, but to write down everything that needs to be done. This will help you feel calmer, because you will definitely not forget about it and will sort it out as soon as the time appears.
You can set aside 30 to 60 minutes a week to work with these lists. This will replace the feeling of guilt with a feeling. productivity.
11. Do not turn off the lights at night
The bright light in the dark makes our brains think that the day is still going on. This inhibits the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and leads to insomnia and fatigue.
How to solve the problem
After sunset, try to reduce the brightness, and turn off the lights completely at night. Try using warmer colors for lighting closer to the red spectrum. It is not so negatively affectedThe Color of the Light Affects the Circadian Rhythms / Center for Disease Control and Prevention on a sleep cycle like others.
12. Follow other people's advice
Relatives and friends can tell you the path of development, but their recommendations should always be adapted to your own goals and your personality. Otherwise, you risk becoming puppet for the embodiment of other people's desires.
Blindly following the advice of others takes time and energy, and also leads to frustration and even rejection of yourself or the situation.
How to solve the problem
The approach to recommendations is critical. Think about whether they will help you and how your life will change if you follow them.
For example, the popular claim that working with a laptop in bed is bad for health does not address the needs of people with chronic back pain or severe cases. anxiety. In their situation, such a solution is much better than a standard trip to the office or hours of sitting at the table.
Analyze the advice you receive, and if you still decide to follow them, do not forget that it is worth implementing other people's recommendations in your life in your own way.
Read also🧐
- Why overwork and burnout have become part of our lives
- How to replace bad eating habits with good ones
- 10 best ways to break bad habits