Always Tired? Here Is Why

Introduction 

If you are like me, you are very ambitious and want to achieve great things in life.

But no matter how much you sleep, you are always tired. You wake up, 10 minutes later, you want to go back to sleep.

The whole day you walk like a zombie, and you can’t wait to go to bed. I always thought that only old people have this problem, but this started happening to me in my early twenties.

I am young; I am active; I eat well. Why is this happening to me?

I figured out that the most important things are what we hear all the time. The balance between your focus and discipline, staying active, eating, and resting well.

But before you skip this video, I want to say that it’s not what you do; it’s about how you do it.

It took me some time, about five years actually, but I found the right balance for me.

And in this video, I want to share how to smash the like button and how I stay energetic 98% of the time.

Don’t like to read? Watch the video!

01. Sleep

Having enough sleep

It starts with good sleep. There are hustlers, who say – screw sleeping. I only need a few hours.

Maybe for some people, it works; I don’t know anyone who can live like that for more than a few days or a week without crashing.

We all know the importance of sleep and that we need to sleep around 8 hours a day.

Most of us do much more in 6 hours when we are well-rested rather than in 12 hours when we are tired.

One thing a lot of us don’t think about giving ourselves a little bit of time to fall asleep. We typically go to bed at the time when we need to fall asleep.

So, I started going to bed 30 minutes earlier, that’s approximately how long it takes for me to fall asleep.

Having quality sleep

It’s not only about the hours we sleep; the quality matters too.

There is this thing called the circadian rhythm. It suggests that you need to sleep during certain times to have a good sleep.

So, I tested it for myself, and I concluded: it doesn’t matter what time I go to bed and when I wake up, as long as I have enough sleep and have a consistent sleep schedule, I am good.

For example, I usually wake up about 4-5 am in the summer, and in the winter, I go to bed around that time. It works for me. 

My favourite sleeping tips

Here are a few quick tips for better sleep: We all know that it’s better to reduce screen time. I still use my phone to check emails and answer messages.

What I do is I set a dark mode and bring the brightness to the lowest. Then about 5-10 minutes before sleeping, I put my phone down and close my eyes.

And the second tip: Try not to exercise a few hours before going to bed.

The third quick tip to sleep better is to subscribe to my channel, like this video, and leave a comment below.

This will instantly increase your melatonin by 200%. Okay… you know it’s a joke.

02. Caffeine addiction

I love coffee, and I used to drink multiple cups throughout the day because no matter how much I had, I slept like a baby at night.

Then, I started having these nights when I would go to bed at 10 pm and not fall asleep till 5 in the morning.

So I decided to do a test: to drink coffee only in the first 5-6 hours of my day. I thought that caffeine lasts for only about 6 hours.

Only the first half-life of caffeine lasts this long, so we still have some left in our system after that.

When we are supposed to sleep tight like baby when our bodies rest and heal themselves.

Caffeine is still being digested, ruining the quality of our beauty sleep.

Now I think twice about having caffeine after 2 pm.

03. Shower

So I talked about sleeping, now let’s talk about the first thing I do when I wake up: I take a shower. It helps me feel fresh and kind of energizes me.

It is also a good idea to take cold or contrast showers. But in the morning it is not something I feel like doing. So I take a regular shower.

04. Coffee nap

Until a few years ago, I hated naps. I always ended up sleeping for a few hours and waking up tired with a horrible headache.

Then I found out about coffee naps. What I do is I gulp a small cup of coffee and set up a timer for 20 minutes.

I lay down and close my eyes. I don’t try to sleep, I just lay down. In these 20 minutes, my brain rests, and the caffeine starts to kick in closer to the end.

It is pretty cool. It feels more like a lucid dream when your body is asleep, but your mind is active.

Sometimes I think about work, the problems I need to solve, or think about what I need to do.

When I get up, I already have a solution.

05. Nutrition

Up next is what I eat and how I eat to stay energetic. Of course, dieting is different for everyone, and different foods affect us differently.

A basic balanced diet did the trick for me. I follow a simple diet to get the essential nutrients: So I try to keep my proteins at 40%, carbs, and fats at 30% each.

And it’s because a lot of carbs make me want to sleep more, so no. Also, I do my best to eat more veggies, which I dislike. So I make smoothies with lots of greens.

Now, I don’t drink soda or sweet drinks and substitute sugar for honey.

Nutrient deficiency

A few years ago, I told Dr. Amari, my naturopath, at that time, that I constantly feel tired. He took my blood sample, and it showed that I had a vitamin d deficiency.

It is common for people who live in cities like Toronto, especially in the winter when there is no sun. Dr. Amari did the Vitamin D shots for me once a week for a month to normalize the level.

It helped. Afterward, I started taking tablets to keep the levels right. By the way, if you live in Toronto, I recommend giving Dr. Amari a visit. He is amazing!

I also take MultiVitamins and omega 3s as they help me cover the gaps in my diet.

Next up, extra weight. There was a time when I gained quite a few pounds. And it dramatically affected how I felt.

I became lazier, wanted to eat more. It led to gaining even more weight and having less energy. Maybe it was just my state of mind, but it’s always good to monitor a healthy weight.

06. Exercise

Some people think they will get tired by exercising. In fact, with consistent exercising over time, your base level energy increases.

There are a million reasons why you should work out: it stabilizes your hormone levels, keeps your brain and muscles healthy, which all help you be more energetic.

Any type of exercise is great! Remember, 40 to 60 minutes is only 3-4% of your day. Everyone has time for that. My rule of thumb is to break a sweat and get out of breath at least once.

Since we are living in a pandemic, most gyms are closed. So I found a few simple cardio that I switch from time to time: I like walking up and down the stairs, jumping rope, running, or just going for a long walk.

07. Substances

Alcohol

It’s great to meet with your friends, have some wine, or even a whole bottle of scotch. But in the recent year, I’ve almost completely cut alcohol out of my life.

Besides that, I hate hangovers. I’ve noticed that for the next few days after drinking my energy level is down, I am not as motivated and even kind of sad.

It’s the same story with other substances such as weed. I am not a big fan of it, But as I live in Toronto, where it’s legal and very accessible, quite a few of my friends smoke.

Marijuana

Most of them say it doesn’t affect them, and some even say it gives them a boost. I am not an expert, but I see a strong correlation between their success, performance, and smoking weed.

I am here not to offend anyone, but I notice that they are typically less focused, slower, and lazier.

An interesting fact about weed: men’s sperms become less active, and it’s harder to get your wife pregnant because of weed.

Of course, some people smoke weed for medical reasons, but it’s a whole different story.

So remember, abusing alcohol and weed has consequences.

08. Not knowing what to do or where to start.

Our brain is wired to keep away from stress, to do less, and to save energy. If we get enough food, have a place to sleep, and get enough entertainment, we generally don’t feel like doing anything.

If you are watching this video, you most likely have a place to sleep, food to eat and your phone with unlimited entertainment.

You can watch Netflix, browse youtube and check out your friends’ recent posts. Why would you want to work or do something?

No reason to be productive

This leads me to the next point – having no reason to have energy.

There are plenty of people who don’t follow a balanced lifestyle, but they have this internal force of nearly unlimited energy. 

You might think “well… I don’t have it. Not everyone is blessed with it.” 

But this internal force is typically built of either passion, need, fear, or all together.

And all of us can have it. Passion comes from believing that you can do something or a desire to create. Need doesn’t only come from basic needs.

It could be anything – not feeling comfortable with what you have when you want to fit in or having a strong desire to prove yourself to others.

Though too much stress is not a good thing and can cause tiredness, fear of losing or not getting something can give you a boost of energy to do something about it.

One note about fear – our brains test our fears and if we can avoid or get comfortable with what we are scared of, we lose this energy.

So if you feel tired, chances are you are just very comfortable where you are. So when you have a moment of desire to do something, passion or fear – take action right away!

Don’t wait until tomorrow or next Monday. Get up now and do it!

Most likely you are not going to have this energy tomorrow if you don’t start now.

09. Confusion

Another reason for feeling tired is when we are confused, lost, or don’t know what to do. In these moments we tend to procrastinate, feel lazy, and think we are tired.

If this sounds like you, it’s time to put your shit together, write down what you need to do, and discipline yourself.

Turn on your “boss mode” and get it done. It gets easier every day. Just remember not to get caught up in procrastination like a perfect daily routine, perfect day plan, and so on.

So the best way to stop feeling tired is to actively test different things and find your body and mind balance.

Let me know what you think about this video, what works for you, and what doesn’t!

That’s it for today. Till next time!