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PUT SLEEP AT THE TOP OF YOUR TO-DO LIST

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Give yourself permission to put sleep at the top of your to-do list.

Good rest helps set you up for success!

 

Are you on the vicious cycle of feeling low on energy? You don’t sleep enough so you feel grumpy and fatigued, with no desire to eat well or exercise? By the afternoon you are totally zapped and can barely function. All of these things are more intertwined than we realize! You’re less likely to push through the fatigue to go to the gym, eat healthy and then get better sleep, and the cycle starts again. Are you ready to break this vicious cycle?

The best way to feel full of energy and alert all day is to focus on three building blocks of energy: focusing on your sleep, making sure your making good food choices, and finally including some exercise in your routine.

Prioritizing your sleep is first and foremost, and unfortunately most people do not do this. Most treat sleep as a luxury, and it is anything but! If you have to choose between sleep and something else, choose sleep. If you are lacking on sleep can lead to poor food choices as well.

Whether or not you’re sleeping enough, food is a crucial part of the energy equation. If you’re sleep-deprived, your body will often crave foods that offer quick energy (meaning: sugar) to make up for it. The timing of eating also plays a role, try not to eat too late at night. From what we know eating at night can negatively affect your metabolism, leading to higher glucose and lipid levels. We also get better rest if we don’t go to bed on a full stomach, so try to eat dinner as early as you can, shooting for the last meal of the day to be at least two hours before you go to sleep.

Exercise is the third important component of feeling powered up all day long. If you have time, getting your heart rate up is an almost guaranteed way to shake you our of a slog. “Exercise brings the hormones that are responsible for our fight-or-flight reaction to the party. They push fatigue to the side and say to your body, ‘You don’t have time to be tired right now.'” Let go of the idea that it needs to be 30 minutes to count. Anything counts, for any amount of time.