Why You're Low on Energy

There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling off.

You can’t focus properly, lack the energy to tackle your to-do list, and everything generally feels hard.

Whatever you’re striving for — be it winning a Gold Medal or being the world’s best mom — the quality of your energy determines your effectiveness.

You can’t produce your best results in a tired body.

If any (or all) of these reasons stand out to you as something you’re dropping the ball on, you’ll feel better if you adjust based on the following.

#1. Your Circadian Rhythm is out of whack

There is a small structure in your hypothalamus called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus.

It’s the pacemaker of your circadian rhythm, your body’s 24-hour internal clock.

The suprachiasmatic nucleus is strict regarding time — it likes to run the schedule predictably. If you have a sporadic schedule with varying times of going to sleep and waking up, you won’t be able to get in a groove with your circadian rhythm.

A disrupted circadian rhythm can cause insomnia, brain fog, lethargy, and a rise in hunger from an increase in the hormone Ghrelin.

There is no single best time for everyone to go to bed and wake up.

You don’t have to follow all the entrepreneurial bros who get up at 4 am. But what you do have to do (if you want to operate at your peak performance) is have a consistent schedule.

For most of us, this is a reason not to get up at 4 am with all the billionaires.

Your wake-up time should be something you can keep consistent seven days a week, not just on weekdays. So if you enjoy things like socializing or going to concerts because — well, you’re a human being — then an early wake-up time through the week can backfire.

You wake up at 5 am from Monday to Friday but then sleep until 8 am on Saturday and Sunday. And you wonder: “I got a great sleep; why do I feel like crap?”

Because your circadian rhythm has been disrupted.

Solution:

Pick a bedtime and wake-up time that you can be consistent with, considering your responsibilities, preferences, and values.

If you’re in a hardcore hustle phase and can do 9 pm to 4 am 7 days a week, that’s cool.

But if that’s not working for you, be moderate and go with something you can sustain.

Maybe waking at 7 am is a better compromise because you can do it consistently, not just on weekdays.

#2 You’re Not Sleeping Enough

If your life philosophy is “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” you won’t have as long to wait.

The scientific literature on sleep is unambiguous: poor sleep is disastrous for your overall health.

A single night of poor sleep can increase blood pressure, and this study has shown that consistently sleeping over 7 hours per night can reduce the risk of atherosclerosis.

Not to mention that poor sleep lowers testosterone, increases secretion of Ghrelin (the hormone that makes you hungry), and is thought to diminish muscle mass.

If you’re routinely getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night and don’t feel like you’re operating with peak energy, look no further for your solution. This is why.

Solution:

• As per the last point, be as consistent with your sleep schedule as your life allows. Pick a bedtime and wake-up time that you can commit to all week.

• Don’t eat 3 hours before bed. Digestion increases core body temperature, and you want a low body temperature for a good night’s sleep.

• Don’t drink any fluids 2 hours before bed to decrease the chance that you’ll get up to pee in the night.

• Wear blue-light-blocking glasses or avoid blue light (light from screens) at least one hour before bed.

• Avoid too much stimulation in the evening. Even with blue-light-blocking glasses, watching an intense action thriller right before sleep will probably not help your sleep.

#3 You’re Malnourished

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals, and they are responsible for thousands of chemical and enzymatic reactions in the body.

The Standard American Diet (or anything close ) is terribly low in nutrients.

If you eat a high-carb diet full of processed junk, you are undoubtedly deficient in nutrition vital for the optimal functioning of your body.

Solution:

Take a multivitamin. I don’t suggest compensating for a bad diet with supplements, but a multivitamin is a good idea. It’s an easy way to cover your bases.

Switch to whole grains: Completely dropping grains is something many people won’t do, and it’s not something you need to do (unless you’re celiac).

But if you can make the switch from white bread to whole grains, you’ll be doing your nutrition a favor. Whole grains are higher in fiber and often fortified with additional nutrients such as Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D.

Switch to tubers: An even better carb switch than whole grains is to replace some grains with tubers, i.e., potatoes and yams.

You may have heard of the potato diet — some people lose significant weight by eating nothing but potatoes for up to several weeks.

I don’t suggest the potato diet for weight loss, but it demonstrates that potatoes have enough nutrients to keep you going for a while. I’m able to write this because potatoes kept my Irish ancestors alive for years!

Yams are even more nutritious: Yams are high in Potassium, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C.

Replace rice with potatoes and yams, and you’ll be providing yourself with more nutrients.

Eat enough carbs (unless you’re in ketosis)

Yes, it is trendy these days to hate carbs. And the high-carb/empty-calorie Standard American Diet is a recipe for disaster. But there is a trap that some people can fall into when they start limiting carbs to be healthier:

They eat too many carbs to be in ketosis (and use fat as a primary energy source) but low enough carbs to feel crappy.

To trigger ketosis, you need to eat virtually no carbs, only around 5% of your total calories. If you’re not committing to the Ketogenic diet, reducing carbs by too much will tire you.

Instead of drastically cutting carbs, switch to nutrient-dense whole grains and tubers.

Eat plenty of protein:

Protein is required to repair damaged tissue and maintain lean mass. Protein is also the most satiating nutrient — shoot to consume close to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

Eat the Rainbow

Colorful veggies are an indication of a variety of vitamins in food. Make a conscious effort to get some color in your diet:

Eat some beets. Dark, leafy greens. Red onions. Cabbage. Carrots.

#4 You’re Not Exercising

If you want to operate at the peak of your energy, you’ll want to get regular exercise. You should ideally do some resistance training and cardio. There are many benefits to regular exercise:

• Exercise increases endorphins, chemicals in the body that cause us to feel good.

• Exercise is beneficial for cardiovascular health and reduces all-cause mortality.

• Lifting weights improves body composition and builds muscle and grip strength — two critical factors for longevity.

• Intense exercise is thought to increase cognitive performance.

Many people get intimidated by the time demands of an exercise regiment, but it doesn’t have to be something that takes over your life. It can be as simple as:

I believe anyone can make time for this; you need to appreciate its value and make it a priority.

TL;DR

• Don’t disrupt your circadian rhythms by having random bedtimes; choose a bedtime and wake-up time that you can commit to 7 days a week.

• Get at least 7 hours of sleep per night

• Eat a nutrient-dense diet

• Lift weights, go for walks, and get to max heart rate twice weekly.