Energy Balance: Why Do You Feel Tired?

Most of your body’s cells use Glucose (the most basic form of carbohydrate/or the end breakdown of carbohydrate once it enters your body) or fatty acids for energy. Glucose then is a basic sugar which is the result of the breakdown of complex carbohydrates once they enter your body. Added sugar in the form of fruit, or sugary items such as pastries, are absorbed more easily by your body. The problem with sugary foods and fruit to a certain extent and all sugary drinks etc.is that you can too easily exceed what your body needs.

But with no need to chew or break down the sugar it is absorbed so fast that your body doesn’t know how many calories it has consumed. That makes it easy to consume too many calories and when you exceed your energy needs on a regular basis you will put on weight. The difficulty you face each day is to refuse to be tempted by the many forms of advertising telling you to eat sugary products. It has become a habit.

So getting back to energy balance. With the help of insulin which is released from your pancreas the glucose is absorbed into your bloodstream and used by your body’s cells as energy. To maintain a regular balance of glucose in the body it is recommended that you eat every 3 to 5 hours. Eating protein, fat, and fibre slow the digestion of carbohydrate which then turns into glucose /basic sugars which is the fuel your body needs to function. This helps your blood sugar stay at a normal rate.

With regards to tiredness, we need to work on the above plus the following:

1. Ideally most of us need 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. less than that and the body starts to complain.
2. Are you a morning person or an evening person? so if you are a night owl then trying to get to bed early just won’t work for you. However, you still need to get enough sleep. So work it out.
3. When your alarm goes off in the morning don’t hit the snooze button as what you are doing is telling your body to start another sleep cycle and when you do eventually get up you may be groggy and irritable.
4. The first thing to do when you wake up is some exercise for 5 to 6 minutes. This helps hugely to get natural energy going and gets you alert.
5. Get outside in natural sunlight for a few minutes in the morning.and turn down the light prior to sleeping.
6. First thing in the morning is get some fluid into your body. drink some water.
7. Caffeine? yes it gets us awake ,but if you have a cup of coffee at 6pm by midnight there is still 50% of it still in  your body. And this will affect your ability to sleep.
8. Personally I have cut out most of the sugary foods in my diet and my sleep has majorly improved as a result. Do what feels right for you but don’t eat close to bedtime.
9. Come to Get Back Health Chiropractic and Wellness Clinic this week and get your spine and nervous system realigned so your body can regulate itself and you will sleep better as a result.

Yours in health,
John Keane