Are you tired of being tired? Clearly, living joyfully is impossible when you’re dragging. But how do you find more energy?
Kill off all energy vampires!
Since vampires love the dark, let’s shine a light on the predators.
Your “Energy Envelope”
Each of us starts our day operating within an “energy envelope,” a term researchers use to describe the body’s finite available energy. They’ve found that individuals who spend no more energy than they have available enjoy better health and a better quality of life.
In contrast, individuals who regularly overspend their energy supply end up with medical issues, including ongoing fatigue.
The Size of Our Envelope
The size of our energy envelope is determined in part by heredity. But researchers suggest that heredity is only a minor factor.
Since that’s the case, we may be tempted to blame a lack of energy on the fact that we have grown older. For sure, our bodies change over time at the cellular level through damage or a decrease in efficiency. And hormonal changes affect our bodies’ systems and responses as well.
Once again, however, researchers tell us that being older accounts for very little of our energy loss and that maintaining an active lifestyle as we age is normal.
Four Major Energy Vampires
What could be causing our energy envelope to shrink? Here are some possibilities:
- Medical issues, from acute liver failure to the Zika virus, trigger tiredness. COVID-19 long-haulers have reported struggling with bone-crushing fatigue.
Medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, pain drugs, and heart drugs, can make us feel tired. In addition, many other drugs, whether prescription or over-the-counter, including antihistamines, slow us down.
- Lifestyle choices can reduce energy. Eating mostly processed foods, drinking sodas and energy drinks, consuming excessive amounts of sugar, and neglecting vegetables and fruits are examples. Being dehydrated, not exercising regularly (or exercising too much), consuming alcohol (even a glass of wine with dinner), getting inadequate sleep, or consuming too much caffeine can also drain us.
- Certain mindsets can deplete our energy, particularly if we are depressed, habitually worried, or chronically angry and harboring grudges. Likewise, so can social isolation, perfectionism, an inability to say no to all requests, a messy workspace, and a negative outlook. Plus, excessive stress consumes enormous energy.
- Interactions with others can lift our spirits, but some people drain us. Their negativity, anger, or verbal aggression is exhausting. And if you’re an introvert like me, too much socializing is tiring.
What We Can’t and Can Control
While we can’t ignore our medical conditions or the medications we may need to take and their negative impact on energy, we can audit our lifestyle choices, our mindset, and our relationships to see if they are depleting us. Once we are aware of our personal energy vampires, we can take steps to expand our energy envelope by making different choices.
The good news is that making energy-enhancing choices isn’t as much about self-control or willpower as it is about having the imagination to envision living with less fatigue and, at the same time, foreseeing the consequences if we continue to make poor choices.
Every morning, I read this profile of my imaginary person. I also read it again once or twice during the day to remind me of the choices she makes.
So far, the changes I’ve made are not 100 percent consistent with the blueprint. Still, the description I wrote is definitely helping. I’m curious about the long-term impact of this experiment.
If you’ve recently suffered from unusual fatigue, I urge you to see your doctor. But if you simply want to increase your energy by adopting healthier habits, then you might want to try this approach.
Killing energy vampires is not only legal; it’s a medically approved exercise.
All images from Canva