ТTop 7 habits that drain your energy

Author: Mikhail Ziborov - author of the site makefitness.pro.
2022-03-17

We are made up of habits. Our life is a set of habits. Why is it often uncomfortable for a person to do something new? Because they are not used to it. A daily routine allows us to perform many tasks automatically. Unfortunately, many of the things we are accustomed to can do us more harm than good, draining our energy without us even realizing it.

Below, we will discuss only the habits that drain energy. In our Telegram channel, we talk about physical and mental health and take a comprehensive approach to a person's well-being. For example, how to train at 40 or 50+; what you can and shouldn't do; how to achieve results faster or more easily, etc.

So, here are the habits that steal energy.

1. Overeating at lunch. This refers to instances when people eat until they are stuffed. Why is this bad? Because after a heavy lunch, according to Archimedes' law, one really wants to sleep. There is nothing wrong with a daytime nap; on the contrary (here's an article on the benefits of napping). While the optimal nap duration is 20-30 minutes, after a meal, people feel like sleeping for an average of 1.5 hours.

It is precisely because we have overeaten that we feel sleepy (we lose energy) and waste time (on that very sleep). It seems that food provides energy, and we should feel more energized. But no, it’s quite the opposite (due to a large outflow of blood from the brain to the digestive tract, and all that).

By the way. I recently came across an army ration pack. Everything was divided into breakfast, lunch, and dinner: each in separate packets, labeled, with a written composition and caloric content. Guess which meal was the largest (both in calories and food quantity).

For those who do not feel drowsy during lunchtime, that’s great. But many of us do feel sleepy after that meal. And can everyone afford to take a nap during the day? I don't think so. Solution: Move some of the food to the evening (don’t worry, you won’t gain weight, as it doesn’t matter what time of day food is eaten). The distribution of foods throughout the day is included in our nutrition program.

2. Skimping on sleep. Here it’s simple: if you wake up and don't feel a surge of strength (you just want to do something, tackle tasks, you feel like you could burst out of bed), then you are probably not getting enough sleep. A sleepy person is a sluggish person. By skimping on just one hour of sleep, you rob yourself of an entire day of productive work.

Many people fall into the opposite extreme: they sleep more than necessary. You know that feeling when you've slept for almost 10 hours but wake up feeling tired and unrested? That's it. Solution: save time on something else (watching a movie at night, leisure walks, etc.), but not on sleep. Sleep is fundamentally your health, and for those who train, it is also progress.

3. Being dependent on coffee. This goes for those who drink 5-7 cups a day. Coffee (caffeine) is a great stimulant that works for about an hour. But if you constantly stimulate your nervous system, the state of heightened CNS excitability is perceived by the body as the norm. However, the state of being without coffee, without regular stimulation, is perceived by the body as a decline in energy. In reality, that’s just the normal state of your body.

And no one has canceled the coffee addiction. There will come a time when 5-7 cups will no longer invigorate you as before. You'll have to drink more to feel the same surge of energy. And that’s the development of dependency.

In short, coffee is good at certain times when it is genuinely necessary, but not on a regular basis.

You might find a list of 5 supplements for energy and vitality useful.

4. Skipping meals. That is, not eating anything at all. The loss of energy due to this is linked to glucose: when food doesn’t come in, new glucose doesn’t enter the cells, doesn’t nourish them, and the body goes into a state of hunger, slowing metabolism. During the next meal, the food is digested less intensively than before, leading to feelings of fatigue, weakness, and mood swings.

In short, if a meal is about to be skipped, at least make sure to have a small snack (a banana, an apple, a protein bar, or something similar). This is much better than having no food at all.

5. Not drinking enough water. A trivial point, but one that many people overlook. Simply put: dehydration leads to fatigue. However, dehydration can vary in intensity. It is very easy to determine the stage of dehydration your body is in: the lighter your urine, the more fluid you have in your system; the brighter or darker it is (from bright yellow to orange), the more your body needs water.

Believe me, you need water even during sedentary and low-intensity work (to cool the body, maintain blood viscosity, etc.). And the principle of “drinking only when you feel thirsty” is not entirely accurate: you can get used to a constant lack of water in your body, which will be perceived as the norm. You don't feel thirsty (you are accustomed to this state), but in fact, your body is deprived of water.

Here is some material on how water helps with weight loss.

6. Training intensely. This refers to constant training where you push yourself to the maximum (to exhaustion or close to it). Firstly, a good training plan implies periodization (this workout is more intense, the next one is less intense, and the one after that is of medium intensity, for example).

Secondly, constant workouts to the point of exhaustion require more recovery time. For instance, you sleep for 8 hours (which seems to be the norm, so you think everything is okay). But in reality, due to the constant heavy training, you might need around 9 hours of sleep for proper recovery. This means that you are systematically under-recovered.

7. Slouching. A hunched back not only leads to poor circulation, but also increases the frequency of headaches, raises the risk of developing arthritis, decreases sexual activity, and, of course, results in a loss of energy. Energy is drained because ligaments, joints, and muscles are subjected to unusual loads over a prolonged period. Energy is wasted on unnecessary strain on the musculoskeletal system. Additionally, energy is expended on recovering those very muscles, ligaments, and joints.

Which of the described habits coincides with your own? Please share briefly in the comments. I am very interested in the statistics!

In general, the habits mentioned above are bad habits. This can be considered the second part about bad habits. The first part is “Bad morning habits that harm you”. In contrast, here's material on good habits that make you stronger and healthier.