Wake Up!

This-really-works Strategies To Shake Off That Tired Feeling For Good

- Sara Gaynes Levy

AH, THE VICIOUS CYCLE of feeling low on energy: You don’t sleep enough, so you wake up crabby and fatigued, with no desire to eat well or exercise. By 4 p.m., you’re so sapped that you can barely function. “All these elements are totally intertwined” when it comes to energy, says Josiane Broussard, PhD, an assistant professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “You’re less likely to power through your tiredness to go to the gym and make better food choices and then get better sleep.” So before you know it, the whole cycle starts again.

It’s happened to nearly all of us, and it is not fun. But it is fixable—you just have to know where to start. The best way to feel powered up and alert all day long, experts say, is to use the three building blocks of energy: Start by focusing on your sleep, then examine your food choices, and finally work on including some exercise in your day. You’ll be bounding through the afternoon in no time.

First, We Sleep