You're Not Lazy. You're Exhausted. Here's Why.

1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

   Here are three things that I commonly see that I often find people are not thinking about. Okay, the first thing is what I call misalignment. If you are spending your life doing things that don't light you up on the inside, you may experience tiredness as a consequence. Sometimes exhaustion is not laziness or lack of discipline or poor fitness. Sometimes it's unresolved stress, people pleasing, a lack of meaning, loneliness, resentment. All of those things can also result in tiredness. I think a lot of the time we think about tiredness as only physical, but it can also be emotional. Just imagine that you're in your house, it's the evening, and you're knackered, right? You've really stressed, uh, you've had a busy day, and let's say a close friend of yours who you haven't seen in months or years suddenly knocks on the front door and comes in. Just imagine. Are you still tired? I think a lot of us would go, "Yeah, we were feeling tired," but suddenly when we see one of our best mates, our energy, the feeling we have inside us is completely different. Our whole being has changed because someone who means a lot to us has just turned up. That just shows us how quickly energy can shift and how important alignment is. Now, I get it. Sometimes we have to do things in our life that aren't aligned with who we wanna be or who we actually are. I totally understand that. Some people are in a job that they don't enjoy, right? But the consequence is that they feel tired a lot of the time. You see, a lot of people don't realize that burnout, yes, it's on the rise, but burnout is not just a consequence of you having too many things to do at work and an unsympathetic boss. Those, of course, can be very good reasons for burnout. But I've also seen a lot of cases of burnout where people are doing the wrong things. They're in a job that doesn't light them up, that sometimes asks them to act completely differently from the person who they know themselves to be. So there are many reasons why we might feel tired, but this misalignment is a very common cause, and again, it's a cause that people often don't think about. So if you think this might be you, I want you to try and ask yourself a few questions like, "What in life gives me energy? Who in my life gives me energy? What consistently drains my energy? Who in my life consistently drains my energy?" Where are you abandoning your own needs? Where are you not able to say no? Now, of course, I don't know the answer to those questions for you. I think sometimes these days we're too quick to want answers from other people. But the only way you're gonna actually tackle this is by figuring this out for yourself. So ask yourself those questions, maybe in a morning journaling practice or once a week on a Sunday if that's a day off for you. And the more you ask yourself those questions, the more you're likely to start identifying, "Oh, this is what's going on here. I'm not saying no here. I keep putting other people's needs ahead of mine." Well, of course, no wonder you're exhausted. And once you've asked yourself those questions and identified what's going on, then you can take small steps to change it. The second thing I wanna talk about when it comes to exhaustion is sleep. Now, you might be thinking, "Yeah, Rangan, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? If I don't sleep enough, I'm gonna feel tired." Okay, I accept that, but I'm not just talking about the quantity of your sleep, I'm also talking about the quality of your sleep, and this is really important. The amount of patients I've seen over the years who came in knackered saying, "Dr. Chatterjee, I regularly sleep seven or seven and a half hours of sleep every night, but I still wake up tired." I think it's really important for me to emphasize that there are many different reasons why people can feel exhausted, right? And persistent exhaustion probably means that you need to see or would benefit from seeing a healthcare professional because of course it could be very simple things like iron deficiency, or it could be things like sleep apnea or thyroid issues or depression or anxiety or even burnout. All of these things can also result in exhaustion and fatigue. Let's assume, though, for the purpose of this video, that it's none of those things. When it comes to sleep, I've often found that people aren't thinking about the quality of their sleep, okay? They're just looking at how long they slept for. But you can sleep for seven hours and have really good quality restful sleep, or you can also sleep for seven hours and have it very superficial and light. So there are two things here that I found can really help people when the quality of their sleep is not as good as they might want, which of course will lead them to be tired. The first thing is what are you doing in that one hour before bed? Okay, it's really, really important. You essentially want to send your body signals that the workday is over, the time for doing things is over. Now it's relaxing time. You want softer, enjoyable, relaxing inputs. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors, they do their hunting and their work in the day. They'd go out for the hunt, dig the tubers, do what is required around the camp and the tribe in the day. Nighttime was about lighting the campfire, sitting around telling stories, you know, sharing stories, connecting with the people around them. So what are you doing in that one hour before bed?I'm not asking you to necessarily light a campfire, although a candle perhaps could be a nice thing to change the ambiance at home. But what are you doing? Are you watching the stressful news? Are you busy doing work emails? Okay? You have to understand that if you are, you may still be falling asleep, but it is not restful sleep because your stress hormones may be staying elevated. Okay? So think about music, yoga. If you are gonna watch television, watch something relaxing. Yes, I would say if you can avoid screens for an hour or so before bed, I think it's helpful. If you are on your screen or using your phone, think about what you're consuming. Could it be a relaxing podcast, some relaxing music, you know, an audiobook where the narrator's voice is a voice that you find relaxing? Okay? It's basically about those inputs that you give your brain in the one hour before bed. They could have a profound impact on the quality of your sleep, okay? So that's the first thing I want you to think about when it comes to sleep quality. The second thing is movement. Have you moved your body enough in the day? And the truth is, these days many of us haven't. Now look, I could make the case to you that physical activity is really good for your body, your brain, your creativity. Yes, all those things are true. But specifically when it comes to exhaustion, most people who are exhausted are not exhausted because they've moved too much in the day. It's because they've not moved enough, okay? Our bodies are designed to move. When you move, you actually process stress and emotions. And if you've been stuck at a computer all day, sat in a car, stuck in an office, sat down for your lunch, driven home in the evening, sat on your sofa, you have to understand that your body, your biology has expected movement. And yes, you may still fall asleep, but because you've not processed the stress that was built up in the day or the emotions through movement, you may find that the quality of your sleep wasn't what you wanted it to be. If you're tired of feeling tired, I've put together a free guide to help you reset your energy. Three things I see most often that quietly drain people's energy and what you can actually do about it. You can get the guide free when you join the early access for my upcoming 21-Day Energy Reset, which kicks off on July the 1st. It's a simple challenge built around my four pillars of health, 21 days, one small action a day, and a community doing it alongside you. There's absolutely no obligation to sign up when the doors open. The guide is yours either way. Just scan the QR code on screen or tap the first link in the description box below. Small changes that will make a huge difference to your energy. A 30-minute walk at lunch if you're able to. Even a 10-minute walk after your evening meal if you can, just to wind down and process the meal and your emotions can be really, really helpful. Now the third thing I find people are not thinking about enough when it comes to exhaustion is what foods are they consuming. Now I'm specifically talking about foods that are going to balance your blood sugar. So here's the thing. Of course, many of us now know that generally for our short-term health and long-term health, it's better to minimize or reduce ultra-processed foods, okay? That is true because ultra-processed foods tend to lead to blood sugar spikes and therefore blood sugar crashes. And when your blood sugar crashes, you can feel tired and low energy. And you do that persistently day after day, you can get caught in a vicious cycle where you're constantly chasing yourself. You're eating more ultra-processed food snacks because you had an energy drop. You're consuming more caffeine to get you through, and that all means that you're not gonna even sleep well the following night, and you're just stuck in a vicious cycle. So yes, try and reduce your intake of ultra-processed foods, no question. But even if you've done that and you're eating mostly whole foods, I've also seen something that causes a problem. Too many carbohydrates. Now I'm not here to bash carbohydrates, okay? I think the diet we all thrive on depends on the state of our health and what our goals are. The reality is, is in the modern world, many of us are insulin resistant, okay? Maybe as kids we were insulin sensitive, so we could have a big carb load and we can handle it. Our blood sugar still stays relatively stable 'cause the insulin shuttles the glucose out of our bloodstream, and it allows it to stay stable. But unfortunately, because of the lives many of us now lead, the wrong food choices, not moving enough, too much stress, not sleeping enough, we become insulin resistant. And insulin resistance is actually at the heart of many conditions we struggle with these days because it leads to metabolic dysfunction, which can lead to things like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer's. That's all in the long term, and those things are really important. But in the short term, if you're low in energy, you may not realize that sometimes even whole food carbohydrates can lead to big blood sugar spikes. I personally am a fan of something called a CGM. In fact, I think... Yes, I've got one on at the moment. That's a CGM, okay? A continuous glucose monitor. I don't think people need to wear them all the time.I, you know, I think some people who get health anxiety may need to be careful with stuff like this, but for me personally, it's helped me understand which foods are spiking my blood sugar and which foods are keeping it more stable. And for me, I found that sweet potato wedges in the evening, certainly the volume I used to consume was giving me a big high, and therefore about two hours later I was getting a big crash, which would make me feel tired and hungry again. The point I'm trying to make here is if you're feeling exhausted, it might be to do with blood sugar roller coasters. And the kinds of things you can do to try and keep your blood sugar more stable is to try and prioritize protein at each meal, try and prioritize healthy fats like avocados and nuts, things like that. But also just pay attention. You know, if you don't have one of these CGMs, just pay attention. What happens two hours after your lunch? What happens two hours after your dinner? Could this be a blood sugar issue? So those are three things that I have commonly seen make people really, really tired and exhausted. Perhaps some of them are relevant for you. Give them a go, and of course I want to reiterate what I said earlier on, which is that there are many different causes for exhaustion. It is impossible for me to know the ins and outs of your life and tell you exactly what's causing it for you, but if it has been going on for a prolonged period of time, it's probably worth going to see a healthcare professional and checking if there's something that needs addressing. If you found those tips useful, I think you are really going to enjoy this video all about burnout, what causes it, and what you can do about it. One of the worst things in life is when you've got no energy. Every day feels like you're on a treadmill. I've been a medical doctor now for over 21 years, and this is one of the commonest complaints I see

Episode duration: 14:13