How to Banish Afternoon Fatigue
September 13, 2013
Story at-a-glance
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Afternoon fatigue is a common complaint. One of the most common
causes is post-lunch hypoglycemia, which is related to your
inability to effectively burn fat
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By switching your body over from primarily burning carbs to
primarily burning fats for fuel or becoming “fat adapted,” you
virtually eliminate such drops in energy levels
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Besides replacing carbs with healthful fats, intermittent
fasting is one of the most effective ways to encourage your body
to change from burning carbs to burning fat, thereby boosting
your mental and physical stamina
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Working out in the middle of the day can give you an energy
boost lasting three to four hours. If you prefer exercising in
the evenings, it's best to avoid working out two to three hours
before bedtime to avoid sleep disruption
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If you’re not sleeping well, it will be next to impossible to
avoid lagging energy levels. According to recent research,
maintaining a regular exercise program can help improve your
sleep over time
By Dr. Mercola
Many people experience a slump in energy levels by the
time the afternoon rolls around. A number of factors may
contribute to this phenomenon. The most common cause is
post-lunch hypoglycemia, which is related to your inability
to burn fat.
Hence, addressing your diet is key if afternoon fatigue
is something you contend with on a regular basis. Besides
alterations in your diet, intermittent fasting is one of the
most effective ways to switch your body from burning carbs
to burning fat, thereby boosting your mental and physical
stamina.
Other factors are related to when and how much you
exercise. Poor sleep also plays a role, of course, and
recent research highlights the interconnectedness between
sleep and exercise.
Diet Is Key for Maintaining Your Energy Levels
There are two fuels your body can use, sugar and fat. The
sad reality is that our ancestors were adapted to using fat
as their primary fuel and over 99 percent of us are now
adapted to using sugar or glucose as our number one fuel
source.
Because most are primarily burning carbs as fuel,
afternoon fatigue is typically related to post-lunch
hypoglycemia. By switching your body from using carbs as its
primary fuel to burning fats instead, or becoming “fat
adapted,” you virtually eliminate such drops in energy
levels. Overall, being adapted to burning fat instead of
carbs has a number of benefits, including:
- Having plenty of accessible energy on hand,
as you effectively burn stored fat for energy throughout
the day. One way to tell if you’re fat adapted
or not is to take note of how you feel when you skip a
meal. If you can skip meals without getting ravenous and
cranky (or craving carbs), you’re likely fat-adapted.
- Improved insulin and leptin sensitivity
and decreased risk of virtually every known
chronic degenerative disease.
- Effectively burn dietary fat for your energy,
which leads to less dietary fat being stored in your
adipose tissue—hence the weight loss benefits associated
with fat adaptation.
- Being able to rely more on fat for energy
during exertion, sparing glycogen for when you
really need it. This can improve athletic performance,
and helps burn more body fat. As explained by
Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint,
if you can handle exercising without having to
carb-load, you’re probably fat-adapted. If you can work
out effectively in a fasted state, you’re definitely
fat-adapted.
First, Replace Carbs with Healthful Fats
Keep in mind that when we're talking about harmful carbs,
we're only referring to grains and sugars, NOT
vegetable carbs. You need very little if any of the former,
and plenty of the latter. In fact, when you cut out sugar
and grains, you need to radically increase the amount of
vegetables you eat since, by volume, the grains you need to
trade out are denser than vegetables. You also need to
dramatically increase healthful fats, which include:
Olives and
olive oil (for cold dishes) |
Coconuts, and
coconut oil (for all types of cooking and
baking) |
Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk |
Raw nuts, such as almonds or pecans |
Organic pastured egg yolks |
Avocados |
Pasture-finished meats |
Palm oil |
Unheated organic nut oils |
Avoid highly processed and genetically engineered omega-6
oils like corn, canola and soy as they will upset your omega
6/3 ratio. Trans fats should also be avoided, but contrary
to popular advice, saturated fats are a key component of a
healthy diet. A reasonable goal will be to have as much as
50-70 percent of daily calories from healthy fat,
which will radically reduce your carbohydrate intake.
Fat is far more satiating than carbs, so if you have cut
down on carbs and still feel ravenous, it’s a sign that you
have not replaced them with sufficient amounts of healthy
fat. Most people will likely notice massive improvement in
their health and overall energy levels by following this
approach. To help you get started on the right track, review
my
Nutritional Plan, which guides you through these dietary
changes one step at a time.
How Intermittent Fasting Can Help
Once you’ve addressed your diet, you can try intermittent
fasting. This will effectively help shift your body from
carb- to fat-burning mode. Please do not embark on a fasting
regimen if you’re still subsisting primarily on processed
foods and fast food meals, however. Since it involves
skipping meals, making sure you’re getting high quality
nutrients with each meal you do eat becomes all the more
critical.
Intermittent fasting involves timing your meals to allow
for regular periods of fasting. It takes about six to eight
hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores and
after that you start to shift to burning fat. If you keep
replenishing your glycogen by eating every eight hours (or
sooner), you make it far more difficult for your body to use
your fat stores as fuel. Remember, your ancient ancestors
never had access to a 24/7 supply of food like virtually all
of us do with modern supermarkets. By necessity they
regularly engaged in periods of fasting as they had no
choice.
While there are several different
intermittent fasting regimens, one of the easiest to
implement simply involves restricting your daily eating to a
narrower window of time, say 6-8 hours, instead of grazing
all day long. This equates to 16-18 hours’ worth of fasting
each and every day—enough to get your body to shift into
fat-burning mode. Once you have made the shift to burning
fat as your primary fuel, you will be shocked at how your
cravings for sugar and junk food virtually disappear.
As a precautionary note, if you're hypoglycemic,
diabetic, have adrenal fatigue or pregnant (and/or
breastfeeding), you are better off avoiding any type of
fasting or timed meal schedule until you've normalized your
blood glucose and insulin levels, or weaned your baby. Other
categories of people that would be best served to avoid
fasting include those living with chronic stress and those
with cortisol dysregulation.
Intermittent fasting also works synergistically with
high-intensity
interval training (HIIT), which is a foundational part
of my
comprehensive exercise recommendations. The combination
of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular
factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which
force the breakdown of both fat and glycogen for energy.
Fighting Fatigue with Exercise
The issue of afternoon fatigue was recently covered in a
Wall Street Journal1
article, which placed the focus on exercise. Personally, I
believe that altering your diet and implementing
intermittent fasting will have a far greater impact than
making alterations to your exercise schedule alone. But,
that said, some of the advice given may be helpful in
conjunction with your dietary changes. As reported in the
featured article:
“Researchers and fitness trainers say whether you
exercise in the morning, afternoon or evening, small
changes in your routine can keep you from suffering
midday blahs.
Midday is the ideal time to exercise, some
fitness experts say. A workout then can give you an
energy boost lasting three to four hours... If you
prefer working out in the evenings, it's best to avoid
exercising two to three hours before bedtime to avoid
sleep disruption... On the other hand, if you are a
morning exerciser and not getting seven to nine hours of
sleep, Lona Sandon, a Dallas fitness instructor and
assistant clinical nutrition professor at the University
of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, suggests getting
to bed earlier or exercising in the evening.
To avoid midday fatigue and preserve energy
throughout the day, most trainers recommend doing more
moderate workouts, meaning those in which you hit 70% to
80% of your target heart rate. "Listen to what your body
is telling you," says Ms. Sandon. "If you have a
high-stress work environment then vigorous workouts may
not make you feel better. You might be better off with
restorative yoga so your brain can slow down." An ideal
schedule would be two to three high-intensity workouts
during the week, mixed in with lighter workouts like
yoga, walking or weight training, say fitness experts.”
The Importance of Non-Exercise Movement During Your Workday
Sitting for prolonged periods of time can also be a
source of fatigue. Besides that, compelling research shows
that
prolonged sitting in and of itself is a major
contributing factor to chronic disease and reduced lifespan—even
if you exercise regularly.
To counteract the adverse health effects of sitting,
which go far beyond mere fatigue, make it a point to stand
up every 10 minutes or so. As explained by
Dr. Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA’s Life
Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving
Heals, the reason for these ill effects are due to the
fact that when you sit, you’re not interacting with gravity.
Based on her groundbreaking research, we now know that
the key is in how many times you interact with gravity, such
as standing up from your seated position, in any given day.
The act of standing up makes your body interact with the
forces of gravity, which is what produces beneficial health
effects. Interestingly, the lipoprotein lipase is
dramatically reduced during inactivity, and increases with
activity, the most effective activity being standing up
from a seated position. Lipoprotein lipase is an enzyme that
attaches to fat in your bloodstream and transports it into
your muscles to be used as fuel. So essentially, simply by
standing up, you are also actively helping your body to burn
fat for fuel.
After reading Dr. Vernikos's book, Sitting Kills,
Moving Heals, and interviewing her, I was inspired to
give some serious attention to this because even though I
perform a lot of structured exercise, including high
intensity interval training, I too was guilty of sitting
down a vast majority of the rest of the day.
I simply set a timer on my computer to go off every 10
minutes, at which point I rise from my chair and do four
jump squats. As explained by Dr. Vernikos, squatting is an
extension of standing. If you
squat and stand, you can get the maximum benefit of
working against the force of gravity. Moving every 10
minutes or so will also get your blood pumping to oxygenate
your cells, which will also combat fatigue. I mix it up
though and try to do six to eight different moves every 10
minutes. The ones I currently use are one legged squats, two
legged squats, lunges, jump squats, hamstring stretches and
pectoral doorway stretches.
An Obvious Culprit: Poor Sleep...
Not to be ignored of course is sleep. If you’re
not sleeping well, it will be next to impossible to avoid
lagging energy levels. According to recent research,
maintaining a regular exercise program can help improve your
sleep over time2.
It can also boost your cognitive performance, as evidenced
by a number of studies3.
In one recent study evaluating the effect of exercise on
sleep,4
volunteers with sleep complaints took two-hour forest-walks
to assess how it affected their sleep patterns. According to
the authors:
“Two hours of forest walking improved sleep
characteristics; impacting actual sleep time, immobile
minutes, self-rated depth of sleep, and sleep quality...
Furthermore, extension of sleep duration was greater
after an afternoon walk compared to a forenoon walk.”
In another study5,
the results suggested that improved sleep had a beneficial
influence on exercise performance the next day, rather than
the exercise influencing sleep. Over time, however, exercise
will tend to improve your sleep patterns, even if you’re
struggling with more serious sleep problems. As reported by
Yahoo News6:
“While prior research has shown that for most
people, exercising can improve sleep, for insomniacs the
relationship may be a bit more convoluted, the new
evidence suggests. The rationale? Head researcher Baron
told the New York Times that people with insomnia tend
to be 'neurologically different' and have a
'hyper-arousal of the stress system.' Breaking a sweat
in the gym one day isn't likely to override the system,
she said, and could even exacerbate it.
Still, if you struggle with insomnia and
currently don't exercise, Baron said that it's advisable
to start -- but don't expect miracles. The process could
take months, which can be frustrating for someone
suffering from sleep deprivation. 'If you have insomnia
you won't exercise yourself into sleep right away,' she
said in a press release. 'It's a long-term relationship.
You have to keep at it and not get discouraged.'"
Some Sleep Basics
That said, it seems clear that you can help set up a
positive feedback loop where both your sleep and exercise
benefits. Two key points to remember if you’re having
difficulty sleeping include the following. For more tips,
please see my article
33 Steps to a Good Night’s Sleep.
- Create a sleep sanctuary. This
means removing items associated with entertainment,
recreation, work and hobbies, and turning your bedroom
into a single-purpose space—one for sleeping. Of utmost
importance: Make sure your bedroom is cool,
dark and quiet. These three factors can
have a major impact on your sleep. In regards to
temperature, studies show that the optimal
room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60
to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, so keep the
temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees.
As for light, even the tiniest bit of light
in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your
pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin,
hormones involved in your body’s circadian rhythm of
sleep and wakefulness. So close your bedroom door, get
rid of night-lights, and most importantly, cover your
windows. I recommend using blackout shades or heavy,
opaque drapes. Also cover up your clock if it has a lit
display. Alternatively, you could wear an eye mask to
block out any stray light.
- Turn off your gadgets well before bedtime.
Again, the artificial glow from your TV, iPad, computer
or smartphone can serve as a stimulus for keeping you
awake well past your bedtime by disrupting melatonin
production. I recommend turning off all electronic
gadgets at least one hour before bed. As Rothstein
suggests, that time is far better spent reading a good
old fashioned book, practicing relaxation techniques or
meditating.
Banish Afternoon Fatigue with Appropriate Diet and Lifestyle
Changes
So remember, if you’re frequently battling with afternoon
fatigue, check your lunch selections, first of all. More
often than not, you’ll find that the more carb-heavy your
lunch, the more apt you are to feel tired an hour or two
later. To remedy the situation, focus on shifting your diet
from carbs to healthful fats. Once your diet has been
addressed, implementing intermittent fasting is an effective
strategy for really shifting your body into
fat-burning mode.
Just remember that proper nutrition becomes even MORE
important when fasting, so I believe that
addressing your diet is your first step. Always listen
to your body, and go slowly ; work your way up to 16-18 hour
fasts if your normal schedule has included multiple meals a
day. Also be sure to address any hypoglycemic tendencies,
such as headaches, weakness, tremors or irritability, as it
can get increasingly dangerous the longer you go without
eating to level out your blood sugar.
Once you’re fat adapted, your energy levels will remain
fairly stable throughout the entire day, and you hunger
cravings will virtually disappear. Exercise and sleep are
also important factors, so experiment with your workout
schedule to see what works best for you. Again, proper sleep
can boost your exercise performance, and exercise in turn
can help improve your sleep, forming a positive feedback
loop.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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