This week’s Thrive In Five is about waking up tired

If you wake up tired here’s our top 3 tips on how to start the day in the best way to manage your energy and energise yourself.

There’s been a couple of times in the last month or so when I’ve woken up and felt tired and I may have a busy schedule with client presentations on that day, where I need to be on top of my game and energised.

So what have I done to get myself going? I’ve got three approaches to this:

First thing a cold shower

I would do is get up and have a cold shower. If I’ve woken up, and I’m feeling tired, I’m absolutely going to have that cold shower because it really wakes you up. It gets certain hormones going that make you feel alert and up for it. I always lose people with the cold shower, even though I guarantee it’s benefits, however if you’re not ready to have a cold shower, just splash your face with cold water, because it will have a similar benefit.

The second thing what I eat

I’ll think about very carefully is what I have to eat. Both in terms of breaking my fast, my breakfast, but also what I’ll have throughout the day when I’m feeling under energised. The last thing I want is to have something that raises my blood sugars. I’m going to want to have something that slowly releases energy.

I’ll definitely be avoiding sugars. I’ll definitely be avoiding refined carbohydrates on days where I wake up tired.

The third thing is movement

I’ll be making a real effort to move and yes, I could do a little bit of HIIT exercise, but what I mean in this instance by movement is for example to stand instead of sitting, try and stay mobile and stay active. This really is a key point because the more sedentary you are, when you’re tired and low in energy, the more it’s going to be difficult to get going and to get energised. I recently wrote an article about movement snacking where you can get ideas on how to get more movement into your day.

So it’s cold water to start with, whether it’s cold water on the face, washing or shower. It’s being really careful about what you eat and making sure that it’s slow release energy, not something that’s going to really spike your blood sugar. Then the last point would be around movement. So that’s what I do anytime I’m waking up tired or I wake up not feeling optimal, but I know I’ve got to go out there and perform. So that’s it for me. If you’ve got questions or feedback as always let me know, Leanne@bodyshotperformance.com and otherwise stay healthy.