any suggestions for combating late day fatigue?
ok, i work a full-time job from 7:15 to 4:15. Even though I sit at a desk all day, I am exhausted by the time I get home and it is very difficult to force myself to work out. Any suggestions? Are there any dietary tricks or anything else that can combat late day fatigue without keeping me up all night?
So people can nap but I for one can't but if you can cat nap, you might want to do that.
Food wise, some foods will give you energy for the last legs of the day. Healthy fats should help or if you can (and if your not already) instead of 3 meals try 6 mini meals a day.
Do you work out at home or at a gym? If you work out at home, I'd put your DVD in immediately when you get home, change into your clothes and just bang it out before anything else happens. Once you get home and sit on the couch for a while, it's so much harder to get the energy back.
If you work out at a gym, I'd suggest keeping your gym bag in your car and going straight from work, no pit stops at home.
Do you have a designated lunch hour? Go for a walk, even if all you can do is a lap around the building or parking lot. Make sure you're eating a healthy breakfast and lunch, and make sure you're both sleeping enough and sleeping well at night. I tend to get dozy in the afternoons but it's a lot less of a problem if I move around a little bit and start the day [reasonably] well-rested. (You may not think you're tired when you get up in the morning, but you'll run out of steam faster if you haven't actually gotten enough sleep.)
Partly I think it's habit. If you work out right after work you get an energy boast. I like to have a snack and a cup of tea late afternoon to fuel my workout. My sleep is not effected.
There are a couple of options -
you could work out in the morning
you could drink a cup of coffee at like 3pm
you should make sure you are eating enough throughout the day
you could try to get extra sleep
you could "trick" yourself into going to the gym. If I'm tired before I go to the gym I tell myself I'm just going to do a light work out or I'm going to go to the gym but I am free to leave if I still feel really tired once I get there. Whenever I tell myself this I never give up - once I get to the gym I perk up.
And I agree with trh - some of it is just getting in the habit. I typically work out after work and my body has become so used to it that on the weekends my body will typically fight working out until evening time.
I usually have practice around that time and I have class starting from around that time.
I usually eat small snacks through out the day (I can't get used to a big meal, that tends to make me tired)
I don't suggest coffee at 3pm, it may disrupt your sleep patterns as your body will naturally start to wind down before bed. I'd stick with tea.
Or you could wake up early and workout...I usually do that when the weather starts to get nicer and the days longer, plus you welcome the day to a beautiful sunrise
I agree, I do the same, in the first 30 mins after I get home I start my workout, because if don't, I will probably not do it at all. For me watching an episode of The Biggest Looser helps motivate me!
I'm a teacher, which can be a incredibly exhausting job, so I found that it was really hard for me to work out in the evenings when I got home from work. All I wanted to do was rest, but I would feel so guilty for not doing the exercise part of my new lifestyle. One day I got fed up and decided I was going to try working out in the mornings. I have NEVER been a morning person--I would even say I was an anti-morning person, but waking up to exercise-I've found that I LOVE IT! I really enjoy getting up to do something for myself, rather than starting the day with work on the brain, I usually have more energy throughout the day, and I have way more energy for my workouts themselves! I highly encourage you to try it.
For some people, afternoon fatigue comes from dehydration and hunger. People generally will drink coffee or other fluids in the morning, but after lunch, don't drink anything. It's common to feel droopy starting around 3:00. If you can, try drinking water after lunch, and a piece of fruit or some veggies around mid afternoon.
I work 8:00-5:00 and I used to suffer the same thing. What I've started doing is around 3:30 I usually drink some green tea, I would say between 8-12 ounces. at 4:30 I sometimes eat almonds ( I bought them raw and dry roasted them in my oven) and when I leave at 5:00 I eat an apple. it takes me 30min - 1 hr to get to my gym depending on traffic. I would reccomend eating an apple roughly 30 minutes to an hour before you go to the gym.
Can you work out in the morning? I know you'd have to get up even earlier, but you'd have the peace of mind of "getting it done" first thing, plus, it will give you more energy for the rest of your day.
As for food/eating in the evenings, my suggestion is to actually have a later dinner, say 8pm instead of the standard 6pm. You'll be fuller in the post-dinner pre-bed period and less tempted to over-eat. Most studies also show that it doesn't matter when you eat, so long as you have a calorie deficit. Probably you would need a snack somewhere around 4 or 5pm (tea-time!).
Good luck and let us know how it goes!!
put some good music on and groove for 1/2 an hour
Not sure if you know who Dr. OZ is but he say to eat a yogurt to refuel your body and help you get through your work. I don't like yogurt so I eat an apple and take a vitamin every day hope this helps.
Do not sit down... it's my biggest downfall. I find a small protein type snack helps but if I sit down the glue adheres to my chair and within an hour I am falling asleep. Good luck
I love yogurt the new greek yogurts out there don't seem to be as sweet as the others
You might want to try exercising in the morning, but I see you get to work at 7:15, so you probably don't want to get up at 6 am for that (not sure if you're a morning person). You might also want to try exercising at lunch. I'm not sure how long you get for lunch, but even a half hour walk or run can count as exercise.
Also, one of the things my husband and I did while we were still dating was to exercise "on the way home." If we were going to do a bike ride, we'd both pack our bikes & gear the night before and then meet wherever we were going to start the ride. Same if we were going to run (only no bikes, just gear). If we were going to work out at the gym, we'd meet at the gym on our way home.
Now that we're married, it's kind of fallen apart: we tend to go home before going to work out which can lead to distraction. So far, though, he's been really good about motivating me to work out almost every day (I say I'm the voice of reason because I can get very loud when I'm fatigued and need a recovery day).
I don't know how you feel about energy drinks, but I drink one at about 2 pm and am okay (and still able to fall asleep). I don't know how your body would react, so I would try the other two suggestions (or other ones listed) first.
Hi! this is exactly how I used to feel earlier. whenever i have to come directly home from office and than go to gym i used to feel exhausted and drained. but i found out that if i go to gym after work straight I'm not tired or exhausted. After workout i feel very energetic and thats the only way to overcome these feelings. Unless if you can get up early to hit the gym. Do you smoke ? smoking and eating too many sweet can also make you fatigue. Try walk around whenever possible at office and eat smaller meals will help.
I work the same hours, so I know how you feel! I get up early to get a 20 minute work-out disc and then midway through the day I walk the stairs to get my energy level back up. After dinner (which I cook in a crock pot usually) the kids and I do a mile walk with our flashlights becasue we have no side walks. This insures that I have time with the kids as well. It is all possible it is just how bad to you want to achieve it! Good luck!
