Why you're always tired

Summary

This video addresses the common issue of chronic tiredness among young people and offers practical solutions to boost daily energy levels. The speaker emphasizes the importance of nailing the basics: sleep, exercise, and diet, while debunking myths around quick fixes like caffeine misuse. By revisiting fundamentals, adjusting caffeine intake, fixing sleep patterns, and incorporating regular movement, the speaker shares personal insights and strategies for maintaining consistent energy. The video also includes a brief promotion for Audible, highlighting its benefits for accessing educational content.

Takeaways

• 😴 Chronic tiredness is a widespread issue affecting people of all ages, including young individuals who should exhibit youthful energy.
• 💤 The speaker emphasizes the importance of sleep, exercise, and diet as the fundamental factors contributing to energy levels, despite their commonality.
• 🚫 Misusing caffeine by consuming it late in the day can disrupt sleep quality, as its effects last longer than commonly believed, with half-life of 5-7 hours.
• ☕️ A simple adjustment to caffeine intake, such as not drinking it past lunchtime, can improve sleep and overall energy levels.
• 🛌 Ensuring adequate sleep opportunity by going to bed earlier than the desired sleep time can help accumulate better sleep and reduce sleep debt.
• 🌞 Fixing the circadian rhythm through behaviors like avoiding screens before bed and making the sleep environment darker can promote better sleep.
• 👃 Addressing nasal congestion that leads to mouth breathing during sleep can improve the quality of rest, with tools like Breathe Right strips as a solution.
• 🏋️ Regular physical activity, even beyond structured exercise routines, is crucial for maintaining a higher baseline of energy throughout the day.
• 🚶‍♂️ Incorporating standing desks and regular movement during work hours can combat the energy-draining effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
• 🍽 While diet is not the main focus of the script, a general recommendation is to avoid processed foods and sugars, and to stay hydrated for overall well-being.
• 📚 The script suggests that a combination of good sleep, regular exercise, and a reasonable diet can significantly impact one's energy levels and daily productivity.

Q & A

What is a common problem discussed in the video?

The common problem discussed is feeling chronically tired, even with adequate sleep.

Who is experiencing this chronic tiredness according to the video?

Young people, including 20 and 30-year-olds, and even 15-year-olds, are experiencing this chronic tiredness.

What are the three fundamental aspects the speaker revisited to improve energy levels?

The three fundamental aspects are sleep, exercise, and diet.

What mistake did the speaker make initially when addressing his tiredness?

The speaker treated sleep, exercise, and diet like a checklist and looked for quick fixes instead of addressing the fundamentals properly.

How does the speaker suggest managing caffeine consumption?

The speaker suggests not drinking caffeine past lunchtime to avoid disrupting sleep.

What does the term 'half-life of caffeine' mean?

The half-life of caffeine is the time it takes for half of the caffeine to leave your system, which is about five to seven hours.

What is one way the speaker fixed his circadian rhythm?

One way the speaker fixed his circadian rhythm was by not looking at screens right before bed and making his room darker to simulate nighttime.

Why did the speaker use Breathe Right strips?

The speaker used Breathe Right strips to fix nasal congestion and promote nasal breathing at night, which is better for sleep quality.

What is the link between psychology and physiology mentioned in the video?

The link is that what is good for the body, such as exercise, is also good for the mind, improving energy and confidence levels.

What simple tweak did the speaker make to combat a sedentary lifestyle?

The speaker made sure to take a walk every day and bought a standing desk to spend more time standing while working.

Outlines

00:00

😴 Overcoming Chronic Fatigue Through Basic Lifestyle Changes

The speaker discusses the widespread issue of chronic tiredness, which affects people of all ages, not just the elderly. They share their personal struggle with fatigue and emphasize the importance of revisiting the fundamentals of sleep, exercise, and diet to improve energy levels. The speaker admits to previously overlooking these basics in search of quick fixes and encourages viewers to focus on these key areas to tackle their tiredness consistently.

05:02

☕️ Caffeine Misuse and Sleep Hygiene for Enhanced Energy

In this paragraph, the speaker addresses the misuse of caffeine and its impact on sleep quality. They explain the concept of half-life, noting that caffeine can stay in the system much longer than commonly believed, disrupting deep, restorative sleep. The speaker shares their personal adjustment to avoid caffeine past lunchtime to ensure better sleep. Additionally, they discuss the importance of sleep opportunity, circadian rhythm, and the avoidance of screens before bed to foster a healthy sleep environment. The speaker also mentions using Breathe Right strips to facilitate nasal breathing, which can improve sleep quality.

10:02

🏋️‍♂️ The Connection Between Exercise and Daily Energy Levels

The speaker explores the relationship between physical activity and energy levels, highlighting that regular exercise can actually increase one's baseline energy, contrary to the belief that it depletes it. They share their own experience with a sedentary lifestyle and how it contributed to their fatigue. To combat this, they implemented daily walks and the use of a standing desk, which not only increased their physical activity but also had psychological benefits. The speaker suggests that integrating regular movement into one's day can significantly boost energy levels.

🍏 Diet and Its Role in Addressing Chronic Tiredness

In the final paragraph, the speaker briefly touches on the role of diet in managing energy levels, acknowledging the complexity and individual variability in dietary needs. They advise against processed foods and sugar, and emphasize the importance of hydration. The speaker suggests that while diet is important, it is most effective when combined with proper sleep and exercise. They conclude by thanking Audible for sponsoring the video and recommend the book 'Why We Sleep' by Matthew Walker for further insights into the importance of sleep.

Keywords

💡Chronic tiredness

Chronic tiredness refers to a persistent state of fatigue that is not alleviated by regular sleep or rest. In the context of the video, it is a common issue faced by individuals of various age groups, including younger people who should otherwise exhibit youthful energy. The speaker discusses this concept as a central theme, exploring the reasons behind it and offering solutions to overcome it.

💡Sleep

Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind and body characterized by altered consciousness, reduced sensory activity, and inhibited voluntary muscle movement. The video emphasizes the importance of sleep in maintaining energy levels, with the speaker sharing personal strategies to improve sleep quality, such as not drinking caffeine past lunchtime and ensuring adequate sleep opportunity.

💡Exercise

Exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health. The script discusses the relationship between exercise and energy levels, suggesting that being physically active can actually increase one's energy baseline. The speaker's personal experience with a sedentary lifestyle highlights the importance of incorporating exercise into daily routines to combat tiredness.

💡Diet

Diet refers to the food and drink that an individual habitually consumes. While not the main focus of the video, the speaker briefly mentions diet as a component of energy management, advocating for a balanced approach that avoids processed foods and sugar while ensuring adequate hydration.

💡Caffeine

Caffeine is a natural stimulant that can temporarily ward off drowsiness and restore alertness. The video script explains the half-life of caffeine and its impact on sleep quality. The speaker's misuse of caffeine as a quick fix for tiredness is contrasted with a more disciplined approach to its consumption to ensure better sleep.

💡Circadian rhythm

The circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. The script discusses how disruptions to this rhythm, such as exposure to blue light from screens before bed, can affect sleep and energy levels. The speaker shares tactics to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, like making the sleeping environment darker.

💡Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate sleep-wake cycles. The video mentions melatonin in the context of the body's natural sleep signals, which are inhibited by exposure to blue light from screens. The speaker's strategy to avoid screens before bed aims to promote melatonin production for better sleep.

💡Nasal breathing

Nasal breathing is the process of inhaling and exhaling through the nose. The script references a book that discusses the benefits of nasal breathing over mouth breathing. The speaker uses Breathe Right strips to address nasal congestion, which aids in maintaining nasal breathing during sleep and potentially improves sleep quality.

💡Power posing

Power posing is the act of holding a confident posture for a short period of time to increase levels of testosterone and decrease cortisol, thereby making an individual feel more powerful and confident. The video script relates this concept to the benefits of standing and moving, suggesting that such physical activity can have psychological benefits and increase energy levels.

💡Sedentary lifestyle

A sedentary lifestyle is one that involves little or no physical activity. The speaker in the script identifies a sedentary lifestyle as a drain on energy and suggests that regular movement, such as taking walks or using a standing desk, can counteract the negative effects of sitting for long periods and boost energy levels.

💡Physiology and psychology

Physiology is the study of the functions and processes of living organisms, while psychology is the study of the human mind and its functions. The video script highlights the interplay between these two fields, explaining how physical activity can have psychological benefits, such as increased confidence and energy, which in turn can affect one's overall energy levels and approach to daily tasks.

Highlights

Chronic tiredness is a common issue affecting people of all ages, including young individuals who should have youthful energy.

The video discusses the importance of revisiting basic factors like sleep, exercise, and diet to combat chronic tiredness.

Misusing caffeine can lead to disrupted sleep patterns due to its long half-life, affecting deep restorative sleep.

Avoiding caffeine after lunchtime can improve sleep quality by ensuring less caffeine is present in the system at night.

Increasing sleep opportunity by going to bed earlier can help accumulate better sleep over time and reduce sleep debt.

Fixing circadian rhythm through avoiding screens before bed and making the sleep environment darker can improve sleep.

Using Breathe Right strips to facilitate nasal breathing can improve sleep quality by preventing mouth breathing.

Exercise is linked to increased energy levels; contrary to belief, expending energy through activity can boost overall energy.

The video emphasizes the psychological benefits of physical activity, such as increased confidence and reduced stress.

Incorporating standing desks and regular walks can combat the energy-draining effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

The video suggests that diet should be approached with reasonable effort, avoiding packaged food and sugar, and staying hydrated.

A combination of proper sleep, regular exercise, and a balanced diet is key to maintaining consistent energy levels throughout the day.

The video credits the book 'Why We Sleep' by Matthew Walker for providing insights into the importance of sleep for energy levels.

Audible is mentioned as a sponsor, with the book 'Why We Sleep' being recommended for its narration quality and sleep-related content.

The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of taking action on the discussed strategies to improve energy levels.

Transcripts

- One of the most common problems I hear about nowadays.

And I'm sure everyone else does

is this feeling of being chronically tired

Because sometimes it feels like

no matter how much sleep you get

you just can't seem to perk up,

feel energetic for most of the day, every single day,

so that you can tackle your day and your life with energy.

You know, this lack of energy throughout the day,

this chronic tiredness is something

that you would expect to happen to you

if you were like 60 years old, 70, 80 years old

but it's happening to 20 and 30 year olds, 15 year olds

young people who are supposed

to have this youthful exuberance to them,

but they find themselves operating in life

with a sluggishness and dread.

Believe me, I've been there.

I've been there so many times in my life.

So many times in fact,

that it really caused me to dive deep and figure out

what are the things that are actually going to contribute

to me having more energy

and how do I make those things happen every single day.

And through all my research and self experimentation

I've found out that the most important things

are kind of the things that you hear all the time.

Sleep, exercise, and diet.

You might be tempted now to click away from this video

because you already know this

but that's exactly where I ran into problems.

I was treating sleep, exercise and diet like a checklist.

It's like, yeah, I get a reasonable amount of sleep.

I exercise.

I'm an athletic guy.

Yeah, I eat food.

So those things can't be the reason

why I'm feeling sluggish.

So I started looking for these like quick tips

and maybe I was iron deficient

or maybe I had a gluten sensitivity

or maybe I needed to decalcify my pineal gland.

I skipped over the fundamentals in search

for some miracle pill that would make me less tired

throughout the day.

It wasn't until I revisited the basics

and try to absolutely nail them

that I realized that was the problem the whole time.

Especially sleep.

So in this video

I wanna go over some things that I've implemented

in my life that really has given me a lot more energy

throughout the day on a consistent basis.

And yeah, hopefully they work for you as well.

- [Narrator] Are you always tired?

Do you move around the house?

Dreaming big dreams

but like the energy to make them come true?

Well, maybe it's because you suck.

(bright upbeat music)

What the fuck?

- Okay, so thing number one, I stopped misusing caffeine.

Now caffeine is one of those weird ones.

People think they know a lot about how caffeine works.

You know, you've probably heard

that caffeine lasts between five and seven hours.

So, you know, don't drink too much caffeine

in the afternoon, or you might not be able to fall asleep.

But the weird thing about caffeine is

that it lasts a lot longer than five to seven hours.

The half-life of caffeine is five to seven hours.

And half-life means that after five to seven hours

half the caffeine is still in your system.

And then it takes another five to seven hours after that

for half of that amount of caffeine to leave your system.

So if you have a cup of coffee at like 4:00 PM,

which is, you know kind of late,

but it's probably not gonna ruin your sleep

or something like that.

Think again, if you have coffee at 4:00 PM

by 11:00 PM, there's a good chance

that 50% of that caffeine is still in your system.

That means by like 5:00 AM.

There's a good chance

that a quarter of the original 4:00 PM cup of coffee

is still in your system.

You know, deep into the night

is when you're supposed to be having some of your deepest,

most restorative sleep of your life.

This is the kind of sleep that helps you form memories

process the information you were bombarded with

throughout the day, form connections

form new ideas, so that you can be more creative.

The kind of sleep that's supposed to be healing

your muscle tissues, purging your body

of adenosine so that you don't feel tired in the morning.

There's a lot of important things that are going on

while you're sleeping and your body being filled

with this caffeine is seriously inhibiting those processes.

So the simple tweak that I did

that helped me not misuse caffeine

is to just not drink caffeine past lunchtime.

I have the one that I wake up with in the morning.

And since I'm a little bit of a caffeine fiend,

I have another one about two hours after that

to really get my morning productivity

the kind of meth head high that I'm looking for.

I'll still get the caffeine crash late after lunch.

I expect that, it's the kind of game you play.

If you're a caffeine addict like me,

but at least when I want to put my head on the pillow

after a hard day's work

I'm actually able to get the sleep that my body needs.

So do not drink caffeine past 12:00 PM.

Just don't do it.

The other thing that I started implementing

was I gave myself a lot more sleep opportunity.

Everyone's heard that you need eight hours of sleep a night,

but the truth is in order to sleep for that long,

you probably need to be in bed for longer.

I take about half an hour to 45 minutes

to fall asleep every single night.

So I need to be in bed half an hour or 45 minutes earlier

than I'm planning on falling asleep.

And that makes sure

that I actually get the sleep

that I need every single night.

Because the benefits of a good night's sleep

is something that's cumulative.

You know, if you give yourself that much opportunity

every single night, your amount of sleep baseline

will go up over a long period of time.

And you'll kind of work off your sleep debt.

You'll work off your sleep deprivation

that you've been chronically plagued with.

All you need to do is give yourself

more opportunity to sleep.

The other thing that I did was I fixed my circadian rhythm.

For those of you who don't know

your circadian rhythm has sort of like this internal clock

that tells your brain whether it's daytime or nighttime.

When you should be given energy,

and when you should slow down and get ready for bed.

And a lot of your circadian rhythm is dictated by sunlight.

How bright it is around you, how dark it is around you.

Which is why you've heard

that you shouldn't go on social media or on smartphones,

or look at screens right before bed,

which is very, very true.

When you're looking at all this blue light,

your brain thinks that it's daytime.

So it's not giving you the melatonin that you need

that your brain needs to know

that it's like time to slow down and go to bed now.

So one thing that's really helped me

is to not look at screens right before I go to bed.

And especially not in bed.

That way my brain can actually

start producing adequate melatonin.

You know, I can start slowing down psychologically.

And by the time my head hits the pillow

during my little sleep opportunity window,

I'm out like a light.

The other thing I did to fix my circadian rhythms

was I pinned a black blanket over my windows

because I'm a barbarian with no sense of interior design.

But what that did was

when it's the earlier hours of the morning

when I'm still sleeping, like 5:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM.

I still want it to be dark

so I can still be deep in sleep.

Getting as much high quality sleep as I can.

Rather than having all this sun blasting in the window

interrupting my hard earned slumber.

So make your room darker so that for the time you're asleep

your brain thinks it's nighttime

and that you should be sleeping.

And the last thing that I implemented to improve my sleep

seems like a little quick fix.

I don't know if this applies to you.

But I was reading this book called Breath by James Nester.

And he talked about the benefits of nasal breathing

as opposed to mouth breathing.

And I noticed that when I put my head on my pillow

every night, my nose gets really congested.

And I end up opting in the middle of the night

to mouth breathing.

And in the book he talks about how nasal breathing

is a lot better for you.

So anyways, if you can't breathe out of your nose at night

fix that, I fixed it by using Breathe Right strips.

This video is not sponsored by Breathe Right,

but that's just what I did.

And they work for me.

I'll put a Amazon,

actually, I'm not going to put an Amazon,

like just type in Breathe Right strips.

Okay, so let's talk about exercise.

There is a fascinating link between your psychology

and your physiology.

It seems like what's good for the body

is also good for the mind.

It's the reason why power posing somehow, you know

like you're like standing up

and putting your hands on your hips or whatever,

that kind of stuff increases testosterone.

It's bizarre to think of it,

but literally just power posing, feeling powerful

lowers your cortisol, which is your stress hormone

and increases your testosterone

making you feel more confident and powerful.

And you hear so many accounts of people

who fix their posture

which allowed them to go about the day with more confidence.

It's like a chicken or the egg thing.

They fixed their physiology

which translated into benefits for their psychology.

The only reason why I'm saying this

is because one of the most effective ways

that you can have more energy throughout the day

is to move your body.

- [Narrator] See how the hips act as a pivot.

- You would think That if everyone had the same baseline

energy to work with,

that if you expend that energy by being active

you'll have less energy throughout the day.

But the exact opposite is true.

People who regularly expend their energy

having a higher baseline of energy to expend.

- [Trainer] He's tight with the buttocks

and slowly put the buttocks way back.

- It's almost like there's a golden rule

baked into the universe that says,

"That which costeth energy, giveth energy."

I should probably make a t-shirt with that.

- [Narrator] It wasn't long before Ernie began

to feel the benefits of his regular exercise.

- So you might be thinking, Joey, you're an active guy.

You go to the gym, you play hockey.

So that probably wasn't that big of a problem for you.

Well, it turns out it was.

I play hockey once or twice a in the evenings.

And then I go to the gym for like half an hour to 45 minutes

to do some heavy lifting

three to four times a week.

But I spend the rest of that time by and large

sitting on my butt, editing videos,

writing content, whatever.

This sedentary lifestyle was draining my energy.

So I made a simple tweak.

Not only do I make sure I get out and take a walk

every single day, I do something to get out of the house,

get moving, but I also bought a standing desk.

So I spend a large portion of my time

when I'm being productive, standing up on my desk

rather than sitting down.

And this has that power posing effect.

The fact that I'm standing up my body kind of learns

that I'm more active and I'm somebody who stands up.

So it's like here have more energy.

So use this weird phenomenon to your advantage.

Make sure that every single day you're getting up,

out of your chair you're going for a walk.

You know, a minute, every hour,

three to five minutes every hour.

If you're wanna be ambitious, get up from your chair,

go for a walk, go do something.

The energy benefits will come in droves.

- [Singer] ♪ Take good care of yourself ♪

♪ It's so easy ♪

- And now just briefly

I'm actually not gonna talk about diet

because I feel like I don't want to add to the noise.

One thing I've learned is that

it's really genetically dependent.

If your ancestors were from a certain part of the universe

Maybe a Paleo diet works better for you.

Maybe you have a gluten sensitivity.

By and large though, avoid packaged food, avoid sugar,

drink enough water.

You know, all these things.

There's a million diets

that you can look up on the internet.

If you're putting a reasonable amount of effort

into what you're putting into your body,

and you're not taking care of your sleep or exercise,

you'll probably still be sluggish.

It's the combination of these three things,

especially sleep, especially exercise

with like a reasonable effort put into your diet.

You'll have energy to work with.

You know, you'll finally be somebody who is perky

who has energy, who can, who can tackle their daily tasks

and actually get things done without constantly feeling

like somebody is just dragging you down,

holding onto your shirt

and just like covering your eyes all the time.

I don't think that was a terrible analogy.

I just want to give a big thank you to Audible

for sponsoring this video.

And I actually only made this video

because I started reading the book

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker on Audible.

It was just like a really fascinating book.

Talking about the benefits of sleep,

the complex mechanics that go on under the surface.

You know, it talked about the mechanics of dreams

which is some Christopher Nolan's stuff.

And I'd highly recommend the Audible version specifically

because the guy who's narrating it

has just such a golden voice and you can listen to it

as you're drifting off into slumber.

And for those of you who don't know,

Audible is the leading provider

of spoken word entertainment and audio books,

ranging from best sellers to celebrity memoirs,

to news, business and self-development.

Every single month Audible sends you one credit,

which you can spend on any audio book of your

regardless of price.

Audible members also get instant access

to a bunch of news digests and guided meditation programs,

which is also pretty cool.

And by far, one of the most useful things about Audible

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for any reason at any time,

you still keep your entire library of audio books,

including the books that you got for free

using their credit system.

So to sign up for your free 30 day trial,

either click the link in the description below,

or text "betterideas" to 500 500.

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It works its magic.

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(bright upbeat music)