Defeating Fatigue: Answer These Three Questions

There’s nothing wrong with feeling tired. It’s your body’s way of telling you “Give me some rest.”

But staying tired — week after week — is a health problem, one you don’t have to live with and shouldn’t.

If you have been feeling tired for a while, answer these three questions:

• Are you getting seven to eight hours of quality sleep at night?
• Are you eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet?
• Are you getting enough B vitamins?

If you answered “yes” or “I don’t know” to any one of these questions, you need to know this: Most people understand the relationship between sleep and fatigue, but few realize the huge effect diet has on energy levels.

There is an easy fix.

Reduce or eliminate sugars and high-carb starches — bread, rice, pasta, etc. They strip your body of stored energy and turn it into a fat-storing machine. And eat lots of protein — eggs, fish, and meat.

That kind of diet will keep you lean, supercharged, and focused all day long. It works because it not only delivers quality proteins, it’s loaded with vitamins B12 and B6.

You need B vitamins to be able to fall asleep easily, wake up refreshed, and zip through the day. And as you age, your ability to absorb these nutrients from food decreases. So if you are over 40 — to be on the safe side — consider taking a good B complex supplement every day.

[Ed. Note: Mark Morgan Ford was the creator of Early To Rise. In 2011, Mark retired from ETR and now writes the Palm Beach Letter. His advice, in our opinion, continues to get better and better with every essay, particularly in the controversial ones we have shared today. We encourage you to read everything you can that has been written by Mark.]