Regain Your Energy | Gabriel Tira

Do you feel like Mondays are never ending and Saturdays never coming?

Maybe "I don't have energy" sounds familiar.

Every single day, we invest a lot of energy in each activity, person, YouTube video or thought.

Here's the secret: everything you do, can give you back some or even more of the energy invested. It just has to be the right thing.

A bad experience with a positive mindset doesn't drain, but refills your energy.

Think a bit: you broke your spouse's favourite plate, bought from Japan. Instead of blaming yourself and getting stressed, what if you just apologize and hug her? Would your mind be at peace?

We'll discuss just a few of the numerous factors causing the low-energy state:

Poor Quality Sleep - it's not just about the duration
Unbalanced Nutrition - it's not just about the calories
Lack of Physical Activities - poor blood flow and weak muscles, result in low energy
Captive Mind - overthinking, ego and perfectionism drain mental energy (and calories)
Caffeine Dependency - so much in your body that cannot be fully removed
Lack of Sunlight - disrupts circadian rhythm and serotonin production

That's a pretty exhausting list. No worries, I'll guide you through how I deal with each of them. Bare in mind, there are exceptions as well.

I am as human as you are. The base is to stick to the 80-20 rule, meaning that over 80% of the time I do what I say.

1. Sleep

I've experiemented a lot of things to improve my sleep over the last 2 years, ended up with this plan:

Avoid hydration 1.5 hour before bedtime - to prevent waking up for toilet
Go to bed at the same hour - my body knows when it's time for sleep
No lights and sounds in the bedroom at night
Leave the door open - to avoid inhaling the expired CO2. I recently learned this from a DOAC podcast
Have the last meal 3-4 hours prior to sleep - digestion is finished before falling asleep
Black-out the room as much as possible

2. Unbalanced nutrition

After trying for about 8 years to find the perfect way of eating, I honestly say that the only meal I eat every day without changing is the oatmeal. All the others got and are getting changed and improved.

Diet is temporary. Nutrition is lifelong. Lifestyle requires consistency, so pick your pick.

As of today, I keep it very simple in terms of nutrition, as I managed to:

Cook just twice a week
Each cooking session takes close to 1h30m - including preparation, dishwashing and spicing!
Almost everything I eat is healthy
Get enough protein to build muscles (2g per kg)
Eat diversified but not too much to get annoyed
3 meals a day
I do intermittent-fasting - 9.30am, 1pm and 5pm
Daily fruits and vegetables - any kind
On rare occasions I'll have cakes/pastry.

3. Lack of physical activity

If you already know about the consequences of this subject, but you do nothing about it, please, start a 10 minutes fast walk a day. Learn to win small until you win big.

I am constantly changing routines, as the body adapts fast, but here's what I do right now per week:

5 days of weight lifting for hypertrophy - advanced push/pull/legs split
1-2 days of cardio - 45 minutes of incline walking
Almost daily walks of 20 minutes
4-7 stretching sessions
A lot of walking in the weekend, depending on the plans
Bike riding - a lot of it as I prefer my bike over the bus

4. Captive Mind

I was obsessed with perfectionism. Everything has had to be perfect. But it drained the soul out of me.

I was always thinking about what others will say if I do that, what should I say next not to look stupid, how to dress better than John, and such never ending scenarios.

Although I worked a lot to accept, heal and remove these frustrations, traumas and shortcomings, I keep a spare space to discover even more about me.

So, here's some of what I practise:

Avoid judging - neither myself, nor others
Avoid comparing me with others
I meditate - to crystalize my mind and vision
Make jokes that don't put others down
I apologise - also to myself
I write - to observe my fears and celebrate my progress
I let myself to make mistakes
I accept the present - this smashes my perfectionism so badly

5. Caffeine Dependency

From a former "oh, I can drink coffee just before sleep and I feel nothing".

I hear you. The truth is that the sleep quality is poor. You'll only feel it after you did some changes in your routine to increase your energy.

Not only that I drink coffee every day, but I love specialty coffee, of which recipes have higher doses of caffeine. The side effect kicks in about 3 weeks, when waking up becomes hard that I would sleep another whole day.

After doing some research, I found out that caffeine stays in the body a lot more than I knew. Like it's halved every 6 hours.

Now, I alternate coffee this way:

I drink it 90 minutes after waking up - as Andrew Huberman suggests
No coffee after 11am
I drink daily until it feels tough to wake up
If I have 3 though wake ups in a row, I stop any caffeine intake for 3-5 days - trust me, it's magic.

6. Lack of Sunlight

Even though I feel more productive in the autumn and winter, when it's raining, cloudy and a bit chilly, I noticed that my energy throughout the day is not the same as in the summer.

It's a small point, but is worth mentioning, so here's what I do:

Get out on the balcony, shirtless, for 10 minutes - I try not to forget the UV protection
Take a trip to the beach
Get Vitamin D supplement when I don't have other options

Every action that really pushes you further has to be taken by YOU! The people around can only be supportive.

I already see how those small things you know you can change wander through your mind. You may even feel motivated.

Take advantage of the momentum and tackle just one. Imagine how fast you can change that endless low-energy state.

Letter's quest

Next time you feel an energy drop, give one of those things a try. We are different, so pick one that you resonate with. For me, that would definitely be the coffee.

Until the next letter, I wish you success in everything you're up to!