If you ever feel sluggish mentally and physically, you aren’t alone, as an average of 38% of US workers report fatigue as a detriment to their day-to-day lives.
When fatigue strikes, it can feel like an overwhelming wave, one that washes away our energy and motivation to pursue the activities that we love. It’s important to not give into despair though, and recognize that there are several avenues of effective action to reclaim our energy.
For thousands of years, mindfulness techniques of some form have been practiced around the world in almost every culture. In recent years, scientific studies have proven they yield practitioners countless benefits—including a renewed sense of energy and focus. By utilizing one or several within your daily routines, you can fight off fatigue and get back to what you enjoy most in life.
If you ever have any questions about how best to win your personal battle against fatigue, then contact the Community Pharmacy team today for grounded, practical advice.
Begin a Meditation Practice
There’s no more iconic mindfulness practice than meditation, a technique based on simply sitting down, staying within the present moment, and allowing the mind to rest.
Whether you practice for just one minute or ten, there are countless benefits to meditation which include:
- Reduce Stressed
- Lower Anxiety
- Enhanced Self-Awareness
- Better Sleep
- Decreased Blood Pressure
Along with a higher resilience against feelings of fatigue. By sitting down somewhere comfortable and not pursuing any thoughts too deeply, meditation creates a deeply relaxing, restorative space further enhanced by mindful breathwork.
Bring Breathwork into Your Daily Routine
Where the breath goes, the mind and body follow, and you can use your breath as a tool for helping maintain healthy energy levels.
Whether you are trying to increase alertness or slow down at the end of the day, breathwork techniques like abdominal breathing, equal breathing, or alternate nostril breathing are all beginner-friendly practices that bring near-instant relief.
Create a Restorative Sleep Schedule
The amount of deep sleep we have each night dictates our energy levels the next day, as it’s the time when our body renews and repairs itself. Yet up to 70 million report having sleep difficulties each year.
It’s critical to not take quality sleep for granted and to create an environment where rest naturally follows at night.
Some of the best ways to mindfully set the stage for sleep are:
- Establishing a regular sleep schedule at the same time each day
- Creating a calming bedtime routine to send a signal to your body that it’s time to rest
- Having recurring scents or sounds can help strengthen this association
- Ensure your sleep environment is conducive to relaxation
Practice Mindful Consumption
We are what we consume in both a physical and mental sense, and doing so mindfully yields powerful results for our energy levels.
Eating a healthy and balanced diet provides the key nutrients we need to field both our bodies and mind. By ensuring we consume complex carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and plenty of hydration, our body receives the key vitamins, minerals, and energy it needs to optimally function.
Mentally, it’s best to be mindful of what we are consuming in a visual capacity as well. Excessive blue light from screens has a proven link to adverse physical, mental, and psychological effects, and by limiting our exposure to it (especially early in the morning and late at night) we give our eyes and minds a much-needed break.
Seek Support from Trusted Sources
If you are still feeling like you are hitting a wall when it comes to fatigue, then seeking external support is a powerful tool that can pinpoint the issue and deliver personalized results.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy and emotional expression can help manage stress, anxiety, and depression, all of which can contribute to feelings of fatigue. Mental health professionals provide a helping hand for those in need, one that can transform your relationship with your body, mind, and energy levels.
If you are interested in exploring this type of practice, then contact Community Pharmacy today and we can make recommendations based on your unique situation and needs.
Fend off Fatigue with Mindfulness Practices Today
One of the most beautiful aspects of mindfulness techniques is their accessibility, as they require very little but time and attention to begin.
If you are tired of feeling fatigued and want to make a change, then consider adding one or more of these practices to your daily routine. The amount of energy we carry into each day deeply impacts our lives and those within them, and even a small change in habit can result in a significant boost to mental acuity.
