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Ask HN: What to do when feeling low-energy/tired during the day?

by Freddie111 on 6/20/23, 5:45 PM with 30 comments

• by mchannon on 6/20/23, 8:59 PM

  Get your T levels checked. Mine were way off (and still are).

  Exercising 5X a week is good, are you pushing hard, packing on more weight, or simply going through the motions?

  Focus on sleep hygiene. Try sleeping alone and in a pitch black silent room, or getting way closer to that. No phone, no TV, no alarm clock.

  Although they're only too happy to sell you an almost lethal dose of melatonin over the counter in the US, some melatonin, time release and really low dose might help you make up for advanced age (we don't know how old you are).

  Do you eat wheat, bread, noodles, potatoes? Do you juice or drink juice? Try cutting out all sugars and starches and replacing them with fresh fruit (NOT juice).

  And try a caffeine fast. No caffeine, not even one, for a week.

  Consider some HGH secretagogue peptides if you can find a reputable source (I tried some and they looked too professional to be shipping something other than what I ordered, and after testing, it was not peptides).

  This is mostly a matter of testing a bunch of theories and finding one that works.

• by cableshaft on 6/21/23, 2:31 AM

  Surprised no one's mentioned this yet, but you could be dehydrating yourself in the morning, with drinking that much coffee (it's a diuretic), and then you're dehydrated during the afternoon, which can make you feel tired.

  Try drinking an extra large glass of water in the afternoon and you might start perking up again.

  It seems to work for me at least, when I remember to do it. I'm better about it now more than I used to.

  See: https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8045761/dehydration-and-f...

• by sn9 on 6/21/23, 12:14 AM

  Just go see a psychiatrist and tell them about what you're feeling.

  As MDs, they know what tests to run to screen you for low-hanging physiological fruit like anemia or hypothyroidism. There's probably over a 50% chance you have at least one of them and this is the most straightforward way to rule them out. And if they rule out those, then they're equipped to check if you have depression or something.

  "Exercising a lot" could also be a potential source, depending on what you mean. You might be exercising so much that your fatigue is accumulating faster than you can dissipate it with your available recovery sources. Experimenting with a deload week every 4-8 weeks where you do half the volume and half the intensity might be worth trying.

  A sleep study might also be worth investigating. You might have sleep apnea and not know it.

• by cybersandwich on 6/20/23, 6:02 PM

  Try getting 8 hours+ of sleep a night. There is tons of research that 8 hours or more is needed (and most people in modern society dont get that). There will be plenty of people that come out of the the woodwork and say "but I only need 4!". That's statistically incredibly unlikely--winning the lottery unlikely. Humans need sleep. If you are working out a lot and only getting 7 hours, that's probably your problem. It also matters when/how you sleep.

  Try to stay consistent. Your body's sleep cycles like to be on schedule. You'll always go through the stages, in order, throughout the night, but the duration of each stage shifts throughout the night--with the bulk of your REM sleep happening in the early morning hours/right before you wake up. For example, if you wake up 2 hours early one morning, you may have only cut your overall sleep by 30% but you may have cut your REM sleep by 50-60% --that's important for concentration, recall, and emotional processing. Similarly, if you stay up really late, you cut into the deep and light sleep that's physically restorative--especially if you are working out.

  If you go to bed at varying times each night or wake up at wildly different times in the morning, you kind of make it tough on your body to get into a rhythm.

  Limit coffee to 2 cups (nothing after 10am), and make sure you are staying hydrated.

  It's normal to feel a little sluggish in the early afternoon after lunch, but you shouldn't feel exhausted or super tired.

  If you are feeling super tired to the point where you are falling asleep at your desk, you may want to get checked for sleep apnea.

• by paymycodes on 6/21/23, 10:35 AM

  Are there patterns to your low energyness? I don't know your situation but some patterns I notice for me:

  - low energy after consuming high-GI / high-sugar stuff: like soda

  - low energy after too much caffeine

  - low energy when feel overwhelmed / stressed / over-worked

  Stuff I do to get back on track is basically:

  - sitting in yoga position and doing breathing exercises and meditating

  - lying down and doing part-by-part body relaxation (similar technique is progressive muscle relaxation)

  Stuff that makes me feel energized:

  - breathing exercise, something like Ujjayi Pranayama with box breathing. So breathe in for N, hold full for N, breath out for M (M >= N), hold empty for M. Repeat. Use as much of the Ujjayi technique as you like.

  - squeeze your lower jaw gum using your thumb and forefinger below the canine tooth. This is some sort of meridian point that I find wake me up.

  - do some burpees or other HIT for 20 seconds.

  Good luck!

• by yuppie_scum on 6/20/23, 8:22 PM

  Recently been running into this, and the answer was to drink less coffee. I am down to about one cup a day now, and finished by noon. I sleep way better and am less anxious with both work and my family. I keep some good decaf around to cut my dosage and to satisfy cravings later in the day.

  I find even one beer at night can sometimes torpedo my sleep patterns as well unfortunately. I typically have a drink with dinner but have cut that back as I’ve aged as well. Seltzers and juices can be a decent substitute.

  You have to target 8 hours of sleep too. There’s no shame in sleeping a proper amount, especially if it makes you happier/more productive.

• by bombcar on 6/20/23, 6:04 PM

  Take a walk.

  Spread your caffeine out a bit.

  Take a nap.

  Combine all three! Walk to a coffee shop, slam a coffee, and then take a nap when you get back or on the side of the bike path or something (aka the Power Nap). You'll wake up about an hour later.

• by scottiebarnes on 6/20/23, 7:17 PM

  Testosterone replacement therapy seems to be the rage these days.

  Anecdotally a friend has mentioned it helps them feel young again; can workout like they used to, etc.

• by pawelduda on 6/20/23, 9:50 PM

  There isn't one universal solution . For me vit D and focusing on getting good night sleep (or taking a nap in case of fail) had greatest impact, but for others it may be useless. A lot of solid (but conflicting) advice here so you just got to keep trying stuff until something works

  Keto diet was great too, my energy levels felt like flat line but it was pain to maintain

• by throwaway22032 on 6/20/23, 10:32 PM

  If I slept 7 hours per night I would accumulate sleep debt over time and start to feel really tired.

• by hollowpython on 6/22/23, 2:20 PM

  Try eating more! I have a similar lifestyle to you, and I discovered I was undereating.

  When I increased calories by 20%, suddenly my memory wasn't so foggy, I was more motivated...it was awesome

• by jotjotzzz on 6/20/23, 7:32 PM

  I would figure out if your body could actually break down the caffeine! I figured out that my body wasn't breaking it down and so my sleep suffered. So I had to switch to decaf or less coffee. Sleep is important.

• by ezedv on 6/21/23, 5:35 PM

  When feeling low-energy or tired during the day, it's helpful to prioritize healthy habits like staying hydrated, taking short breaks, and incorporating exercise into your routine.

• by readyplayernull on 6/20/23, 6:21 PM

  * Don't go to sleep until you feel really sleepy, take a short nap (15-20 min) in the afternoon right after drinking coffee.

  * Meetings are enthusiasm drainers, switch jobs.

  * Find something really motivating to do.

• by yellow_lead on 6/20/23, 6:26 PM

  Try to not eat much sugar (btw almost everything has it, so check your food labels), as it spikes your blood sugar then you crash.

• by brudgers on 6/20/23, 8:06 PM

  I take a nap.

  Because it is not immoral, unethical, or otherwise harmful.

  Because not taking a nap is not an optimization I find worth pursuing.

  YMMV. Good luck.

• by coderintherye on 6/20/23, 5:58 PM

  Take a walk. Multiple times a day if timing allows and walk in nature if possible.

• by vmoore on 6/20/23, 10:00 PM

  Magnesium. Iron. Vitamin B Complex. Limit carbs. Eat plenty of nuts and seeds.

• by timonoko on 6/21/23, 3:01 AM

  15 minutes of CounterStrike is marvelous remedy for afternoon drowsiness.

• by b20000 on 6/22/23, 4:20 AM

  watch your sugar intake, sugar can cause crashes especially when combined with caffeine

• by schwartzworld on 6/22/23, 1:40 PM

  Always good to get a sleep study. Many people have undiagnosed sleep apnea, of which a primary symptom is being tired during the day despite a full night of sleep. Many doctors are misinformed about apnea, and will tell patients who are skinny or young that it's not worth checking, but it's such an easy box to tick off on the list of reasons you might be feeling the way you do.

• by houseatrielah on 6/20/23, 8:42 PM

  Vitamin D, Vitamin D, Vitamin D