Have you ever had one of those days…
…where you wake up feeling rubbish but then by mid morning you’ve had your coffee and you’re buzzing, really productive at work and having a great day?
Then you have lunch and by mid afternoon you’ve slumped. The day takes on a different toll and you find yourself reaching for another coffee or something sweet or both and then for the rest of the day you’re watching the clock until it’s finally home time.
You go home, grab a glass of wine and contemplate cooking but decide you can’t be bothered so you order a take away or pop a ready-made meal in the oven. You fall asleep on the sofa infront of the TV and wake up half way through the night, drag yourself to your bed and before you know it the alarm clock is ringing and it’s time to do it all again?
If this sounds familiar to you, alarm bells should be ringing now!!!
I call this cycle the ‘energy roller coaster’. You’re on it but you can’t seem to get off it or worse, you accept it as just the way it is. Through my studies in nutrition and training and it’s affect on energy levels, I have discovered the ‘human time machine’ first coined by John Douillard…
‘All of nature’s creatures, including human beings, operate according to daily diurnal or circadian rhythms – patterns of physiological functioning that repeat every 24 hours…it is helpful to regulate our lives in accordance with this, because we feel better and function more effectively when we “go with the flow” rather than oppose it’.
So, this is the plan I recommend to get you back on track…
6am – 10am (this assumes 6am is sunrise and 6pm is sunset)
Wake up at sunrise. Don’t go back to sleep or you’ll wake up again feeling sluggish and stiff. This is the best time to engage in physical activity so go for a run, workout at the gym, do some house work or have a brisk walk to work. Eat a balanced breakfast such as porridge with milk and berries.
10am-2pm
This is the time for the most efficient digestion. Exericse should be minimal, rather this is the time to eat! Eat a balanced lunch at noon, for example, a chicken or tuna salad with a piece of wholegrain bread or brown rice.
2pm-6pm
This is the time when the body is naturally primed for the most efficient mental activity. Get on with a work project, study or be creative! Ditch the coffee and drink green tea or water instead to boost mental activity further. Have a light mid-afternoon snack which wont give you a sugar crash such as natural yoghurt and a pear or a small handful or nuts and an apple.
6pm-10pm
This is the second best time to exercise. However, I recommend exercising only from around 6-7pm, just after sunset, so the stimulation you feel wont mask the feeling of tiredness later in the evening and keep you up all night. Have a light, easily digestible evening meal such as a stew, casserole or soup and ensure you finish eating by 8pm.
10pm-2am
This time of night is designed as an internal cleansing cycle, when the body has a chance to rejuvenate and prepare the system for the next day. Do not eat at this time – the result will be felt in the morning, in the form of heaviness, dullness and lethargy. This throws off the entire cycle. Get to sleep by 10pm and you’ll feel better in the morning.
2am-6am
As sunrise approaches this is the time to wake up. If you go to bed by 10pm (having followed the rest of the plan), you’ll naturally wake up by 6am feeling as limber and flexible as you were the night before.
Imagine increasing your flexibility and becoming more limber every day, instead of waking up every morning stiff and achy, having to get the gears moving before you feel loose enough to touch your toes!
The challenge
So I challenge you to try it for just one week to see what affect it has on you and let me know how you do. I believe that once you try it, you will maintain it because you will want to – not because you “should” or because I recommend it. I look forward to hearing your comments.
