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Tired of Being Tired

zenhabits.net

61–70 of 104 posts

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#61
post #18

I use to not eat breakfast everyday for 18+ years. it was something I just didn't do. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I started feeling the effects: chronic fatigue, I was always feeling lethargic, etc. eating breakfast changed everything (a healthy diet really). Check out this book about Willpower and the role of glucose. http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human...

Well I'm not eating breakfast quite often and it does not affect me in any negative way - more like the opposite.

If it took you 18+ years to feel negative effects of not having breakfast, I would probably check any other changes that happened recently first.

As a counter argument, here's a couple of links on why you should not eat breakfast, but feel free to disagree.

http://www.gnolls.org/2131/the-breakfast-myth-part-1/ http://www.gnolls.org/2181/the-breakfast-myth-part-2-the-art...

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#62

I agree that working out is essential, but I believe that putting the right type of food in your body is equally important. For many people, decreasing the amount of carbohydrates after breakfast can provide enormous energy gains. I recommend reading Tim Ferris' 4 Hour Body for some interesting advice on diet, exercise and a very detailed chapter on sleep.

Sometimes I wonder if this is the only book on diet and exercise anyone on HN has ever read.

Here's the list of my favourite ones:

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health - Gary Taubes http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Scienc...

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet - Robb Wolf http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/...

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health - William Davis http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Lose-Weight-Health/dp/1609...

The Great Cholesterol Con - Anthony Colpo http://www.amazon.com/Great-Cholesterol-Anthony-Colpo/dp/143...

Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You - Uffe Ravnskov http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Cholesterol-are-Good-You/dp/919755...

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#63
I travel between 3 countries, one of which is Spain. It really makes life a lot better; in the south of Spain people are so incredibly more relaxed that you first get frustrated with that, but rapidly take over that life style as being frustrated doesn't make much sense. Example: you can be in the supermarket, in a queue behind the cash register and no-one sitting there. You look outside and he/she is standing talking with the neighbor. 10 people in front of you waiting. The foreigners/vacation goers sighing, grunting, annoying and just going away after a while, the people who live here just talking. Doesn't matter if it takes 1 minute or 2 hours. People don't care. And yes they have jobs, but it's so ingrained to work like that...

Another example; you're driving on a one car road and suddenly end up in a jam, you check what it is ; someone is standing still and talking to someone. No honking, people shut their engine and go talk to each other.

This way of life makes you realize what kind of crazy stuff we are doing 'up north'; like every second matters. It does, but not for work. For work, really very little matters. Your clients can wait for a bit. That site that 'must go live tomorrow' really doesn't have to go live tomorrow in almost all cases. If you live 3 months/year in Spain, you'll be well rested and viewing the world more for what's important which are things like rest, your family (however configured), your friends, eating and making quality food, hobbies, and telling people to fuck off for trying to stress you out.

No amount money is worth wrecking your health over and in some cultures they know that; we seem to have forgotten.

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#64
post #21
post #19

Couldn't agree more on this, throw out your alarm clock, it's killing you. Remove stress from your life, take a shotgun to stress and refuse to accept stressful situations / people. I've lost 100 lbs in the last three years, here's how and how much weight I lost (I tend to have long plateaus). I started on Nov 25, 2008: 285 lbs Nov, 08: First Step, got Divorced: Lost 10 lbs - 275 lbs Jan, 09: Job tells me I have to b…

I don't really understand why fat people are so... well, upset at being fat. What I mean is, I would personally be OK with myself if I were 285lbs. Ok, this comment isn't really coming across very well. What I'm saying is, at worst, being fat would only shave ~20 years off my life expectancy. Since I don't want to live until I'm 70 anyway, I'd personally be happy with a ~50 year total life expectancy. I don't care wh…

If you really didn't care about being fat you wouldn't even post. The rest is rationalisation, I mean why hang on 'til 50? Go for it, emulate Hendrix, or Joplin, live fast, die at 27.

Health issues typically kick in just after 30 ..

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#65
post #29
post #28

How does Zen Habits keep making it to the top of HN?

Why are you on a computer at 9:30PM PST on a Saturday night? Probably because balance is something we all should aspire to?

My problem isn't with balance, but with the source of the information.

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#66
"By the time afternoon rolls around, you’re in caffeine withdrawal. This is often why people are sapped by mid-afternoon."

Actually, no. You feel sapped in the afternoon because you need a 15-20 minute nap. That's normal. Take the nap and you'll feel energized for the rest of the day.

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#67
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand why fat people are so... well, upset at being fat. What I mean is, I would personally be OK with myself if I were 285lbs. Ok, this comment isn't really coming across very well. What I'm saying is, at worst, being fat would only shave ~20 years off my life expectancy. Since I don't want to live until I'm 70 anyway, I'd personally be happy with a ~50 year total life expectancy. I don't care wh…

"If I'm hungry, I eat. Thus I enjoy life." Self-indulgence can be pretty short sighted. If you want something, do you always buy it? Do you ever save money? Do you ever clean your house? Have you ever learned something that was hard/not-enjoyable because you knew eventually you'd more satisfied? Your body is convincing you that you need to eat because historically, humans were well-served over-eating when given the o…

I also eat when I'm hungry, which happens to be at meal time, I eat as much as I want, and get no fat. It's not that I'm lucky, I got fat when I was eating shit in Algeria, but I leave in China now, eat white rice twice a day, no dessert, no bread, no potatoes, some meat including fat, many soups, a lot of different spices, no industrialy prepared food. It is not by choice, it is just what we eat in China.

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#68
post #50
post #46

Sounds great, until you have kids...

That doesn't seems like an issue for the OP. Leo Babauta has six kids.

If your kids are toddler-age and older, it is certainly possible. But when you have babies, I consider step 1 impossible. I do all of the steps he mentions except number 1, and I am tired.

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#69
post #17

Just gonna say this outright... I've seen colleagues who are constantly on the verge of falling asleep and the common thread has always been that they are fat. 3+1 guide to productivity: Exercise, Eating Right, Sleeping Enough, and, as a bonus, no long commutes.

If you commute by bike, the longer the best...

Re: Tired of Being Tired

#70
"Be less busy. Seriously, we’re too busy these days. Cut back on commitments, put space between things, allow yourself to have a slower pace. Your energy levels will thank you."

I think the key here is not to fill the "space" with directionless Internet/Twitter/Hacker News perusing. Easier said than done.

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