HOW NOT TO FEEL TIRED

Gemma David - 28 Feb 14

I have a two and a half year old and I run my own acupuncture business. Like many other mothers… I’m tired.

Tiredness is almost a constant factor in my life but it’s a different kind of tiredness to the one I felt pre-baby. When my daughter Yasmin was 18 months old and she woke every night from 1-4am I was so tired that I felt like I needed a crane to lift me out of bed in the morning. I remember giving my patients tips about relaxation, diet and exercise while I was shovelling coffee and carbs down my neck just to make it through the day. I felt like such a fraud.

Happily, now I feel like I can really live by the nutrition and lifestyle advice I dole out to my patients. But I’m not perfect. I follow my own advice about 90% of the time which I think is realistic.

Most – if not all – of my patients suffer from tiredness, some are exhausted. Especially the parents. As mothers (or anyone for that matter) when we try to ‘do it all’ there is a tendency to overemphasise activity (Yang) and forget about the need for rest (Yin).

In Chinese Medicine this can lead to a deficiency of your body’s qi (vital energy), blood, yang, essence or a stagnation of energy which is when your energy becomes blocked. This is made worse when we fail to nourish ourselves with a good diet (er, especially if we’re shovelling down the coffee and the carbs *ahem*)

So, as an acupuncturist here’s what I’d be advising you to do to help you feel more energetic – however much sleep you’re not getting. Do remember, even if you can do 1 or 2 things from this list, that’ll be a good start. Don’t try to do everything at once. You are not supposed to be able to ‘do it all’.

1) Breathe properly. We make qi by combining food and air so a good diet and breathing properly is a good place to start! You can do this by practicing some really simple breathing exercises… the good old NHS has this lovely little page on relaxation (seriously, these tips are good). Nearly all of my patients practice Yoga Nidra when they have their needles in. I play it from an app on my phone and it’s ace, I promise if you try this, you’ll feel like you’ve had a proper little sleep.

2) Eat warm food through out the day. Warm breakfasts, lunches and dinner with emphasis on foods that are easy to digest and give you energy e.g. beef, coconut, lentils, chicken, sweet potato, rice & cherries. Eggs are really good to help boost Qi and Yin, I love an omelette or scrambled/poached eggs in the morning, they are so quick. Cut down on dairy and wheat too as these can also affect your digestive system (in Chinese Medicine) and make you feel ‘heavy’, emotionally and physically. Foods that help build blood such as the obvious iron rich foods are great too (beetroot, red meat, kale) I have a great recipe for borsht that I regularly give to patients.

3) Can you cut out or down on coffee? I totally promise that if you can do this for a week you’ll feel amazing. At peace even. Did you know coffee raises cortisol levels in the body and has been shown to spike blood sugar MORE than sugar itself. I recommend liquorice and cinnamon tea to my patients (I’ve cut down my 6 espresso a day intake to 2 every other day so I’m talking from experience here!)

4) Reduce if not cut out your sugar intake. In Chinese medicine, sugar contributes to something we call ‘damp’. You will recognise it as a heavy feeling, with water retention, sweliing, asthma, cough or phlegm. There’s a lot of coverage about reducing sugar at the moment, mainly driven by the US health market. As always, just think about the sugar you’re having and try if you can to replace the chocolate with something else. I don’t like the taste of Stevia but Xylitol (weird name I know) does it for me. Apart from the odd day at the weekend I’ve not had refined sugar for 2 months now.

5) Stretch before bed. I do a few yoga poses (seriously I’m too knackered to do any more) but this really helps with the quality of my sleep. So if you can touch your toes and take a few deep breaths in that’s a good start!

Other things that make me feel better are early nights, Ren Rose body creme and my new favourite perfume from Diptyque but these are only add-ons which don’t help for too long. I really do have to follow my own advice!

Discover Gemma’s acupuncture site here: gemmadavid.com
British Acupuncture Council: acupuncture.org.uk

Gemma David

I run a wellbeing business in Bristol called The Quiet Heart. I am a qualified Chinese medicine practitioner, meditation and mindfulness teacher, mental health first aider and coach. I use these skills to run a private practice and retreats to help you connect with yourself; to help you hear what feels right.

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