First and probably the most simple solution is to sleep! Although the kids, work schedules, extra commitments, and late night talk shows (come on admit, you love them too!) all can cause a regular sleep schedule to become a chore unto itself. But attempting to set a regular sleep schedule is essential. Even on the weekends, try to only stay up an hour or two longer than your normal bedtime so you’re not thrown off too much. Also try to go for the target of at least eight hours. So, if you need to wake up at 5am, then go to sleep no later than 9pm.

Along the lines of sleep, try to wind down about an hour before bedtime. Kids should already have baths and homework done and clothes and supplies for the next day should be laid out and ready to go in morning. Although it might not work for everyone, try mind stretching or yoga right before bed. When you hold a stretch or pose, take several deep breaths and relax. This will help you go to sleep easier and maybe even without the use of sleep aids.

So what does all this have to do with fatigue at work? Well, for starters the more sleep you get at home, the less tired you’ll be at work.

Now let’s go to work and deal with what happens there!

First things first is the infamous coffee! Yes, coffee is OK but only in moderation! Yes I said moderation. Drink a cup or two in the morning over several hours. It you want one cup of coffee after lunch that ok too, but only one and make it another drawn out process. The key is to stop drinking early. As with all caffeine, try not to drink coffee after 2pm.

So that solves coffee, no onto food. Eat proteins throughout the day like eggs for breakfast and try to have a few simple snacks before lunch like almonds that contain protein. Aviod carbs and complex sugars like donuts and candy. Make lunch the same. Avoid fast foods that contains a high amount of carbs and fats. These will cause you to become more fatigued in the afternoon and if I’m not mistaken, that’s what I’m writing about. Try other protein-containing foods like edamame, almonds, or even fruits to help keep you moving.

Speaking of moving, if you need a pick-me-up in the afternoon and want to avoid the coffee and sugars, try just getting up. If your jobs has longer hallways or stairs, try moving from your desk a little and take a quick walk to pump up your blood-flow. It only takes a few minutes and you’ll feel the jolt of energy right away.

If you can’t really leave your desk or there isn’t much of a place to move around, try some exercises at your desk instead! Try some desk push-ups, run in place, or even a full body stretch will all help avoid fatigue. Even something as simple as changing position can help.

I love coffee. But I also know that I can’t live on coffee. I work 12 hour days and for me to be able to keep going, I have found that these few ideas have work for me and my coworkers so I now pass them along.

Please let me know if you have any other suggestions!

But what about at work? On of the worst problems my coworkers and I have is making healthy food choices at work. Many of us try to bring food from home to eat but that’s not always an option. There are days that the second I walk in my station I’m ushered on the truck and out the bay to handle my first call of the shift. Some days, once I leave I never see the station again until shift change. So what happens with that great, healthy meal I made? It’s stuck in the fridge at the station. So now what? Well there’s always fast food. But that’s not really healthy unless I get a salad. Plus I gave up meat for Lent so it really limits my choices. I’m pretty much eating lettuce. There’s nothing wrong with that except that it’s not really going to hold me for a full 12 hour shift. I’m gonna need something better.

So lets talk portable. I’ve found a few ideas that might help the worker on the go like the person who lives in a vehicle during work hours like medics, police, or truck drivers or is always on their feet with only a short break (if they get one at all). Healthcare workers fall into this one. So what kinds of choices do these road warriors need? Portable. Did you hear that word by the way? Portable. I said it twice  because it’s the key word.  Something that doesn’t have to be cold or hot to stay fresh.

Some obvious choices are nuts. One ounce of almonds or pistachios contains 6g of protein. Walnuts and cashews have 4g of protein. While peanuts are not actually nuts (they’re legumes) they contain 7g of protein per once.

Prezels are also a good idea. They have 5g of protein per serving. Cereal bars like the Special K bars and fruit bars like Nutri-Grain bars are usually filled with vitamins making them a good choice as well.

Now the other problem. What to wash it all down with? Many of the foods are salty and can dry your mouth out. Water is always a good choice and should be consumed. But for a really hot day I actually recommend a drink like Gatorade or Vitamin Water. They’ll help replace electrolytes and keep you hydrated.

So those are a few healthier idea to replace the french fries and sodas. It’s all about getting the nutritional value and not just filling up with carbs.

Enjoy!

There is a lot of trust in my job in a very short amount of time. With so much trust comes so much responsibility.

That being said, why is it that I can’t seem to trust myself with cravings for meat during this Lenten season! Between all the fast food options, the foods that my partners bring to works, and the foods that I smell in the patients’ homes that probably taste better than any local restaurant, I don’t trust myself to eat at work. Thus I force myself to go twelve hours eating nothing but a protein bar that tastes like chocolate-covered cardboard.

But the good news is that I’m learning more self-control. I eat a generous meal before work, I concentrate more on my yoga and I’ve even done more bike riding recently which has been great!

So how do I deal with the very real cravings I get at work? I cook before I go to work so I know I have a great meal waiting for me at home. The protein bars do help curve my cravings somewhat and help keep me going energy-wise too. Chewing gum also helps. I find that chewing gum makes me a little less hungry.

I will be healthier by the time Lent is over. I’ve learned to make better choices for myself so when I incorporate meat back into my diet, it will be slowly and with caution. I hope so at least because right now all I want is a giant steak.

What I am discovering is that there are more things to do with vegetables than I ever though of before! I’m not one to cook with veggies too much so this has been a fun challenge. All of the different flavors I’m learning to combine is fascinating. I even bough come tea yesterday that kinda tastes like coffee so I can slowly transition away from drinking so much coffee. I type this while drink a cup of coffee mind you.

But tofu. Oh tofu. I’m still scared of it. I bought some and I have everything I need to cook with it but I’m scared of it. I’ve never really ate anything with tofu in it. I have never been a person who likes to cook anything I won’t eat myself. But I will work on the tofu thing this weekend.

Who knows what I’ll be eating by Easter!

Does edamame increase energy? I ate some at work yesterday(busy day and I was dragging). I felt like Popeye after eating spinach! It must have been all the protein that it contains.

Edamame, or soybeans, contain protein, vitamin A, B, calcium, and iron. It’s a great snack or can be part of a meal. It can be made into a dip or boiled and eaten straight from the pod.

I have used it before as a snack at home instead of eating chips or other salty snacks. It’s filling, light, and I don’t feel guilty afterwards. I actually feel more energized and ready for the rest of the day. It’s perfect for that afternoon ‘pick-me-up’Now that’s something to think about.

I like foods that can do this. Their easy to help in my quest to become healthy. I never realized that healthy was such a difficult term. Exercise is a discipline. Eating healthy is one too.

Edamame just made the eating part a little easier.

Yesterday was a stressful day beyond normal stressful days. I wasn’t even at work! The intensity kept going like the Energizer Bunny until just before bedtime last night when I finally said ‘enough is enough’! I took a deep breath and decided this was a perfect time for some yoga and meditation.
To my surprise, nothing I tried could relax me enough to do either yoga or even calm down enough to meditate. I realize I’m still quite new to yoga so perhaps that explains why I could not shut my brain off and allow my body to relax even for just a moment.
Sadly I took my anger and grief to bed with me that night. A book didn’t relax me either. But then I’m in the major climax of the book at the moment so that could be why. Finally, in a moment of desperation, I took some Melatonin (for those of you who don’t know it’s naturally produced by your adrenal gland and can be taken in pill form to help aid sleep more naturally) and allowed myself to drift to sleep.
Thankfully I didn’t dream. Cause if I had Hello Kitty would have been there. And cupcakes.
Today I have woken up exhausted still frustrated. Again I attempted my morning yoga but my body still would not have it. So I ask myself, is there anything I can do to clear my mind when it’s so filled with stress? Can you pre-meditate?
I walked outside to the humidity of a south Louisiana morning in September. Kids are back in school and most people in this young neighborhood were at work or asleep from working the night before. I myself would be at work tonight and I would like to nap later. Let’s see how well that works out for me.
But my thoughts were only consumed with relaxing at that moment. My stressful day yesterday was intense but nothing more than just a compilation of events that suddenly merged on me at once. Today, after the haze was gone, I didn’t see why I had allowed myself to tense up so much. I felt more in control again but my body physically ached from the events of the night before. Again I longed for the relaxation I felt after yoga. I took a deep breath of the moist air and went back inside.
What I wasn’t able to do last night or when I first woke up I did now. I relaxed. I allowed my body to be at ease with my mind.
My yoga session wasn’t very long, but my meditation lasted longer than I had ever experienced before. I finally felt free and conscious enough to be able to start my day over again and dissect my feelings and make proper decisions that were fact based rather than emotionally based.
After it’s all said and done, I’m ready for my nap. I’ll be working all night. I’ve watched the news on my days off and realized by urban town has been quiet. This isn’t always a good thing for me as I’ll be working in one of the more ‘active’ areas of town tonight. But I’m more relaxed now. More confident again. More prepared to handle the stressed of the job and my life.
So I ask you, can you meditate when you’re stressed out? Frustrated? Angry? It’s the perfect time to meditate after all. Share your thoughts and own experiences of when sometimes you’re just too stressed to meditate.