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The key to fix it is in your nervous system

What’s the fastest way to become a zombie? Sleep deprivation. If you regularly feel like a zombie, then it has a lot to do with your sleep.

You may not be sleeping long enough, deep enough, or at irregular times. Quality matters as much as the quantity.

Whatever the issue is, I know you can fix it. But what if you can’t?

Often when I see my friends who’re sleep deprived, I just tell them to sleep more. They reply, “I don’t have the time” or “We’re launching a new product — which means long hours and less sleep/”

Sometimes, their excuses are dumb. Other times, they have a genuine reason to back it up.

This brings me to an important question—“I didn’t get enough sleep last night for ___ reason. Does it mean my day is supposed to be horrible? Or is there something I can do about it?”

You Can Energize Instantly If You Understand This

When you don’t get enough sleep, your cortisol levels rise, leading to unnecessary fatigue. The problem is you’re already tired, you know that. But the extra stress on your body is what makes you miserable.

It harms your cognitive function, makes you die sooner, and adds extra pounds on your waist. This means you have to find a way to manage stress even when you’re sleep-deprived.

The key to battling this fatigue is mental strength and willpower. I don’t care if you think this is ‘woo-woo’ but the mind has an enormous effect on how you feel.

If you can convince yourself that you’re not tired, half of your problem is solved.

How Your Nervous System Tricks You Into Fatigue

The key to cracking the fatigue code is in your nervous system.

You are being controlled by your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system at all times. Together they form the autonomic nervous system.

The sympathetic nervous system is the “fight or flight” mode. This is when your body releases hormones like cortisol, norepinephrine, and adrenaline. The smallest stress is enough to get you in this state of elevated heart rate.

The parasympathetic nervous system is exactly the opposite. It slows down your heart rate, relaxes you, and makes you more aware in general.

What we need is the ability to switch between these two systems at will. This is where **Heart Rate Variability (HRV) **comes into the picture.

HRV measures the consistency of time gaps between two heartbeats over some time. For example, if the time between your first and second heartbeat is 1 second and that between your second and third beat is 0.8 seconds, then you have heart rate variability.

A high HRV means that you can switch between the two parts of your nervous system effortlessly. You can adapt to high-stress situations and relax when you like.

People who have low HRV cannot respond to different situations. They are often stressed, depressed, and generally unhappy.

When you’re fatigued, you’re in the sympathetic state. The goal is to shift back to the parasympathetic state.

There are several ways to do that most of which involve some form of breathing. Your breath controls your heart rate. So focusing on your breath directly changes your state of consciousness.

Two Things That Save My Ass Every Time

If you have fancy gadgets to try HRV training, you can do that. I’ve read people benefit from it. But I prefer to opt for a traditional route.

As a regular meditator, I’ve learned and practiced various techniques that help me to stay calm been in moments of fatigue.

Corpse Pose with Deep relaxation

A lot of foreign vocabulary here! The corpse pose is one of the easiest and the most relaxing pose in Yoga.

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Lie down on your back and relax completely. Do a body scan to find tensions blocks. Relax every tensed area as you scan from the feet to the head.

Take 15–20 deep breaths as slow as you can. And then let the breath follow its natural rhythm. After a few seconds, when the breath is back to normal, focus on the breath entering your nostrils. And keep your focus there as long as you like.

This is a great routine to relax in five minutes or less. Along with relaxing the body, it will get your mind off fatigue, and in the present moment.

Whenever possible, try to do this every day before going to sleep too. It significantly improves your sleep quality.

Energization Exercises

These are effective beyond imagination, albeit not popular.

The whole purpose of true exercise is to awaken the inner source of energy which we have ignored throughout our lives — Paramhansa Yogananda

The basic principle of energization is controlling energy in your body with willpower. You can direct the flow of energy to certain body parts to energize them as well as heal them of any disease.

It is a set of 39 exercises that can be completed in 10-15 minutes. The breathing techniques along with the physical movements energize the body as you’ve never experienced.

Here’s a video to show you how:

If you can practice it now even better! Give it a shot and let me know how it goes for you.

Don’t make the mistake I made

I mistook these things as ineffective even before I tried them. How can 39 exercises energize me to such a degree? Now I know better. Don’t close yourself to these principles.

Be skeptical by all means. But resolve your skepticism by giving this a try. Life-changing insights come only to those who are open-minded enough to grasp them.

Fatigue is not your default state. Never accept fatigue in your mind and you’ll unlock a new level of mental strength unknown to most.

Most people crumble and fall in the face of fatigue — it’s your time to rise and beat it down.

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