Afternoon blues
I seem to have a habit of getting quite tired and somewhat depressed during the long hours of the afternoon. It tends to be a struggle just to stay awake. The thing is my sleep at night has been excellent, so I think this tiredness has more to do with depression.
Anyone have any ideas of how I can lift myself out of the afternoon blues?
Thanks for your consideration,
-Reflection
@PreciousReflection
Hey hey 👋
I'm typing this while being half asleep myself. But it's just lunch time right now. I have been struggling with feeling tired all the time those past few days/weeks as well and I also sleep pretty well at night. No struggles falling asleep and around 8 hours at least.
At first I'd ask you the generic questions:
- do you drink and eat enough?
- are you getting in some movement in the day?
- do you get enough fresh air?
- how cold/warm is the room you're staying in (if it's too cold or hot your body is working hard on trying to keep your temperature regulated and uses up quite some energy!)?
- have you had a medical check up lately to ensure you're not missing vitamins or nutrients?
You most likely have those checked already so now I'm giving out some of my mental health related tips;
Like I said, I struggle with it quite a lot as well every now and then and for me there are a few things that do help. Not all the time, but every now and then.
- listen to upbeat music (sometimes catchy childrens music works best because the lyrics don't include triggering topics and if it can make a toddler bounce, it also can make an adult bounce - you might want to listen to those over headphones if others are around)
- skip that 3rd cup of coffee (this might make things worse the first few days, but coffee tends to cover your actual energy levels up, so it's harder to see when you're actually tired or just feel the withdrawal symptoms of coffee)
- do crossword puzzles (they are a rather calm activity but still make your brain work and once you finish one you get that sweet rush of happy chemicals of finishing something)
- chew ice cubes (cold=awake. You can also just drink a big glass of cold water, but I found that chewing ice cubes gives way more satisfaction)
- take a shower (a cold one has the same effects as the cold glass of water, but I prefer a warm one. For me it's the shower in general that helps)
- laughter yoga (I think laughing and the ridiculous feeling of some of these exercises wake me up the best. It's just like how you feel more energized when you're laughing with friends then when you're having a lazy evening on the couch)
Those are my personal tips. They might not work for you and sometimes it's also neither physical or mental problems that cause a sleepy feeling, but just the weather outside or how stressful the first half of the day was. Cut yourself some slack and allow yourself to simply rest sometimes too. I tend to have a 2/1 ratio in my tired phases. Two days staying up and taking care of whatever has to be taken care of and one day where I just rest in the afternoon if I'm tired.
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