Energy Drinks
Should you use them? I want to say no but I needed some on a long trip recently so that would make me a hypocrite. Here is an article which does a decent job showing why they are dangerous. I don’t disagree but I am more intrigued with the fact that we continue to look for the Holy Grail to treat our fatigue. It is the most common complaint I see in the office. It is the most common complaint I hear at home. It is the most common complaint I make to myself. The money spent trying to find the answer or fix the issue (i.e. energy drinks) is amazing. The answer for our fatigue epidemic, unfortunately, is elusive because it is so multifactorial. I don’t know for sure but I bet my money that the answer includes such things as poor diet, poor sleep, too much electronics, too little exercise, too much stress and not enough rest. No pill or drink can fix all that.
Forget the standard recommendations. How about doing what you really enjoy doing and doing it as well as you can? Life’s too short to do otherwise.
I wouldn’t discount sex, the greatest purpose of which is to provide excellent naps.
There is a simple treatment for fatigue.
It is called “sleep.”
I’ve been using it for years with great success, and very few ill effects (among them: arriving at work late and inability to get as many things “done” as some other people I know).
I don’t always get enough sleep (I’m an “evening shift” person working in a “morning shift” world), but I am very aware that that is what I need, I make sure to sleep whenever my schedule allows it, and – wouldn’t ya know? – when I do it, I don’t feel tired.
One thing to point out: If you’re really sleeping enough, you should be going to sleep not long after dark, and waking up around sunrise. If you do this in the winter, you will experience a period of wakefulness in the middle of the night, and then a “second sleep” period afterward. This is the physiologic norm which we have gotten away from, and if you actually experience it (as I did in, of all places, medical school, where the winter nights were long and boring, and I loathed studying), you will understand that you have probably not been sleeping enough for most of your life.