Why am I tired all the time?

I'm sure we've all experienced this, especially if you are an office worker. But sometimes when I'm working, I would suddenly get extremely tired, as though someone has zapped all the energy out of me. It's not just me either. When I talk to my co-workers about it, a lot of them say they would feel the same way.

So what caused it?

After spending hours researching online, talking with my personal trainer, and my doctor. I have finally came up with what I think is the most common causes for this "energy drain."

1. Bad sleeping habit.

This is probably blatantly obvious for most people. But actually, this is also the number one cause for lack of energy, especially for people today. The reason you don't have energy during the day is because you haven't been getting good enough sleep. Usually, this is simply because people stay up too late.

But you could be getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep every week, and still not get enough energy for the day. There are many different causes for this. The first, of course is stress, which disrupts your sleep patterns, and prevents you from entering a deep sleep. Other causes include eating before you sleep, high daily caffeine intake, drinking, smoking, or simply having a poor quality bed.

2. Poor diet

We get most of our energy from the food we eat. Unfortunately, because of the fast food culture we live in, more and more people are giving up healthy diets for high sugar, high fat substitutes. That's why more and more people are feeling their energy go down, and their waist line go up.

Your diet should consist of healthy portions of vegetables, carbohydrates, and proteins. Stay away from hydrogenated fats, and consume as much of your fat as possible from natural sources like nuts and avacados. Cut down on the salt you add when you're cooking, and try not to cook the food too long, as that destroys the food's natural nutritional content. Also, you should cut down the amount of portions you eat for each meals, and instead, eat 4-5 small meals.

Also, remember to drink at least 4 glasses of water throughout the day.

3. Lack of Proper Exercise

Human beings are animals. We're the smartest animals, yes, but animals nonetheless. This means that we have to keep the body active so that our essential bodily functions, such as digestion, will work the way they're suppose to.

Try to do at least 20 minutes of cardio exercises everyday. Especially if you're body building, and lifting weights, cardio works will still help trim down fat and help metabolize protein into muscles. You should also consider joining classes that focus on ab exercises, as this will also help turn your body fat into energy you need throughout the day.

4. You've been working too long, time for a break

All the things mentioned above help, but it still doesn't change the fact that our bodies are not designed for sitting over an extended period of time. If you feel yourself slowing down and tired, you should consider getting up, walking around, doing a few stretches, and come back with a fresh piece of mind.

Also, make sure you take vacations, or just go out on a hike during the weekends. Your body needs times like these to recuperate. Working hard all throughout the week sounds great on paper, but eventually you do burn out.

Finally, stay away from coffee, red bulls, or other similar energy drinks. They provide a temporary burst of energy, but eventually, you crash. Not only that, you'll have to suffer the consequences as these substances disrupts your natural bodily functions, and you'll feel even more tired over time.

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Beethoven was not deaf...he just had too much ear wax

I have been having trouble hearing during the past week. It started last weekend, and it got worse on Monday when my ears started hurting for no reason, and I couldn't hear properly. Needless to say, I was quite scared. I even thought I had an ear infection, and was going deaf. Things got worse when the ear drops the doctor recommended for removing earwax didn't work. As I was panicking, I started to remember stories of how Beethoven lost his hearing, and how he was not able to hear a lot of his own masterpieces.

So I visited the doctor again today. When he heard that the ear drops hasn't be working, he immediately declared that he is going to perform a ear cleaning. So he brought back what looks like a giant syringe without the needle, a bucket, and a towel. He then use the syringe to squirt jets of water in my ear. After that, a few large chucks of earwax fell out of my ear, and I was amazed at how well I can hear after that.

What if Beethoven was in the same situation as me? Hey, you never know. Maybe Beethoven wasn't actually deaf. He just had too much earwax!

All kidding aside, the thing I realized over this week is that you never know how important your hearing is...until you lost it. So here are a few simple tips to maintaining simple hearing.

1: Clean your ears regularly: tilt your head when you're in the shower, and just quickly rinse your ear. Even if water gets in it, it will run out.

2. Avoid q-tips: If you think there is something in your ear, the worst thing you can do is shove something in there to try to work it out. Buy a ear cleaning kit from your local pharmacy. It really is worth it.

3. Party once in a while is great, but blasting loud music down your ears 24/7 is not. Turn your music down. Unless you have trouble hearing, trust me, it will still sound just as good.

4. Visit your doctor if you start getting ear pains, or if your ear cleaning kits aren't helping you. Chances are, diagnosing yourself will just do more harm than good.

Good luck everyone!

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