Are you wired but tired?

You wake up feeling like you haven’t slept. You drag yourself out of bed and into the shower because you have to. It takes you a couple of hours to really get going, but you are still dragging yourself through the day. After lunch you could easily fall asleep, but somehow you carry on. After dinner, somehow, you find you experience a ’second wind’ and start rushing around, getting things done, and generally finding it hard to settle and go to bed.

Once in bed, you can’t get to sleep…busy mind. Once asleep, you can’t stay asleep, typically waking up around 1-3am, thinking about all the things you need to do, or ‘did I remember to do that?’. If its bad, you’ll not be able to get back to sleep until just before you are due to get up again.

These symptoms have been called “Wired but Tired” because the person is ‘wired’ at night and can’t sleep well, and tired during the day. If you identify with this…DANGER…DANGER…DANGER… you are about to burn out and get really sick. These are pre-burnout symptoms – you are about to fail!

The consequences can include Depression/Fatigue/Pain Syndromes that can take months or years to recover from. Some of the other expressions of ‘running out of steam’ include heart attack, stroke, rashes, hypertension, migraine, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, worsening of hormone symptoms and combinations of these.

Many of you reading this will already have the initial symptoms of fatigue and sleep disturbance… if so, take notice that YOU MUST DO SOMETHING NOW TO PREVENT THE FULL CATASTROPHE!

1. Get a grip and get perspective on what’s really important, and get your priorities right – your health, your partner and family are first.
2. Go home at a reasonable time, and don’t take work home.
3. Learn a relaxation technique.
4. Be in bed and asleep by 10.30pm. To do this, you may have to aim for 9.30pm, and start actively winding down from 9pm. Turn the computer off!
5. Follow the Low Stress Diet – plenty of fruit and vegetables and some good quality protein. Keep sugar and starches to a minimum.
6. Take Omega 3 Fish oil, and a good multivitamin.
7. Take heaps of Magnesium, especially at night – it will help your mind and body to relax.
8. Get a life – this is the only one this time around, and you can’t afford to blow it. Wake up and sort out some regular breaks and relaxation.
9. Pace yourself.
10. Start playing again…

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