Avoiding the Energy Zappers
Lack of energy can seriously compromise our days, but there are a few elemental steps to take that will help flip the switch on these so-called “zappers”. Simple bio-hacking strategies—such as starting each day off with a positive healing mantra, adding a calming breathwork technique or adding in a large water tonic—are small tweaks that (when done daily) can help get into flow.
But to really tackle the energy zappers, we next want to take a deeper personal inventory for what could be negatively impacting our everyday lives. In what we eat, these commonly include sugar, sodium, food preservatives and added chemicals. Below the surface, these can also be bodily infections, endotoxins, heavy metals and medications, all of which can be made worse by stress, poor time management and sleep habits.
The easiest place to start is with the foods we buy, which is why label reading is a good idea. It isn’t enough to just look for a package that features “gluten free” or “organic” on the front. Many packaged foods with these healthy-sounding words can actually be high in sodium, processed carbs and sugar. Also check the ingredients for additives and preservatives. That seemingly healthy salad may be covered in a dressing that’s loaded with sugar and fake ingredients; or that well-packaged vegan burrito could harbor a day’s worth of sodium in one serving.
Sometimes it’s the packaging itself—plastics, for instance. Most plastics contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical compound that can mess with hormones. One of the most common and frequent products that expose people to BPA are plastic water bottles; another is the plastic lid used to cover hot drinks like coffee and tea. Hot drinks in containers topped with plastic lids cause BPA from the plastic lid to drip into that tea or coffee mug. Similarly, the BPA in plastic water bottles can leach into the water itself, particularly if the bottle is exposed to higher temperatures, like being left in a car on a hot summer day.
Energy issues can impact just about every aspect of our lives, from mood and memory to detoxification, sleep and general healing. So after cleaning up our diet and managing stress, we really want to consider what is at the root of symptoms like brain fog and exhaustion. That’s where we might turn our attention to what’s happening on the inside. like a chronic infection that’s affecting our metabolism or a latent virus that’s now running rampant. It may be nutrient insufficiency in one or more essential categories or plain old low thyroid and adrenal overload.
Often, part of the problem is sleep. Patients report having trouble either falling asleep, staying asleep or both. Hormones such as cortisol and melatonin are out of sync with the body’s natural circadian rhythm. For best results, cortisol should be highest in the morning and lower gradually until it reaches its lowest point at night, when the sleep hormone melatonin is at its highest. While there are a number of things that can cause stress hormone levels to go up at night, the number one culprit is unstable blood sugar.
It is a measurement of glucose in our bloodstream, and when it is out of whack, it causes all kinds of energy issues. For patients that suffer from extreme fatigue, a great place to start is by examining our life routines daily for the energy zappers. The next step would be to run some tests that give consideration to what’s happening inside the body, even at the cellular level, while also managing adequate sleep, stress and glucose control.
To view a free, three-minute blood sugar quiz, visit DrPucciBloodSugarQuiz. To learn about Dr. Doug Pucci‘s Root Cause Solution to chronic health concerns, call 201-261-5430 or register at GetWell-Now.com/webinar.
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