Tired? Free Air Works Better Than A Five-dollar âCoffee
If youâve never scored 90% on anything, hereâs your chance at a do-over.
Storytime
I often get the mid-day tireds.
It hits around 3:30pm.
Sometimes I can push them out to 4:45, or even 5:00pm.
I tell my clients I wonât book sessions after 4pm because they will most certainly not get the best version of me after that. I encourage them to book before noon, or right after my lunch break. Weâll all be happier that way.
Itâs like a little gremlin crawls onto my shoulder at 3pm and whispers ever so quietly
âyou donât want to do that,â and:
motivation flies out the window.
work-pace slows to a sludging-through-molasses crawl.
the dopamine rush of checking items off the to-do list has left the building.
Iâve tried many things to fend off the mid-day motivation thieves, but those gremlins and goblins have got GAME.
Iâve tried:
20-minute cat naps (I usually wake up groggier)
power-snacks (they make me more tired)
15-minute work-break (itâs harder to get re-started)
mid-afternoon caffeine kicks (I donât sleep at night)
saving my favorite work for end of day (I get cranky)
saving my least-favorite work for end of day (I get more cranky)
saving the most mind-less work for end of day (I get the yawns)
saving the most mind-challenging work for end of day (I get more yawns)
change of scenery (it takes me a half hour to an hour to get re-situated)
surrendering and just quit the day early. (I have to play catch-up the next day)
On days I get the mid-day tireds the worst, I know that I havenât been breathing well throughout the day.
Lesson
One day, I read an article about the power of oxygen to provide energy to the body. It said that we get 90% of our bodyâs energy from breathing, and only 10% from food.
Duh. Makes Sense.
Cuz eating means you have to work to break down and digest the food into fuel before you can get the energy from it. Or worse, your body metabolizes the fast-acting sugars for a rush, and then CRASHES lower than the original tireds.
On the other hand, oxygen is the element in the periodic table of elements (remember that from 10th grade chemistry class?) that has the most ENERGY. Thatâs right, those electrons spinning around the nucleus of an oxygen atom spin faster than they do in any other atom. Those oxygen atoms are buggers on speed!
I knew this! Why hadnât I applied this to my mid-afternoon tireds before???
So, I tried a little experiment. The next day, when I felt the tireds coming on (that damn gremlinâs voice was nagging), I went to my yoga mat. I set a timer and did 5-minutes of deep breathing. I was able to get back to work for a solid hour before the gremlin got hungry again. Another yoga mat visit. Another 5-minutes of deep breathing. Three rotations, and I was able to finish my day and my to-do list.
The day after that, I tried another experiment. I opened my Apple Watch âmindfulness appâ and set it to remind me to breathe every hour, on the hour. Apple Watch users, you know the app Iâm talking about, the one that offers a gentle little blue swirl and tells you to breatheâŚand itâs probably the one you silenced shortly after getting your watch. Turns out, itâs a really good tool.
It worked. When I listened to my darn watch tool and deep-breathed for 1-minute of every hourâŚI didnât get the mid-afternoon tireds.
A week later, I thought maybe Iâd be fine on my own, and silenced the app.
I bet you can tell what happened. The tireds returned in full force.
Take-Away
When you get a bad case of the âtiredsâ and you know you shouldnât have that extra cup of coffee, JUST BREATHE.
According to the theory of Occumâs Razor the simplest solution is usually the best solution. All my efforts to fight off the mid-afternoon tireds were more complex solutions than the one thing that worked, and the one thing I actually TEACH đ¤Śđťââď¸.
In this weekâs Mini-Course lesson, Iâll show you the best deep breathing technique to get the most amount of energy into your system.
As a little hint, if you remember the bad-a$$ mind-bender bitch Eleven from the hit TV series Stranger Things? You will get to learn what she knows, and why her favorite insult is to call someone a âmouth breatherâ. . .
This Month on The Mindfulness Coach
My free subscribers will get a series of four articles about why deeper natural breathing is so important, what it does for you, and how it works in your body.
August 6 - Breathing Your Way To Better Health Really đŤ SucksÂ
Learn how oxygen vacuums up all the junk in your trunks.
August 13 - Tired? Free Air Works Better Than A $5.00 âCoffeeÂ
If youâve never scored 90% on anything, hereâs your chance at a do-over.
August 20 - Reclaim Your Life With A Short Trip Through đŞ SpaceÂ
Nothing adds more space to your body and your life than oxygen.
August 27 - Go âSteadyâ with Your Breath
Itâs a relationship you want to stay in.
Re-Learn How To Breathe Like a Baby - And Make EVERYTHING Better.
(for paid subscribers)
This month Iâll be offering step-by-step đĽ video instructions on how to train your body to breathe better. If you practice these simple exercises throughout the month, by the end of the month, you will have trained your body to breathe better as your natural every day breath. The benefits are limitless.
Step #1 - Your Diaphragm is Your Parachute to a Better Place
Step #2 - Donât Be a âMouth-Breatherâ - Nose Breath is Best
Step #3 - Puppy Purrs are BEST
Step #4 - Even-Steven your way to Steady-Ready-ness with your Breath
Upgrade your subscription now and youâll get this monthâs Mini-Course and full access to the Full Mini-Course Library.
Donât Like Mini-Courses?
Try a Private Session.
If you are a chronic breath holder, or online video courses arenât your jamâŚI can teach you personally. Letâs get your brain talking to your body and get your lungs remembering how to do their full jobs.
As you may have seen in my note share....sometimes it's not just my motivation that leaves the building....it's ME đ I typically go out into the yard and sit in the grass with my dog several times a day and sometimes...if the timing is right, I don't go back to my desk at all.
What a wonderful read, as ever! I was diagnosed with narcolpesy in my youth and although Iâve come a loooong way in distancing myself from the illness and healing, I can still get very tired. Today, whilst co-working, I said âIm going to leave the Zoom room open but I gotta lie down for a nap.â During tomorrowâs session, Iâm going to do some real breathing throughout.
Also, side note: I love the expression for menâŚimagine youâre breathing into your balls. Iâve been doing that -sans the balls - and breathing down into my womb space before filling my lungs. If feels so nourishing. đŞ