With the winter months, comes shorter days, which is known to make people even more tired than usual. However, with the busy days that everyone suffers from, there is no time for naps, or to even slow down.
It can be hard to figure out a way to keep your eyes open without propping them open with toothpicks or taping your eye lids to your eyebrows. However, there are natural remedies to help you fight the “Zzz’s” during the daytime hours. The key ingredient is energy boosting foods and vitamins.
Here is a guide to keeping yourself awake:
1. Water – When you deprive yourself of water, your body lacks the ability to generate energy. Water is the key component to digestion and transferring nutrients throughout your body. When your body becomes dehydrated, you can’t sweat, which leads to severe fatigue. Drinking 8-10 glass of water a day is highly recommended.
2. Oatmeal – Because oats are filled with fiber, it means that your body is getting a steady flow, rather than all in one shot (like a shot of espresso would do for you). Oats also contain vitamin B which is known to energize and assists in transforming carbohydrates into helpful energy, which will fight fatigue.
3. Chocolate – Believe it or not, chocolate can help your energy levels due to the tyramine and phenylethylamine found in chocolate. Chocolate has been proven to reduce anemia and aid with digestion. However, choosing dark chocolate over milk chocolate will give you more benefits, due to fewer calories and more antioxidants. The increase in antioxidants will keep your eyes wide open for a longer period of time.
4. Bananas – Bananas are filled with potassium and electrolytes. Electrolytes help improve energy and assists with muscle function throughout the day, which will in turn will make your body feel more awake.
5. Coffee – Coffee is the number one solution to many, and it can be helpful to keep your eyes open. While coffee is an immediate solution to your problem, the fall back with caffeine is that after you are experience your high energy point during the day, you often times can come crashing down afterwards, and become increasingly tired.
6. Tea – Tea is on the same lines as coffee, but you can buy certain teas that have peppermint, and lemon ingrediants, which actually can increase your energy level. However, the mix of caffeine with the tea can also lead to a crashing point during your day.
7. Vitamin B – This vitamin can be found in many foods, or it can be taken as a daily supplement. Vitamin B is known to build energy production, which is what fights fatigue the best.
8. Iron – Iron is a necessary thing to add into your diet. If you don’t eat many foods that have iron, there are a variety of iron vitamins to choose from. When your body lacks of iron, your red blood cells can actually have hard time carrying oxygen to the body’s tissues which leads to severe fatigue.