Do you often feel drained, even after sleeping for a long time? Don't worry, this might be a common issue for many people who feel their "energy levels" are quickly depleted. Today, I'll share some tips to boost your energy. These aren't just random ideas; they're based on the experience of a medical doctor from a top-tier hospital in Beijing. He himself used to be easily fatigued, but he successfully managed his energy levels using a unique methodology, allowing him to handle the immense pressure of working in a hospital with ease.
This doctor wasn't born with abundant energy; in fact, he was prone to fatigue and had difficulty concentrating since childhood. However, he didn't give up and spent his entire academic life researching how to improve his physical strength. Eventually, he realized that instead of forcing a change in his innate physical abilities, it's better to accept reality and make the most of what you have. This is like managing your "existing resources," using your limited energy where it matters most.
So, how exactly should you do it?
1. Sleep: High-Quality Rest is Key
Everyone knows the importance of sleep. Emotions, memory, body repair, and energy recovery all depend on high-quality sleep. Long-term sleep deprivation can cause problems in all parts of your body. In particular, sleep deprivation can affect the growth of developing children.
The most important thing this medical doctor does is replace sleep with meditation.
I know, many of you might say, "If I could fall asleep anytime, anywhere, I wouldn't be worried about energy problems!" But the point isn't to actually fall asleep; it's to achieve a sleep-like effect through meditation. Even if you only have a five-minute gap, close your eyes, take deep breaths, and count your breaths.
This is actually the most common meditation routine. While others go to dinner, he eats something quick and then does a long meditation session. Whenever he has free time, he puts on headphones and counts his breaths. His watch has a meditation tracking feature, and he accumulates two to three hours a day, which is equivalent to two to three extra hours of sleep.
Meditation can turn sleep, something that's highly uncontrollable, into something highly controllable. Many people don't realize that meditation and sleep are actually quite similar. In fact, with practice, it can be even more effective than sleep!
Specific steps for meditation:
- Time: Set a timer for 12 minutes (adjust according to your own needs; 5 minutes is also fine).
- Equipment: Wear headphones, preferably noise-canceling ones.
- Music: Find meditation music (most gentle instrumental music will work).
- Posture: Close your eyes, lie down, or lean back.
- Breathing: Start taking deep breaths and focus on counting them.
Beginners find it difficult to count to 100; many get confused after counting to 40 or 50 and fall into a semi-sleepy state. When the timer goes off, you'll feel like you've woken up from a nap, with a very clear mind.
When you're not feeling well, don't force yourself; find a place to count 100 breaths, and your condition will usually recover quickly. In between tasks, quickly do a five-minute closed-eye breathing exercise. There are also many guided meditation videos on Bilibili (a Chinese video platform), where you can follow the host's instructions.
This doctor believes that meditation is another form of sleep, but it doesn't require as much environmental control as sleep. You can close your eyes and meditate for a while on the subway, in a taxi, or in the lobby, but you can't take a nap there.
2. Social Media: Stay Away from Mental Drain
This medical doctor believes that some apps, while seemingly entertaining and relaxing, actually consume a lot of your energy. Therefore, he hardly watches short videos and limits his use of social media to 40 minutes per day. He often prefers to daydream rather than look at social media. And he believes that daydreaming is also a form of rest.
He also mentioned a strategy: avoid things that upset you and don't engage with low-energy or negative content. If you encounter it, don't respond, ignore it, and don't pick up the thread.
If you respond or refute, it will latch onto you. For example, if you see a bad comment that disgusts you, and you can't help but reply, a bunch of people will attack you, making you feel disgusted all day long. Treat other "dirty" things the same way: don't respond and don't check, and it will slip past you.
Many people in fan circles aren't mentally healthy because their daily lives revolve around defending their idols, constantly arguing with or being attacked by others. So, you can try this: when you encounter annoying negative things, just "忍" (ren, meaning "endure")! Consciously ignore them and don't pick up the thread. After about a week, you'll feel younger and more energetic because you're losing less energy for no reason.
3. Walking: Get Your Body Moving
Maintain 10,000 steps every day, and sometimes up to 20,000 steps. In junior and senior high school, his school was eight kilometers round trip from his home, so he walked eight kilometers every day. He slept much better and never gained weight. And he found that if he stopped walking for a month or two, his memory clearly began to decline, and his mood also began to drop.
Now, he lives near the hospital and walks to and from work every day. Adding in the walking he does at work, he maintains around 10,000 steps.
If you only walk a thousand steps a day, your body is declining. The most obvious sign is that your waistline will get bigger, and your mood will slowly deteriorate. If you walk five to six thousand steps, you can maintain the status quo in the long term. If you walk eight to ten thousand steps, your body is improving, and your waistline is getting smaller.
He also mentioned something else: actually, after running and exercising, the body is in a negative balance state, meaning the body is constantly breaking down muscle and also synthesizing muscle. After exercise, the degree of breakdown is greater than the degree of synthesis.
This requires introducing another thing: after exercise, you should immediately supplement with protein and a small amount of carbohydrates. This allows the body to quickly shift into a positive balance cycle and enter a synthetic state. This is why people at the gym eat bananas and protein powder after working out.
Interestingly, he said that everyone at the hospital drinks milk powder; every time they come back from walking 3,000 steps, they drink a big glass of milk powder. Now, vitamins are added to milk powder, so they can supplement those together. However, it should be noted that the fat content of milk powder is very high. In general, the richer the milky flavor, the higher the fat content. Skim milk is very difficult to drink because the fat has been removed.
In other words, fitness doesn't improve physical fitness; after fitness, the body will begin to repair and supercompensate. Supplementing with protein can improve physical fitness. If there's not enough protein, fitness will make your body weaker. So why add carbohydrates? Mainly because the body's synthetic metabolism requires insulin. Adding a little carbohydrate can promote synthetic metabolism.
This medical doctor's experience is important to me. I started running again last year, but my progress was very slow. After listening to the lecture, I realized that I always ran during other people's dinner time and didn't eat anything afterwards, so my body was in a negative balance! That's why my running didn't improve much. This year, I started having a scoop of protein powder and a banana after every run, and my progress has definitely been much better these past few months.
For ease of understanding, I've summarized the nutritional supplements after exercise in a table:
| Nutrient Type | Function | Source Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | Repairs and supercompensates muscles, improves physical fitness | Protein powder, milk powder |
| Carbohydrates | Promotes synthetic metabolism, provides energy | Bananas, rice, bread |
Conclusion
When we're not feeling well, we always think about how to change things. This medical doctor's approach is actually more practical: optimize the process, improve the management of existing resources, and manage what you already have well, and you can still achieve great heights. I hope these methods can help you better manage your energy, say goodbye to fatigue, and embrace vitality!