How do you keep energised in the evenings?

[WeaverofWords]

I'm working from home at the moment, researching a particular topic and writing about it. I get up at about 6, feel full of beans & get down to it almost straight away. A short workout and then I break at 12 for lunch, usually carb-free, some soup or salad. I get back into it, then go out for a walk or to do chores - pick up stuff from supermarket, sometimes work meetings. Dinner at 6, but after that, I'm exhausted. I want to try to work on in the evenings, but my energy just goes, and I end up slumped on the sofa with my eyes shut, or just surfing mindlessly.

How can I give myself more pep? I take vitamins, have coffee by day. I am awake enough to read by about 10 ish, and then sleep at midnight.

Any ideas? I've tried a cold drink tonight but I'm not sure it has had much effect...

Wine😉

No way! It makes me sooo sleepy. I've given up booze for Dry January!

For goodness sake you're up and at it from 6am. Give your mind and body a rest!! We are animals not robots.

@awesomekilick

For goodness sake you're up and at it from 6am. Give your mind and body a rest!! We are animals not robots.

Depending on your age, I agree ... If your 40s plus that sounds pretty good, on the go for over 12 hours. I started to get significantly tireder from about 43... In 20s and 30s I had limitless energy.

Thanks @awesomekilick Yeah, I guess I'm up early. I used to be able to work on, it's not really anything arduous, and it's only until I get to my deadline in a couple of weeks' time. I just wish I had more stamina in the short term! It feels like I get plenty of rest in the day, I'm not rushing around.

Are you eating enough?

@CheshireSplat I'm 49. Is it an age thing, do you think? God, that's depressing...

Go to bed earlier

But also, yes, that’s plenty for one day. Maybe try and do something ‘nice’ in the evening.

Slumped on the sofa sounds about right, you've heard about burning the candle at both ends? Not really recommended.

@Youngatheart00

Are you eating enough?

I have a normal-sized dinner with tons of veg, and then small snacks of nuts, avocadoes, that sort of thing. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, I might have a cup of tea and a biscuit or crackers & cheese at about 9 pm ish. I'm not underweight, nor am I overweight. I take a multivitamin & Vit D every morning. I had bloods recently and the doctor said they are spot on, perfect, and that I must have a very good diet indeed. Weird!

The evening is for winding down. Are you getting enough sleep? 6 hours isn’t loads. I need around 7.5 to get through the day without a slump.

I have a similar schedule and energy levels. Reading your posts, you do ok! You get up early, a really busy day and stay up until midnight. You only have 6 hours sleep a night!

I often feel really tired in the evening and like you don't like it - have concluded that I do need more than the 6 hours of sleep I get. (I've always been ok on 6 hours, but maybe middle age is a factor). I have difficulty staying asleep more than 6 hours though.

I also feel a lot better if I go out I went out to a yoga class tonight and that energised me but I also have more energy if I go out with friends too.

I dont.

Do you only get around 6 hours sleep a night? I wouldn’t survive for long on that!

@SheWoreYellow Yeah, maybe an earlier bedtime is good. I find I can't sleep if I go to bed any earlier. Midnight lights out is perfect for drifting off to sleep. Will try to push it to 11.30 tonight, 11 tomorrow, etc. and see how that goes. I just wish I had more oomfff...

@hugoagogo I don't feel like I am burning the candle at both ends. I don't have anyone here, so am pretty chilled. I used to work on in the evenings up until a few years ago - in fact in those days, I would get dressed up and go out on work things, too. It feels weird that it has suddenly changed.

Midnight bedtime and Up at 6? Not enough sleep!!

@TheLeadbetterLife @Orchid876 It seems little but I've always been like this. My eyes just ping open at 6! Will see if I can go to bed at 11.30 tonight and will aim to get it to 11, but I find I just wake up earlier if I do that. But you're right, I am missing that "winding down" part of the evening. I wonder if I should try to divide the evening time up a bit, so my expectations are a bit lower - maybe just say work only between 7.30 and 8.30, then watch a film or something.

@ItsnotdeepallItsnotdeep It feels ok but I just wish I could get a bit more done in the evenings, too. Yes, I find it hard to sleep longer than 6 hours, have always had this.

You've given me an idea, maybe I need to actually go out and do something. A yoga class sounds good. My friends did invite me to the pub tonight but it felt like too long an evening (pub quiz). Maybe I should have just gone.

How many hours work are you doing? No one can do more than 4-5 intense hours, plus a few routine hours on a regular basis. If you force it you will just loose energy overall.

I think age comes into it, but also work is sometimes more complex as you get older and more senior, plus you are more aware of your overall quality of life. An extra hour sleep would also help.

I’m around your age OP and I wake up between 5.30 and 6.00. I’m very busy all day and slump at around 7pm.
I do very little between 7 and 9pm but don’t worry about it! It’s only two hours at the end of yet another non-stop day.
I go to bed around 9pm and either read or look on my phone (not good I know) until about 10pm.

You need to rest at some point!

@Luredbyapomegranate I'm not sure that I'm as productive as it might seem. Up at 6, wash face & brush teeth, have coffee, open up house, put laundry on. Emails and admin maybe 8-9, break for workout, then bath, bit of coffee, pick up again 10.30-12, lunch then more pottering, bit more work 1-2, sometimes a meeting and/or supermarket and anything else outside the house, work again 4-6, break for dinner... and then I would like to fit in another hour or 2, but feel exhausted. That looks like a decent number of breaks to me.

@NinaDefoe Maybe it is normal, then! I suppose there are the demands of juggling a house and admin, and life's things around all the work things!

Looking at your routine, I feel like your breaks are too long. If you worked FT, you’d assume 9-12 then 1-5 with maybe a 15 minute break in the morning and afternoon for coffee / wee at a push. So perhaps change your routine to have more solid hours of work and then use your evenings for household tasks / relaxing.

Oh I see, then I think you just need to rearrange your day to take advantage of when you have energy. You gotta work with your natural rhythms, and they can change.

So if you are best in the morning, and you get up at 6, you should - for example - be able to fit in 4 hours of core work, plus a work out by 12 / 12.30, with mini breaks. You could do your admin and emails after lunch when you are likely a bit dozy, then another core hour, then a meeting or admin. At 6 you should be able to switch off and go out or exercise.

I think you are just stuck in a pattern that worked for you in the past. Tweak it.

Maybe do a bit more in the early to mid afternoon, and take the full evening off. I am 49, wfh fulltime and have two tweens. Work from 9am til 5pm.

I do household, driving dcs 7 to 9am. I collect dcs at 5pm, dinner, evening tidying. Sitting down to watch tv at 7 or 7.30pm. I do one good shop a week and then a topup mid week. I walk briefly at lunch. I will do more exercise as evenings get brighter. I am in bed at 11pm, up at 7am. I take multivits, no processed food, but have chocolate everu day. I feel reasonable most of the time. A lot of this is down to saving time and no commute.

Yes, I think you are both right - my breaks are too long. When I was in the office, I would do 9-11, 11.30-1, then lunch until 2, 2-3.30, 4-5.30.

Think I will try going back to that, and ignoring shopping, laundry, etc. I can't do 4 straight hours.

Yes, def needs tweaking.