Over the past few days I’ve been feeling pretty exhausted and run-down. In part it’s probably due to:

• Being so busy and doing so much stuff.
• The time of year, especially as the days seem a lot shorter all of a sudden.
• Not enough sleep (and being woken up by cats a lot of the time).
• Not eating or drinking very well (way too much caffeine to combat being tired).

Yesterday was the peak of that – I felt so bad I got the tram home instead of walking, because even fresh air just made me feel worse. I think I’m fighting off some kind of mostly symptomless illness at the moment or something.

So I decided to make a list of things I could do about it.

Eat better

I spoke to a nutritionist years ago who said ‘Most people power their bodies to get from A to B, when really they should be aiming for A to Z. Clearly I didn’t learn anything from that, because I’m still just getting by.

So last night we had homemade chicken tikka (made by Joe) with salad and cucumber yoghurt (made by me), and rice and chapati for the less healthy comfort element. It was SO GOOD.

We’re just starting to get back into a routine of cooking after having a new kitchen,¹ and it’s made me so much happier to have a fridge full of food and a plan of what we’re going to eat. It’s a real incentive for beating that ‘tired after work and can’t be bothered to cook’ feeling.

I’m planning to cut down on the sugar and upping the protein and healthy comfort food (stews, soups, etc.).

Take supplements

One of my friends bought me some fish oil capsules a while back and told me he’d done the research and they were the only things worth taking. It’s probably one of the most practical and unexciting gifts I’ve ever had, but I bought more after I finished his and I’m getting back into taking them again now. The only problem is that they have to be taken with food, which is a bit awkward but not the end of the world.

Despite his advice, I’ve also started taking a vitamin tablet in the morning as well. When I was on medication that made me super tired, I found consuming crazy amounts of vitamin B made me feel a lot more energised. While I won’t be going back to crazy levels, having a vitamin in the morning makes me feel better (psychologically, at least).

Drink better

This morning I’ve traded my diet fizzy caffeine drink (I know, I know) for a banana protein smoothie. I developed a random intolerance to bananas a while back, but fake banana is fine. Any port in a storm, right? I love the flavour of banana and this tastes pretty nice, so it’s all good.

Also on my desk: some still water and a sparkling multivitamin drink. It’s low sugar and today’s alternative to caffeine-based drinks. They probably aren’t something I’ll adopt regularly on a long-term basis, but just to pull me out of a rut and be my crutch for now.

Slow down

This is the most challenging for me really, but I know I have to do it. One of the hardest things about ‘being ill but not being ill’ is that all kinds of boundaries go out of the window. The point of ‘that’s too much’ needs redefining, and sometimes to a lot lower level than standard. I was annoyed about not getting even close to walking 10,000 steps the other day, but my body needed to not be pushed.

Slowing down will involve more mindful use of time, and looking after myself more. I’m adding hot baths, face masks, and general pampering in here.

Exercise

This is a tricky one, because it’s at odds with the whole slowing down thing. However, until I start feeling better I’m going to focus on less intensive things: swapping the gym for yoga at home, doing short 10-15 minute workouts, and breaking up 10,000 steps a day into smaller walks. At the moment I do the bulk of my steps for the day in a short space of time (lunchtime and walking home) due to working in an office all day, so I think trying to incorporate more throughout the day will make it easier.

Sleep

It’s so easy to develop bad habits, and I let my sleep slide more than anything else because naturally I sleep really well. However, I’ve been going to bed later and later and making up for it with caffeine. The cats have also been adjusting to autumn, and they are waking me up a few times in the night at the moment.

At the moment my plan is to keep going to bed slightly earlier every night until I’m back to a reasonable time of about 11 or 11:30pm.I may even try and adjust that further to get up earlier and have some free time in the mornings, but we’ll see how that goes. I also want to try and keep my sleep pattern consistent at weekends too, and not go to bed stupidly late as it will mess things up for the rest of the week.

I’m not normally a fan of sleeping in, but I think this weekend I’ll do that if I need to can in order to give myself some recovery time.

Still be productive

The big temptation when feeling rubbish is to just crash on the sofa or in bed and not really do very much. I know this will make me feel worse after about a day, so it’s important to remember to keep moving and still have a list of things to do, even if several of them are well-being related things rather than actual jobs.