eMedExpert Blog

“Energy is the power that drives every human being. It is not lost by exertion but maintained by it.”
Germaine Greer

If you don’t feel up for the kids, are annoyed at every demand, and you’re living for the weekend, than it is time to fix what’s zapping your energy.

When deciding where to begin to increase your energy levels, I would recommend looking at your energy zappers first before energy boosters. No matter how strenuously energy boosting you do, the energy will just continue to drain until you fix the leakage.

Check out these energy zappers and see how many apply to you.

1Lack of sleep

Sleep is a time for repairing and restoring and it is the true source of our energy. I belive poor night sleep is the biggest and fastest energy zapper in most people’s lives. One bad night can ruin the next 24-48 hours.

When it comes to sleep, both quantity and quality matter. Lack of sleep, disrupted sleep, and irregular sleep partenns have a dire effect on energy levels, creativity, mental alertness, general wellbeing and health. People who are unable to sleep properly at night tend to be weary most of the time and lack the ability to concentrate.

What to do? Simply trying to go to bed earlier will usually fail. If you go to bed when you are not enough sleepy it takes a long time to fall asleep. The very attempt to force yourself to sleep actually awakes you, making it more difficult to sleep.

Go to bed when you are sleeppy and get up at the same time every morning. If you got not enough sleep one night, you will feel drowsy earlier and get more sleep the next night. If you are full of energy and aren’t exhausted, you may need somewhat less sleep hours.
Read some tips on how to improve your night sleep on HealthAssit.

2Weekend oversleep

Do you look forward to the weekend to sleep yourself out? Carrying a sleep debt throughout the week with the hopes of paying it off on the weekend is a bad strategy. Studies have found sleeping longer than usual on weekends can disrupt your body’s natural sleep schedule (circadian rhythm)1.

What to do? I think the key here is to establish your sleep schedule and have a will-power to follow it on weekends.

3Poor diet

When fast food and processed food is your main diet your body is not provided with enough vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and essencial fatty acids. You simply don’t get what you need. Low levels of B-vitamins, potassium, iron, and iodine contribute to fatigue.

Sugary food may promise a quick rush of energy but are followed by an energy crash. These foods trigger a large output of insulin, which lowers blood sugar and leaves you feeling sluggish.

Too much food is just as dangerous for your energy as too little food. Too many kilocalories will leave you lethargic. Too few and you’re deserting without the fuel and nutrients you need.

Waiting too long between meals can also sap your energy. If you skip meals, your body slows the metabolic rate and starts conserving energy because it lacks nutrients.

What to do? Eat healthy! Reduce the amount of processed foods. Focus on increasing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, low fat dairy products and lean meats.

4Clutter, mess and disorganization

Our cluttered, disorganized and unpleasant surroundings can drain us of more energy than we realize. According to the American Demographic Society, Americans waste more than 9 million hours each day looking for lost and misplaced items!

Looking for lost or misplaced stuff is a huge physical drain. Being long looking for necessary thing adds emotional drain. And trying to remember where all things are is a big mental drain. Just being in a cluttered room makes a person tired. A cluttered environment tends to clutter your mind.

What to do? Clean your clutter and organize your environment. Give everything a storage place. Throw out items you no longer need or love. Some areas you might consider giving a clean-up: work-place, home, wardrobe, computer.

5Procrastination: unfinished tasks and projects

Everything undone, incomplete or unresolved in your personal or professional life drains your energy. As long as affairs are left unfinished they continue to distract you.

Procrastination is quite toxic. I have noticed if there is something I have left undone it keeps running through my mind until it is done. This causes needless energy spending.

What to do? Try outsourcing your life. See which tasks can be eliminated or delegated. Decide what you aren’t going to do. Focus on what is really important and can actually be done. Also, don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

6Anger

Anger can be a powerful destructive force. It drains your energy and makes you waste your time in negative thinking.

Most people have some difficulty handling their anger. The problem is usually not the anger itself but the ways in which it is expressed. Some people express their anger in aggressive ways, such as breaking things, lashing out at others, exploding in rage, intimidating and offending. Others express it indirectly, in passive-aggressive ways like sarcasm, nagging or silence and withdrawal. All of these ways are destructive and simply don’t work, since they just keep you stuck in the anger and drain your emotional, physical, and mental energy.

What to do? Of course there are exceptions: some people redirect anger towards building success for themselves, but on the whole anger is draining rather than invigorating. When you find yourself engaged in anger, change the focus.

7Information overload & addiction

Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information that enters your life in the form of media, books, magazines and e-mail? The information glut drains your time and your emotional energy. Worse, perhaps, it dulls your ability to think. Just because we have access to all the information in the world doesn’t mean we can process it all.

Do you like blogs, e-mail and social networking sites to get the latest news and keep in touch? But that love can quickly turn into an obsession if you aren’t careful.

What to do? You have to decide which information is important enough to read, watch, or pay attention to.

William Van Winkle observed, “Data is like food. A good meal is served in reasonably sized portions from several food groups. It leaves you satisfied but not stuffed. Likewise with information, we’re best served when we can partake of reasonable, useful portions, exercising discretion in what data we digest and how often we seek it out.”

8Resentment: taking offence

Resentment drags you down and keeps you grasped by your past. In most cases where resentment takes place, the only person who suffers is the victim of the incident.

What to do? The only way the sufferer can get rid of the burden of resentment is forgiveness. Yea, this can be very difficult to achieve! But for as long as you continue to resent your offender, he or she will sap your joy for living and haunt your dreams at night.

9Living beyond your means: Overspending

Living beyond your means is a persistent energy zapper. Trying to keep up with co-workers and friends who have a larger financial resource than you will certainly create financial trouble.

What to do? Sticking to the budget that fits your level of income can help prevent your energy from being zapped by worry how to pay bills each month. Know exactly how much you have to spend and use money wisely. When going out for shopping keep a list of items which you “really” need to buy and stick to your list. Develop plan for financial future and try to increase your source of income.

Having freedom from financial worry can certainly lead to the freedom to achieve success in many areas of life as well.

10Worrying & Control issues

We spend a lot of time and energy trying to control everything that goes on around us: events, people and situations. Some people feel an urge to fix every problem that comes up but it is impossible to create a perfect world.

Constant worrying drains your brain of energy and focusing power, and it is a waste of your precious time. This is one of the most difficult to get rid of since worrying is completely irrational, yet something so inherently human.

What to do? When you find yourself getting into the worry mode, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Though usually the worst doesn’t happen, this switch the power from worry and empowers you to come up with a plan. The energy waste is reduced, turning your force into a creative power.

Let go off things you can’t control and focus on what you can! Ask yourself if there is some action you need to take. If there is no action you need to take, then say to yourself: “There is nothing I need to do about this right now, so there’s no point in focusing on it.” and switch your attention elsewhere.

11Gossiping

People waste so much time, and create a negative environment by gossiping. It is a real energy drain to discuss others negatively. In fact, next time you gossip, take notice how your energy is lower than before you gossiped.

What to do? If you find yourself in a conversation with a gossip, although you may have no other choice but to listen, do not engage. When there is a break in conversation try to change the subject.

12“Energy vampires”

Did you ever talk to someone and felt tired, drained, depressed and exhausted afterwards? We often call such persons “Toxic people” or “Energy vampires”. They suck positive energy out of you and leave feeling so mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically drained.

Toxic people are those who complain or grumble all the time, constantly in need for help, advice, sympathy, or confidence-boosting. They always expect the worse to happen. They encourage you to have feelings of guilt, inadequacy or inferiority. They blame others, spoil for a fight, and provoke a quarrels.

However, there are other, more subtle toxic people. Deliberate “energy vampires” may be very appealing, charming, highly inventive or compellingly persuasive.

What to do? One of the first things to do is to be aware of who the energy vampires are in your life. Try to avoid toxic peole if possible or limit time with them. Whenever the negative talk starts just smile and don’t say anything. The less you pay attention to them, the less they’ll affect you.

13Overwork

Being chronically overworked can seriously drain energy reserves. When your job extends over working hours, the things that could recharge your energy battery suffer as well. You get less sleep, less rest, and load up on caffeine.

What to do? It’s important to seek a proper work-life balance in order to maintain energy levels. Work to live, don’t live to work.

14Endless “to-do” list

Too many commitments is extremely exhausting. Often, just thinking about what you have to do is draining. In addition to the physical force that chores like cleaning the house, cooking, and grocery store shopping demand from you, they drain your time and energy without giving much joy.

What to do? Simplify your to-do list up to the few essential tasks. Organise your list - prioritise which ones you think should be done first. If something can be delegated to someone else, then do it. Also, make sure that once you complete the task, it’s done properly. This helps to avoid going back and re-do anything.

15Lack of exercise

Lack of exercise = lack of energy. It’s a downward cycle: If you don’t exercise, you canТ’ be fit, and if you’re not fit, you won’t have the energy to exercise.

Exercise causes release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These chemicals give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.

What to do? Even though it seems like exercise might deplete your last remaining energy reserves, it’s actually the best way to beat fatigue and feel refreshed.

Sources & References

• 1. Yang CM, Spielman AJ, D’Ambrosio P, Serizawa S, Nunes J, Birnbaum J. A single dose of melatonin prevents the phase delay associated with a delayed weekend sleep pattern. Sleep. 2001 May 1;24(3):272-81. Pubmed

I think no one, given the choice, would want to lose their hair. The emotional aspects of living with hair loss can be challenging.

Discovery of hair loss is a stressful experience for both sexes, but substantially more distressing for women. Nevertheless many doctors failing to accept hair loss as an important medical problem and ignore the real distress suffered by a significant proportion of those affected.

We have the list of “How hair loss impacts the perceptions, feelings, and life of people that suffer from it”, which is intended to give a real facts and understanding of the scale of the problem.

Briefly, the negative effects of hair loss include both cosmetic ones such asinability to style the hair as you would like to and serious ones likelow self-esteem, embarrassment, shyness and even depression.

The few positive effects that are connected to hair loss are that some of those affacted start exercising to improve physique or dress better.

Take a look, it may be interesting for both hairy and not much.

1How frequently do doctors misdiagnose patients?

While research has demonstrated that most of the time a medical diagnosis is on point, the answer is probably higher than patients expect and certainly higher than doctors realize. In a Supplement to the issue of The American Journal of Medicine, a collection of articles and commentaries sheds light on the causes underlying misdiagnoses and demonstrates a nontrivial rate of diagnostic error that ranges from <5% in the perceptual specialties (pathology, radiology, dermatology) up to 10% to 15% in many other fields. Physician overconfidence and a lack of feedback following a diagnosis are two important contributors to the problem.

2Who prescribes antibiotics inappropriately? Foreign, extra-busy and older MDs

When it comes to inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, all physicians are not created equal. Canadian study found that the doctors most likely to prescribe antibiotics in error are those who’ve been in practice longer, see more patients or trained outside Canada or the US.

The study found that international medical graduates are a shocking 78% more likely than Canadian- and American-trained MDs to give antibiotics inappropriately. That correlation, however, doesn’t appear to be explained by poor knowledge. Some countries, Spain foremost among them, simply have more liberal attitudes about antibiotics use. The study also found that doctors who see an average of 34 or more patients per day are 20-27% more likely to give antibiotics where they’re not appropriate. The research also showed that for each year a physician is in practice, their rate of inappropriate prescribing increases 4%.

3Doctors’ choice of prescriptions are often influenced by their patients

Physicians’ choice of prescriptions are often influenced by patients, with patient experience with specific drugs playing a strong role, according to the Management Insights feature in Management Science journal. Researchers found that patients play an important role in prescription decisions, but that their influence diminishes when the doctor is a specialist, and that they have no influence in situations where specialists are treating patients with severe symptoms.

4Free drug samples influence prescribing

When a pharmaceutical company puts drug samples into the hands of doctors as a form of marketing, how does it influence their prescribing behavior? One in three doctors agree that free drug samples influence prescribing, finds a small but representative US survey published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

5Patients treated with respect more likely to follow medical advice

Attention doctors: Want patients to follow your advice? Treat them with dignity. In a national survey of more than 5,000 Americans, those who said they were treated with dignity during their last medical encounter were more likely to report higher levels of satisfaction with their care, adhere to therapy and get preventive services.

6Doctor-Patient communication has a real impact on health

Good doctor-patient communication makes a difference not only in patient satisfaction but in patient outcomes including resolution of chronic headaches, changes in emotional states, lower blood sugar values in diabetics, improved blood pressure readings in hypertensives, and other important health indicators (Communication Interventions Make A Difference in Conversations Between Physicians and Patients: A Systematic Review of the Evidence PubMed).

7Most patients want to shake hands with their physicians

When it comes to the doctor-patient relationship, patients have some pretty specific ideas about how they want their doctors to greet them when they first meet.

The researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, interviewed 415 U.S. adults by telephone about how they want their doctors to greet them. The survey results show that most patients want their doctors to shake their hands, greet them by name, and introduce themselves using their first and last name when they first meet.

The survey found that, among patients:

• 78.1% wanted physicians to shake their hands, while 18.1% did not
• 50.4% wanted their first names used during greetings, 17.3% preferred their last name and 23.6% favored the physician using both first and last names
• 56.4% wanted physicians to introduce themselves using first and last names, 32.5% expected physicians to use their last name, and 7.2% would like physicians to use their first name only

87 things patients expect from doctors

If you ever felt like your doctor was trying to push you out of the examination room before you had a chance to explain your condition, you are not alone. A new study from the Mayo Clinic shows that most people agree on what makes a good doctor and it definitely isn’t one who hurries through a visit. A doctor’s people skills can affect a patient’s emotional response and recovery very positively or very negatively, research shows. Based on the study, which surveyed 192 patients, the authors concluded that an ‘ideal’ physician should be:

• Confident
• Empathetic
• Humane
• Personal
• Forthright
• Respectful
• Thorough

9Surgeons are taller and better looking than other doctors

Doctors at the University of Barcelona Hospital noticed that the tallest and most handsome male students were more likely to go for surgery, and the shortest (and perhaps not so good looking) ones were more likely to become physicians. So they decided to test the theory that, on average, surgeons are taller and better looking than physicians.

The results show that, on average, senior male surgeons are significantly taller and better looking than senior male physicians. They also show that film stars who play doctors are significantly better looking than real surgeons and physicians (BMJ).

10Patients often receive incomplete drug instructions

Physicians prescribing new medication often do not say to patients important details, such as potential side effects, how long or how often to take the drug or the specific name of the medication, according to the study.

This study demonstrated that doctors communicated an average of 3.1 of the 5 essential elements, indicating that 62% of the necessary information was conveyed. Physicians used the specific name for 74% of new prescriptions, explained the purpose for 87% and discussed adverse effects for 35%. 34% of the encounters included instructions on how long to take the drug, 55% on the number of tablets to take and 58% on the frequency or timing of dosing.

11Disclosure of medical errors: there is a gap between physicians’ attitudes and their real-world experiences admitting such errors

Physicians may say they would disclose a medical error, but how many actually do? From a survey of faculty physicians, resident physicians and medical students, researchers from the University of Iowa found that while nearly all respondents indicated that they would disclose a hypothetical error, less than half reported having disclosed an actual minor or major medical error.

12The highest rate of “Off-label” prescriptions accounts for Antidepressants, Anticonvulsants, and Antipsychotic medications

The researchers from the University of Georgia examined data on drugs prescribed to 107,000 Georgia Medicaid recipients in 2001. They found that 75% of antidepressant recipients, 80% of anticonvulsant recipients and 64% of antipsychotic recipients received at least one of these medications off-label. Many patients have no idea that this goes on and just assume that the physician is writing a prescription for their indication.

Off-label use of central nervous system drugs can account from anywhere from 25 to 80% of a drug’s annual sales. In the case of the Neurontin (gabapentin) nearly all - 98% - of patients received the drug off label in 2001.

13Seven medical myths even doctors believe

Even physicians sometimes believe medical myths contradicted by scientific evidence. In a study published in the British Medical Journal, Indiana University School of Medicine researchers explored seven commonly held medical beliefs:

• 1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
• 2. We use only 10% of our brains
• 3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
• 4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
• 5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
• 6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
• 7. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals

Despite their popularity, all of these medical beliefs range from unproved to untrue.

14Majority of U.S. doctors believe religion is beneficial for patients’ health

More than half of physicians believe that religion and spirituality have a significant influence on patients’ health, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study also found that 76 percent of physicians believe that religion and spirituality helps patients cope, 74 percent believe that it gives patients a positive state of mind and 55 percent report that it provides emotional and practical support through religious community.

15Psychiatrists are the least religious of all doctors

A nationwide survey of the religious beliefs and practices of American physicians has found that the least religious of all medical specialties is psychiatry. Among psychiatrists who have a religion, more than twice as many are Jewish and far fewer are Protestant or Catholic, the two most common religions among physicians overall.

16However, psychiatrists are most interested in patients’ religion

Although psychiatrists are among the least religious physicians, they seem to be the most interested in the religious and spiritual dimensions of their patients. The researchers examined results from a survey of 100 psychiatrists and 1,044 non-psychiatrists from across the United States. The researchers found that psychiatrists are twice as likely (46% versus 23%) as other physicians to say that patients often mention spiritual issues. They are also much more likely to both say that it is appropriate to ask patients about spiritual concerns (93% vs 53%) and that they do inquire (87% vs 49%).

17The fine art of patient-doctor relationships

Goya and Dr Arrieta

The Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746-1828) has left the most moving testimony of his gratitude for the close relationship with his doctor in Self Portrait with Dr Arrieta (1820). An inscription below the figures explains why Goya made the picture: “Goya, in gratitude to his friend Arrieta: for the compassion and care with which he saved his life during the acute and dangerous illness he suffered towards the end of the year 1819 in his seventy-third year. He painted this in 1820.”

Bellany and Sir Roy Calne

The prolific output of the Scottish painter John Bellany (b 1942) has resulted in many portraits of his healthcare team. The night before his liver transplant in April 1988 at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, he was busy finishing a painting. Bellany surprised everyone by returning to painting right after his operation.

In Bonjour Professor Calne he reveals his sense of humour. The image is inspired by Gustave Courbet’s painting Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet (1854), in which the proud and healthy looking artist, on the road to Montpellier, is met by his patron and a servant. Bellany has transformed the idea into a hospital scene. He lies in his hospital bed, weak from surgery, staring out at us while behind him stand members of the medical team: his “patron” Sir Roy Calne, Dr Jacobson, and a nurse. Above his head are the words “Bonjour Professor Calne” and under his hand is the inscription: “Thank you All.”

Van Gogh and Drs Cavenaille, Rey, and Gachet

Several diagnoses have been offered to explain Vincent van Gogh’s complex medical history. As a result of his recurrent illnesses he had many encounters with the medical profession, and by the time of his death in 1890 he had painted three doctors. He painted Dr Rey’s portrait in gratitude for the sympathetic treatment he had received and gave it to the doctor. It would seem that Dr Rey may have appreciated the gesture more than the painting itself, for tradition has it that he used it to block a hole in a chicken coop.

Munch and Dr Jacobsen

The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) entered the Copenhagen psychiatric clinic of Dr Daniel Jacobsen on 3 October 1908. His admission was the result of many years of deteriorating mental health: depression with paranoia, aggravated by alcoholism. During his eight month recuperation at the clinic, he sketched himself receiving УelectrificationФ (nonconvulsive electrotherapy) from Jacobsen and his assistant, Miss Schacke. Above the sketch Munch wrote: “Professor Jacobsen is electrifying the famous painter Munch, and is bringing a positive masculine force and a negative feminine force to his fragile brain.”