Eavesdropping on a wide-range of adult conversations, you will overhear the ubiquitous chant, “I’m soooo tired.” True, many are fatigued because of the after effects of sleep deprivation, excessive caffeine, or junk food. So, why do people who get enough sleep and eat a healthy diet feel tired too?

If you wore ankle weights or a weighted vest, you would start to feel tired. This is how stress feels, weighing you down emotionally and physically. Are you aware that you live with powerful stressors night and day? Powerful stress hormones flow through your body enflaming your organs, metabolic processes and emotions, making your nerve endings raw. The inflammatory response is exhausting and often leaves you with a negative perception making everything darker and more ominous. Fatigue is one of the most common stress symptoms that sends people to a doctor according to Consumer Reports On Health, Oct. 2012.

7 ways to reduce stress and get your energy back

1. Know your 4 basic stressors: Environmental, which includes chemicals, pesticides and weather; Physical, which includes seasonal bacteria, viruses and allergens; Internal, self-driven by grief, relationship woes and failed accomplishments; National, a fear of terrorism and a recession.
   
2. Recognize stress as soon as it impacts your body before taking root in your psyche. For example, which body part hurts or itches during the stress response, lower back, neck, stomach, head, eyes or skin? What do you think is triggering it? What is your body trying to tell you?
   
3. Slow down your breathing rhythm. When you experience stress, you tend to breathe more shallowly and rapidly. Taking deep breaths helps to energize you by oxygenating your brain to think more clearly to find a more optimistic solution while slowing down a rapidly beating heart.
   
4. Take a technology break. Technology revs you up, disrupts your natural rhythm and distracts you with emails. According to researchers at the University of California, checking emails frequently during work resulted in higher heart rates which indicate stress.
   
5. Move stress out of the body while you fill up on endorphins. Exercise resembles a moving meditation especially if you attach a specific positive intention like, “I’m moving forward in my life,” or “I am strengthening my back to carry my load.” Think it, do it, and become it.
   
6. Don’t forget to drink water. You might be eating a healthy diet, but not drinking enough fluids. For example, you wake up thirsty (a sign of mild dehydration), or you don’t drink enough water because you don’t expect to dehydrate in winter the way you do in summer, but heating elements are dehydrating. Keep in mind that all your metabolic processes need water and this might be the missing link in solving your energy mystery.
   
7. Immerse yourself in whatever you are doing. You tend to bring your family problems to work with you or your worries while doing routine chores. Get into the habit of being totally present to the moment. You will be able to just do your work - without the fatigue.

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For more information on managing your stress and reclaiming your life read my book, Addicted to Stress: A Woman's 7 Step Program to Reclaim Joy and Spontaneity in Life. To listen to archived radio shows with guest experts visit Turn On Your Inner Light Radio Show