Lots of sugar ... Lots of tiredness ?

[calum17]

Hi everyone. I've noticed this for a little while now, but when i have sugar i feel tired.
lately i've not been sleeping too well - but that's for a number of reasons, of which i don't think is related to this more of a stress/worry thing that.

but. i've never had troubles sleeping after drinking a can of coke or pepsi etc. and i even used to have a mug of hot chocolate with many sugars in it before bed and i'd sleep fine. same with tea too.
now, work is very quiet as i don't have a busy job and we drink a cup of tea sort of every hour/hour and a half. this means, i have tea about 8 when i get up, then again about half 9, half 10 or 11 ish. and so on through the day, until about half 4 when we have our last before closing at half 5. i may then have more at home or a fizzy drink or something. the problem is, in each of those cups of tea i have a two and a half sugars, sometimes 3 and not far from often - more! not healthy, but it tastes nice. after this though, i feel quiet tired. but surely with that caffeine intake and amount of sugar i should be bouncing off the walls? after all, i'm only 17 not an older person who you'd expect not to become hyper - but i've never been one to get too hyper anyway.
also, which is what made me notice this as a problem, sometimes at work we have 'Kick' which is basically tesco's take on red bull, or sometimes the lidl's one. now, an ENERGY drink surely shouldn't make me feel really tired? i'm glad i've noticed it at work, because now i'd never drink an energy drink and then take the bike out - say on a long ride or something because i feel it would be too dangerous. but surely something isn't right?
could i have some sort of illness or even something which means i shouldn't have sugar? i may go for a diabetes test sometime because everyone says it could be a problem for me, as i used to have 4 or 5 sugars in tea with more sometimes! but that's just being young.
has anyone else had this sort of thing, or is it normal or am i broked?!

sorry for the long, boring and maybe confusing post - but if anyone has some answers i'd like some advice.

thanks
calum.

[mr jamez]

I found that 'energy' drinks disagreed with me a while back, I had half a bottle of tesco kick and it was one of the worst come downs I have ever had! Was like a horrible hangover

You can't expect your body to run well on shit like energy drinks and sugar. What is your diet like? Nothing gives you energy like good healthy food washed down with lots of water.

If you don't like that idea then mix some vodka with the redbull, the only way I can take it, makes me go a bit loopy though
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[calum17]

thanks mr Jamez.
maybe it's something in the energy drinks which screws up my body and makes me tired instead of actually helping - i dont drink it to give me energy normally anyway (never would after realising it made me need sleep) but it's cheap, cold and the cans are just the right size to be something to drink sometimes.

i'm not really sure what my diet is like to be honest, i dont often have breakfast, but when i do its 1 or 2 pieces of toast and a cup of tea, but just tea these days.
lunch is pretty much always a cheese and ham baguette, sometimes chip shop chips - but very rarely do i have something different!
and dinner, well that's normally what ever my mummy cooks for me sometimes that's proper food, sometimes not - im probably not really a healthy person! oh, and i dont like water.

[lofty]

I tend to live on sugar, chocolate, sweets, biccys, anything like that, and if I don't work it off I get, like you, very tired! I seem to get ups and downs because of it, but if I exercise it off I am fine.
I used to drink lots of energy drinks (relentless etc) at uni to keep me awake during lectures, but I found I couldn't make notes because I went jittery for about ten mins and my writing went to pot, and then zonked out! I think if I had drunk it and been running about, it would've been fine!

[teech]

You want to try and wean yourself off it if you can - I had a mate who developed quite a big caffeine habit and it ended up making him really quite ill in the end - looked like Gollum, all pale pasty and looking like he needed a weeks sleep. He had to stop in the end he was so sick. A month later he looked like a new man.

Sugar is an artificial stimulant (especially in the form you are taking it) and your body will change to react to it and the sugar rush come down will be more frequent and horrible the more your tolerance builds up, so I would try and take a break for a while.

It can lead in some (extreme) cases to diabetes too. Just a heads up to think about.
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In everyday life good people do good things, bad people do bad things. It takes religion to make a good person do bad things.

[Weedy]

[calum17]

thanks for all of the advice.
it may seem that the problem is not exercising then.
as i work selling carpets and beds, realistically i do very little - and when i am 'busy' im not doing much in the way of using energy except when on bigger deliveries or the lorries come in.
but, i work for my father, and he has mentioned he wants go to boxing, not the fighting - the training, so i may pester him more to see if i can get him to go and i'll go with him. my problem, is i need to have someone else with me, so if he doesnt do it i'll need to find someone else - i tried swimming for a while with a friend but it wasnt too easy with all of the bike gear. and walking (despite having 3 dogs) is boring on your own - and my parents walk them anyway.


thanks for the advice.

oh. as for 'i dont like water' i dont mind it as tea or squash and that, but just plain water i dont like. it's got a taste i dont like, the taste i dont like may actually be a taste of nothing - but still, i cant drink it 'neat'

[Weedy]

Boxing is a fantastic way of getting some cardio training as well as increasing stamina and overall fitness. Give that a go a couple of times a week, or go for a cycle and you could be well on your way.

Be warned though, that excercising without eating/drinking the correct foods can leave you drained, so its essential that you start getting yourself properly hydrated and start eating things that are good fuel for your body.
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OWNED: 2008 Aprilia Pegaso Strada CURRENT: Bikeless :'(

[calum17]

thanks.
i'll have to see if i can get to dad to do it as well then, or someone else to do something with me. then i'll focus on my diet a lot more. i've known for a long time i'm not a healthy person, but with no reason to change it - and being very skinny still it's never been something i've decided to think about

[Tonka]

You may think this a bit naff, but if you joined a sports club you'd always have other people to train with. Take a look to see if there is a boxing club night that you could go to with or without your Dad or even martial arts or racket sports. Once you start going there'll be others there who can help encourage you to eat and drink better too.

Have a go at a few different sports to try and find something you really enjoy or some other people's company you enjoy too. Remember, if it's good fun you're more likely to keep going!
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[GhostRider]

IIRC, your intake of sugars is probably causing an insulin spike to occur, and thus afterward your blood sugar levels are low,which will cause fatigue, which probably prompts you to load up another cup of brew or reach for that energy drink, and thus the cycle repeats itself. The drop in blood sugar will far outweigh the stimulatory effects of caffeine/taurine etc. Also, some people just dont take well to energy drinks such as red bull etc. I remember taking a Kaffeine Kick before going the gym once and it really didnt do me any favours and I didnt feel well afterwards for a few hours so would probably do well to avoid those in the future.

Boxing is definately a very testing way to get fit - so its ideal!! Agree with Weedy that you want to eat properly prior to excercise - got to have enough quality fuel in the tank before you go sweating buckets, which is also why you should start getting used to plain water, after a boxercise circuit you;ll be screaming internally for just one sip of ice cold refreshment, believe me.

Good luck, train hard.

GhostRider

Some people dont take too well to energy drinks
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[Eddie Hitler]

Havnt read through the thread, but coke contains caffeine. Im the same, 1 coke and im up all night. Just cut back on it.

[odoliam]

I'd suggest going to your GP for a few tests
doesn't take too long - something a lot of people don't realise until too late is they are diabetic/hypoglycemic

an ex- g/f of mine was getting really tired and having black-outs from sugar and alcohol. found out she was hypoglycemic and couldn't eat almost all sugars and carbs!
she even passed out for over an hour one day because of a glass of white wine!

these can be brought on by continued use of sugar in your diet - like if it isn't working and then having more sugar!

I'd rather know and understand what works for me than just stop and one day get caught out after eating something sweet and blacking out on the bike or in the car - especially after seeing the effects it can have!!
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[thegubner]

No need to cut the sugar out at all ! ! ! ! ! !


The solution is simple, carry on having it the way you like it, just dissolve a line or two's worth of charlie into each cup of tea or cold drink you have, every single drink, you wont be tired for a long time.

Could sort your problems out too luke.

[Sparks!]

There's only so much caffiene/sugar your body can take before you crash and then feel worse than when you started.

Technically if you eat a good diet with no junk you should have /more/ energy.... Red bull and the like are just pick-me-ups for usually unfit, unhealthy people who are addicted to caffiene.. I know because I am pretty much the same A few weeks ago I drank so much relentless in a week I was absolutely fucked!!!

So if you're feeling this way after every can, then you really have to stop masking the tirednes, you need to cut out all the junk, eat healthy, drink water/juice/squash and catch up on some sleep... after a few weeks, (yes it takes weeks not days) you'll start to feel better again.

That's the only real answer, it's probably not what you want to hear though, I know, cos I've had the same thing numerous times, always end up back on the relentless though eventually
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[calum17]

thanks for all of the advice.

i dont really drink many cans of energy drinks, one a day is a max. sometime its much less than that now - 1 a week or maybe even less still! i dont drink them for the energy, i drink them as a cold drink that's cheap. at half the cost of a can of coke - its much better at work.
the main problem i think is my tea intake, and the number of sugars i have in tea. but i love tea, and cant drink it with little or no sugar - 2 is a minimum for me. but tend to have 3.

i think i'll take up some kind of sport as you have suggested, swimming or boxing-training maybe. depends on money or someone to do it with.

thanks

[Weedy]

If money is a problem, there are plenty of "pay as you go" gyms around. I joined one recently and I've noticed a rapid increase in my overall fitness and stamina.

Alternatively, as the weather is pretty nice at the moment, what about going cycling? 30 minutes, 3 times a week would be a good start and it's low impact (no impact actually!) so it's not going to be too strenuous to start yourself off on.

If you want any more help then feel free to PM me as 6 months ago I was in the exact same boat. Now I'm half way through an RAF application and waiting to see if I made it into the 2009 marathon.

Good luck!
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<CBT passed 16th Sept 2007><Theory Test passed 11th Oct 2007><Practical Test passed 19th Apr 2008>
OWNED: 2008 Aprilia Pegaso Strada CURRENT: Bikeless :'(

[calum17]

wow! well done Weedy, hope that all goes well for you. wish i had the 'up and go' to do things like that sometimes.

money is a problem, but there a ways i can work that ...just, i think. so might join somewhere if i can get round to doing it - i think now is the time, due to a lot of anger and stuff so i need to vent that somewhere and fitness is probably the best place.
i cant go cycling as i sold my push bike when i bought my motorbike (lazy i know!!) and dont have the mony to buy another one. i think some sort of proper training is best, i'll try and talk to dad about it at work today .... 'try and talk to dad' not being an easy thing! which is part of the reason i want us to train together because we should get along a bit better and if we dont once we've started we'll either go together anyway or we'll just alone. i need ot get started first though i have no 'up and go' at all.

thanks for your help ...good luck with the RAF and marathon.

[Weedy]

Once you're into a routine you'll find it easier. You never know, you may even enjoy it!

I hope it all comes together for you
____________________
<CBT passed 16th Sept 2007><Theory Test passed 11th Oct 2007><Practical Test passed 19th Apr 2008>
OWNED: 2008 Aprilia Pegaso Strada CURRENT: Bikeless :'(

[stinkwheel]

I reckon Ghost rider has it. Rebound hypoglycaemia.

Your body tries to keep its blood sugar level between two lines. To do this it uses two hormones. 1) Insulin. Which tells the body to store glucose as glycogen. 2) Glucagon. Which tells the body to release glucose from stored glycogen.

You take in a high quantity of sugar, your blood sugar level spikes, you get a "sugar high" (think five year old whose just washed a bag of skittles down with some blue cola). Your body detects the "high" levels of sugar and releases insulin which starts storing the sugar.

If you had a large sugar spike, it releases a lot of insulin. Sometimes more than is needed. Your body stores away more sugar than it needed to, blood sugar drops, you feel shit. The glucagon will eventually catch up but it's a slower mechanism.

You can imagine, if you keep doing this, your levels of insulin and glucagon keep creeping up and up, fighting one another until the whole system falls on its arse.

To prevent this, you need to have a steady intake of sugar. The best way to do this is to eat regular meals with complex carbohydrates (starch) in them, eg, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread. These are turned into sugar by the body but in a slower, more controlled way. A decent amount of fibre keeps it all moving through your gut at a steady pace.

This all gives you a steady, sustained supply of sugar through the day rather than peaks and troughs.

Caffeine directly stimulates sugar release too, causing your blood sugar level to increase just like if you had eaten something sweet.

In other words. A balanced diet and regular meals are the key to sucess.

I do not practice what I preach but if I feel like shite, at least i know why.

https://fig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/physiol/c45x10glu-homeostasis.jpg
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