3 common summer habits that deplete your energy (and the remedies to rebalance)

Are you spending this week trying not to melt too?! 

While the first day of summer may not be until tomorrow, the intense heat of summer has decided to hit the northeast (and many other locations) several days early. 

Over the weekend, I found myself incredibly exhausted, and not from a lack of sleep.

It was the kind of bone tired where your limbs feel heavy, it feels like an immense effort to move, and even the smallest tasks feel hard and like too much effort.

I. Was. Depleted.

While I knew the heat was a factor, I was also aware of some of the habits and choices I’d been making that contributed to taking me far enough out of balance to end up that tired.

Many of the things that were contributing to my tiredness actually are really common summer habits that I bet you do too!

In fact, they're so common because they're things our body craves at this hot time of year and when used in moderation can be EXACTLY what our body needs to counterbalance the heat.

But like anything, they can be overdone, taking the body a little too far in the other direction, which ironically makes us crave those habits even more, which takes us even FURTHER out of balance! 

Which is exactly what happened to me.

Thankfully I ALSO knew immediately what changes to make that would help replenish my energy stores and quickly bring me back into balance. 

Within 24 hours I was my energetic self again!

Here are:

3 Common Summer Habits That Deplete Your Energy + The Simple Remedies to Rebalance and Recharge

Common Habit #1:

Lots of sun time: I know I do this one, especially earlier in June before the humidity kicks in. But once we’ve taken in all that extra heat, it helps to remove it from the body, so it doesn’t begin impacting our digestion and other systems negatively. 

Remedy #1:

I find it most effective to take a very cold washcloth and place it on the back of the neck around the C7 vertebrae, as there is a specific acupuncture point there that helps remove heat, especially from the sun, from the body.

Common Habit #2:

Iced and Frozen Treats: While it might be tempting to cool the body down with some ice cream or a tall, iced beverage, too much ice weakens our digestive fire, making it harder for us to digest and also depletes our spleen energy.

Remedy #2:

It may seem counterintuitive, but drinking hot beverages well replenish your digestive fire and spleen energy. I try to strategically incorporate hot water when I am in air-conditioned places and my body is at a comfortable temperature, in order to counterbalance any ice cream or iced Matcha, which are two of my favorite summer treats.

Common Habit # 3:

Eating mostly raw and uncooked food: there feels like no better time than summer to eat all the salads, sushi, and other foods that keep you from needing to go anywhere near a stove. If your digestion is already depleted (see habit #2), raw foods are harder to digest than cooked ones and will increase the energy your body needs to spend on simply processing what you eat. Aka, leaving less energy available for anything else.

Remedy #3:

Make sure to incorporate some cooked foods, whether veggies, fruits meat or grains since they can (in many cases) be easier to digest than raw and will also stoke the digestive fire. The good thing is, they don’t even have to be super hot when you eat them.

Happy Summer Solstice. To staying cool and balanced all summer long!