This content addresses the common challenges of low energy and motivation during depression recovery, differentiating between the two and offering practical strategies to improve them.
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depression is a thief it steals a lot
from us and two of the things that it
seems to like to steal the most are
energy and motivation which is probably
why the third most popular question when
I asked you a few weeks back what videos
you'd like me to make in the community
section of my YouTube channel was how
can I improve my energy and motivation
while recovering from depression this is
technically two questions but I'm going
to try to cover both of them so free
bonus content today well I guess it's
always free so that what I just said
makes no sense um so pretend I didn't
say it and let's just continue energy is
your ability to do something motivation
is your desire to do something and so
they are definitely separate resources
it's possible to have plenty of one but
not enough of the other it's also
possible to be completely depleted in
both of them which does happen
frequently during depressive episodes
but I want you to be able to tell the
difference in whether you're lacking
energy or whether you're lacking
motivation so that you know which set of
interventions we're going to discuss
today are the most likely to be
beneficial to you because I see people
mix these up all the time if you are
lacking energy but you have motivation
that means you have a drive or a desire
to do something like I want to clean my
house I want to be more socially active
I want to go back to school I want to go
to the gym there are things in your head
that you're thinking I would like to do
this I would like to accomplish this but
when you try to actually get yourself to
do them it's like it just doesn't happen
like like something gets Lost in
Translation between the desire and your
mind and your ability to actually
execute the thing and no action ends up
happening if that is something you
experience frequently I often see people
label this as no motivation I don't
believe that is the correct label
because you have drives and you have
desires I think this is an energy
problem rather than a motivation problem
a motivation problem is when you really
cannot think of anything feel worth
doing or that you want to do and
sometimes we have low motivation and
plenty of energy I could do something
right now I have the ability I have the
capacity I just can't find a single
thing that I want to direct this energy
to nothing feels worthwhile nothing
feels enjoyable this is something we
often experience during periods of
anhedonia so it's very possible to have
plenty of one but not enough of the
other if you're lacking energy this is
actually probably the more complicated
of the two because there are so many
reasons why might not have enough energy
I'm going to cover what I think are the
five most common today this is by no
means an exhaustive list but number one
by far if you're consistently lacking
energy this is the very first place I
would encourage you to look is sleep
there is no acceptable substitute for
the energy that is created or replaced
by sleep I don't care how much caffeine
you have I don't care what your mindset
is nothing can fix what sleep is
supposed to replenish for you there's no
Band-Aid to this one almost everybody 99
Point some percentage of all people
needs somewhere between 7 and a half and
8 and a half hours of sleep per night to
feel and function optimally so let's
assume you're in that range of people
because you almost certainly are now you
might be adapted to less or more if
you're struggling with insomnia or
hypersomnia that doesn't mean that's
actually what you need that doesn't mean
that's what's optimal it means that's
what your body's used to because it's
functioning under non-ideal
circumstances number one most important
thing with sleep have a schedule have a
routine and do your best to stick with
it so I encourage people to pick an
eight- hour window of their day and
designate that as their sleeping time it
really doesn't matter what time this
window is as long as it fits in with
your lifestyle and your other
obligations there's truly no right or
wrong time to sleep but during this 8
hour period of your day there are two
things you can do that are acceptable
you can be asleep or you can be trying
to go to sleep and if you're doing
anything other than those two things
during this 8 Hour window of your day
you are not spending your time correctly
if your goal is to have enough energy
because there is nothing else that is
going to be as productive as giving you
energy than sleeping now please hear me
when I say this I very much understand
how frustrating sleep can be I have not
personally struggled with hypersomnia
where a person sleeps like 10 11 12
hours at night I have had long-term
struggles with insomnia longterm like
half my life on and off I know what it's
like when sleep becomes a stressor I
know what it's like when the most
stressful part of your day is when
you're getting in bed and trying to
sleep it doesn't change the reality that
we're working with you need sleep if you
want energy there's a lot of more
advanced techniques that I've covered in
other videos but in addition to setting
the schedule and by the way that eight
hours we want to be at the same time
every night seven days a week even on
weekends because that will help your
circadian rhythm basically synchronize
with the times of day and it'll be so
much easier for you to fall asleep stay
asleep and wake up feeling rested in
addition to having your eight hour sleep
window I would also strongly recommend
that you designate a 30 to 60 Minute
period of time directly before your
sleep window as your wind down window
and your goal during this period period
of the day is to prepare for sleep to do
things that are calming relaxing
downregulating and that help you get
ready for sleep because when you're
awake and alert and functional and like
doing chores or watching TV playing
video games your brain is very
stimulated by these activities and it's
in what's called beta wave production
mode the period of time when you're
tired calm relaxed getting ready for bed
your brain is in Alpha wave production
mode and then it goes through the sleep
cycles on a lower level of brain
frequency waves below Alpha when you
stay busy and active right up until the
moment you go to bed you're essentially
trying to skip alha mode and what's
happening is you're not so much going to
sleep as you are passing out and you're
missing part of your sleep cycle so I
know it's convenient when you fall
asleep within like two minutes of
getting to bed especially if you have
struggled with insomnia and you hate the
idea of laying in bed awake but you're
never going to have enough energy if you
move this way you you just won't because
you're missing part of your sleep cycle
and you're always going to wake up
feeling a little groggy confused grumpy
so 8 Hour window sleep 30 to 60 Minute
before it wind down time there's nothing
that's going to substitute for that and
if you're not doing that my remaining
four items aren't going to do a ton you
have to get enough sleep there's just no
way around it second thing I'd encourage
you to think about doing is make sure
you're eating three decent quality meals
per day and a couple snacks in between
probably and just like with sleep we
generally want these to be time at about
the same time every day caloric energy
it's kind of a spoiler because the full
word for calories is caloric energy it's
two words but whatever is a source of
energy for your body and your brain and
if your body and brain are even mildly
malnourished you're not going to feel
like you have a lot of energy we fall
into so many unhelpful lifestyle habits
with sleeping and eating they're they're
so basic they're so fundamental they're
not exciting or glamorous parts of life
for the most part I know but so so often
I see when people get busy or they start
to struggle with something like these
are the first things that they neglect
these are the first things that go out
the window and realistically they should
be the absolute last things that go out
the window now another thing I want to
mention about food is overeating can
also contribute to low energy because
your brain also needs blood flow to
function optimally and feel alert and
regulated when you consume a greater
quantity of food than your body is used
to consume assuming at that time your
body actually diverts extra blood flow
to the digestive system to work on
processing this relatively large amount
of food more efficiently that's the real
reason why after people eat a lot of
food they feel like a little bit groggy
maybe a little bit disoriented even you
know if you think like the the
Thanksgiving food coma for example and
you know people are sitting around like
oh I had it's the turkey it's the trip
Defan no you you binged you ate too much
food that's why you're tired like it's
not because of the freaking tryp toan in
the turkey it's because your body is
desperately trying to process the much
larger than normal amount of food that
you just put inside of it and that's
really all it can handle right now it's
a very similar process to what happens
when you consume alcohol your body
prioritizes metabolizing what is
literally a poisonous substance and it
doesn't have enough blood flow to power
everything else that it normally does
because your body as far as blood flow
essentially functions on a power grid
like structure that priori I izes most
immediate needs so moderate sized meals
three meals a day probably a couple
snacks in between should keep your
energy as high as possible from a
caloric intake perspective the third
thing that I want you to consider if
you're struggling with energy is taking
a really hard look at your use of
caffeine alcohol and marijuana all three
of these are not necessarily your friend
when it comes to energy caffeine I know
seen like it is caffeine is kind of a
tricky one because in the short term
caffeine gives you energy it it causes
increased blood flow to the body into
the brain so it gives you that jolt
right it gives you that kind of start
but there's a price to be paid later on
basically your body and your brain when
you're using caffeine are running on
overdrive you know they go from maybe
like 100% to 120% for example but when
you push something to run on overdrive
there's a compensatory period where it
has to run at below Norm Al capacity to
make up for the excess resources it
expended previously you can't just run
it 120% all the time so if you are a
heavy caffeine user especially early in
the day you'll notice that probably six
seven eight hours after your initial
period of caffeine consumption you start
to get tired that's because you've gone
from 120% you start to slowly taper down
to 100 and eventually get down to
functioning at like 80% and that's when
you get that that groggy mid day feeling
you basically got two options at that
point power through it or consume more
caffeine if you consume more caffeine
around noon or afternoon or even early
evening you go into this overdrive
period again and now you're going to
mess up your sleep because caffeine
stays in your system for well over 12
hours and when you try to fall asleep
with caffeine in your system you're
either going to have insomnia and that
brings us back to point number one or
you're going to fall asleep but your
sleep quality is going to be poor
because the caffeine keeps you out of
the deeper stages of sleep so even if
quantity-wise your sleep is fine I hear
people say this all the time I can drink
a cup of coffee at 6 p.m and go to bed
at 10: yeah maybe but your sleep still
sucks like if we if we did a sleep study
on you you would not like what you saw
under those circumstances I promise you
you're you're more like having a series
of connected naps throughout the night
rather than actually going to sleep
alcohol I kind of covered that a little
bit already um it has a similar effect
on your body as overeating it it becomes
this priority
that your body has to metabolize and
work through and it takes energy and it
takes blood flow away from the brain so
both during and after periods of alcohol
consumption you feel groggy you feel not
yourself you're in that low capacity
mode again marijuana or THC actually
interacts with your sleep receptors and
it causes a lot of grogginess and
fatigue so that one's probably not as
much of a mystery I think most people
know you know smoking pot makes you a
little bit tired um but science has
definitely confirmed that that's not
just like a placebo effect or something
like that so all of these substances
really are probably going to work
against you more than they work for you
from an energy standpoint that was
actually points three and four because
on my bullet points I had alcohol and
THC as one and caffeine as another so
those are the first four tips for energy
the fifth this one might sound a little
tricky too do some type of physical
activity regularly now initially that's
obviously going to take more energy than
it gives right think of it as sort of
like an energy investment you know let's
say you go for a 20 minute walk today
during that 20 minutes of the day you
are actually expending more energy than
you typically would so it seems like
well that's going to give me even L like
I already don't have enough energy and
you're telling me to use more of it like
that makes no sense but it will pay you
back throughout the day because regular
physical activity improves blood flow
throughout your body including to the
brain so your brain will work better all
day long from even a brief moderate
intensity period of physical activity it
is going to create a net increase in
energy even though it creates an acute
deficit in energy asterisk as long as
you don't overdo it like don't if you go
do some crazy work if you're like today
I'm going to do two hours of CrossFit
you're going to feel awful for several
days so like you know pace yourself
right within reason those are my five
interventions I'd recommend for energy
moving on to motivation this is a
trickier one because a lot of people
just assume if they aren't doing things
that they want to do they're not
motivated but if you want to do things you're
you're
motivated motivation is not a mechanism
to get us started on something it really
doesn't every now and then it might do
that for you it doesn't typically work
that way motivation is a resource to
sustain action we have already begun the
main reason I say that is what makes you
motivated to do something is the feeling
that that thing is worth it the feeling
that the reward in whatever way whether
that reward is like Joy or
accomplishment or connection it can mean
many different things or a paycheck even
right the feeling that the reward
eclipses the effort in other words when
I do this thing I get back more than
what I put in and so it feels worth it
to do this thing when you're trying to
get yourself to do something that you
either have never done before or have
not done in a very long time it is very
difficult to convince your brain that
that thing is worth doing because your
brain does not have recent data on how
hard that thing is to do or how good
that thing feels take my example from a
little bit ago about taking a 20- minute
walk if you haven't gone for a walk in a
while you don't really know how hard it
is and how good it's going to feel so
your brain you think about going for a
walk and your brain basically does this
quick equation and it says do I think
that's going to be worth it and what
it's probably going to come back with is
I don't know like we don't do that very
often I don't really know how that feels
I don't know how hard it's going to be I
don't know if I'm going to feel good
after this is just kind of a big
question mark to me so very rarely in
life are you going to feel super excited
about doing something that you're not
already consistently doing so there is
almost always going to be this awkward
period when you first start or restart
something of like I don't know if I'm
getting anything from this yet you have
to sort of take a leap of faith and
exert a little bit of willpower to get
yourself going if you rely on motivation
and go purely based on do I feel like
doing this thing or do I feel like this
thing is worth it you will almost never
break out of your pre-existing lifestyle
patterns because you don't have data on
new stuff so you start with willpower
and you just kind of force it for a
little bit and then once you've done it
a few times then your brain collects
data and it can say I think that thing
is worth it it feels pretty good when I
do that I would like to continue doing
that and that's where your motivation
comes from or sometimes your brain will
say nope not worth it hate walking
walking sucks try again pick something
else that'll happen sometimes too and
that's actually still a good outcome
it's all one big experiment life mental
health because every single person has a
different neurobiology a different inner
structure that's why no one has figured
out like an exact blueprint for live
this way and you'll be happy and healthy
because there is never there's never
going to be one for all people so
there's always going to be some trial
and error in figuring out what are the
things that really give you like good
mileage on your Investments That
metaphor made no sense because you don't
get mileage on investments you know what
I mean you guys are smart you can figure
it out don't rely on motivation to get
started this is cliche I know like this
is kind of a meme or like a Tik Tok
thing but motivation is there to keep
you going not to get you going you got
to find something else to get you going
willpower drive just acceptance that
it's not going to feel great right away
unless you find something you instantly
click with so don't rely on your
motivation because it is fickle it is
and it's it's not going to be super
excited about doing something that you
don't have data on really quick two
other things you can do to improve your
motivation given that it's about the
interplay between reward and effort is
find ways to either increase the reward
of an activity or decrease the effort so
increasing reward could be pairing it
with other activities to make it more
fun for example so like the walk 20-
minute walk going on 20-minute walk by
yourself versus going on a 20-minute
walk with a friend going with a friend
might be more rewarding or going on a
20-minute walk in silence versus 20-
minute walk listening to a podcast now
again this is where it gets tricky some
people would prefer the silent walk it's
trial and error there's no blueprint for
this you have to know yourself and you
have to run some experiments you have to
try some things out you figure out what
variant of the Walk is most rewarding
for me then you just duplicate that
process with effort you can lower the
effort or lower your perception of the
effort trying to get
a can't get yourself to go on that 20
minute walk okay try 10 just continue to
lower that effort threshold until action
starts to take place so hopefully these
tools help you with the lows in
motivation and energy that tend to come
with depression thank you guys for
submitting these wonderful questions
really enjoyed answering them we'll do
it again sometime soon see you next time
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