If you see the signs of a couch potato slowly sneaking up on you, probably do something about it at the earliest
In the past, couch potato referred to people who would fix themselves on a couch, in front of their TV, and mindlessly browse channels. Well, in contemporary times, couch potato means a lazy person who would rather languish and be counterproductive all day long. Reliance on junk food, TV and other screens, dwindling personal communications, procrastination, and lack of personal hygiene are some tell-tale signs of such a lifestyle that practically discourages you from getting even the bare minimum done. There are multiple causes why one prefers or switches to such a sedentary lifestyle: emotional impasse, fatigue, addiction to screen time, work environment, and infrastructural inadequacies.
Now, there are far too many woes of leading a couch potato lifestyle. Such a way of living ultimately affects health: mental, physiological, and emotional. This is why combating the early signs of being pathologically lazy is necessary to eliminate severe consequences.
It is natural to resort to caffeine when the body feels tired. Drinking an excess amount of coffee can cause a paradoxical effect and render you lethargic. Besides, it meddles with your sleep schedule, the effect of which lingers the next day. This loop of compromised levels of energy pushes you into a passivity from where every act of physical exertion seems like moving a giant boulder up and down the hill.
Being physically active, even if it initially feels to be emotionally taxing, is necessary when you are avoiding slumping down. It does not require enormous workout sessions. Low-impact movements can do the job well enough. If you have been dreading moving around, for a productive start, try scheduling an easy task for the next morning. This task should not require a lot of time or effort for you to sort. Eventually, you will come out of fatigue and be armed to go through the rest of the day with the optimum level of energy and mental dexterity—these would of course improve over time.
Diet and food intake play a crucial role in energising your body and improving mood. Quitting unprocessed foods and additives to make space for seasonal foods and veggies, non-caffeinated drinks, lean proteins, whole grains and complex carbs, nuts and seeds, and water goes a long way. Food choices that cause blood sugar spike and subsequent crash do more harm than good. Also, eating in small portions would ensure you are not too nauseous, sleepy, or giddy post-meal.
Letting go of meals might look convenient at first but would certainly render you groggier than usual because the body needs its energy source, after all. Consuming nutrient-rich meals timely and steering clear from fad diets is a prerequisite to ensuring healthy functioning of the brain and the body. Skipping meals affects cognitive and physical functioning, and leaves you feeling sluggish. A schedule of sleep and meal intake is indispensable to remain active.
While eliminating all the causes of stress from life is somewhat a pipe dream, being cognizant of the triggers could help you regulate stress levels and lessen negative emotions. This is important because whenever your body is subjected to stress, the brain releases cortisol and adrenaline which again leads to emotional exhaustion. This means impotency to carry out daily tasks or even engaging in hobbies. Sustained stress is linked to stress-related exhaustion disorder which essentially does no good to energy levels, emotions, sleep, and physical fitness.
