Shadowing Practice: Why you’re always tired (+ food fixes!) 🍜 - Learn English Speaking with Video

It's a very defeating feeling when we want to get things done, but we feel completely drained.

And so luckily, there is an ever-growing body of research

that suggests nutrition and our food choices can actually help to fight fatigue during the day, and it can also help us sleep more quickly and soundly at night.

Fatigue can be brought on by different causes, like a decrease in physical activity or allergies or diabetes, But today we're specifically going to focus on how fatigue can be brought on

but also resolved by our food and beverage choices So myself

and one of our dietitian team members Sophia We geeked out

and we read a whole bunch of research papers on the link between nutrition

and fatigue And we've simplified what is known in the science

and that's what we're gonna share with you in today's video

We also created an uncomplicated article that's just gonna help to support this video even worse

if you want to delve deeper I'm gonna link that for you below, but for now, let's dive right in

Our bodies have an internal clock that impacts when we sleep and wake up and this is called our circadian rhythm.

Our circadian rhythm is very strongly linked to dark and light cycles.

So when it's more light outside, we tend to feel more awake and when it's dark, we tend to feel more tired.

Now there's an emerging field of science called chrononutrition, which studies how our eating behaviors can also influence the circadian rhythm.

Like some recent studies, for example, have shown that eating irregularly can throw our circadian rhythm out of sync, which can reduce the quality and duration of our sleep.

So ensuring that we eat at more or less the same times each day can actually help to synchronize our sleep-wake cycle, making us feel less tired.

Breakfast isn't for everyone, I get that.

But if you are somebody who kind of feels chronically fatigued throughout the day and you're also skipping breakfast, this could be the culprit.

So after we've had like a good night's rest, we've been fasting for many hours because we've been asleep.

And so when we wake up we're a bit depleted in energy

and so breaking the fast

Which is where the word breakfast actually comes from this helps

to kick start our day with some fuel There's been several studies

that have shown

that those who eat breakfast Especially high-fiber breakfasts are not only more alert throughout the day

But they also have improved memory a more positive mood

and even better bowel movements There was also this one interesting study of 498 students

that found that those who were skipping breakfast were also the ones reporting

that they weren't sleeping as well at night

so not only does eating breakfast kind of give us more

energy throughout the day it could potentially also help us sleep better

so it's a win-win this is what I love about nutrition it turns out

that we can very strategically compose our meals to help us feel more alert during the day

and to help us kind of fall asleep

and better stay asleep at night so let's explore why that's the case starting with protein.

So protein is made up of these building blocks that are called amino acids, one of which is tryptophan.

Tryptophan gets taken to our brain where it's absorbed and that gets converted to serotonin, which helps us feel good and calm.

That gets converted to melatonin, which is a hormone that actually helps our body kind of get ready for sleep.

The research showed that people who sleep well tended to consume more protein over the day than people who sleep poorly.

Notable plant-based food sources of tryptophan are soy, nuts and seeds, including cashew, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds, beans, leafy greens, mushrooms, and broccoli.

So it's important that we get enough protein so that we get the tryptophan, but it's worth noting that you don't want to get too much protein because that's been linked with decreasing sleep quality.

So no need to go out and take any protein powders as long as you're following a foods first approach.

Now let's delve into the carbs.

I have for simplicity's sake broken this up into two different groups, one of which we're going to call slow digesting carbs and one quick digesting carbs.

Quick digesting carbs are those like white bread, white pasta, and white rice.

Slow digesting carbs, on the other hand, are those that are higher in fiber.

So think whole grains, legumes, and vegetables.

What's interesting is that fruits have a bit of a mix of both.

Okay, so why is knowing all of this important?

In short, eating quick digesting carbs increases the amount of tryptophan that gets absorbed into our brain, which is then going to increase the chance that we're going to feel sleepy after eating.

And this is what's so cool we can use this knowledge to our benefit.

Like in the evening, we can increase the chances of becoming sleepy a few hours after dinner by having quick carbs with our dinner meal, or by having a piece of fruit with dinner

or as an evening snack just to help to increase the absorption of tryptophan into our brain.

On the other hand, if we want to avoid the after-lunch slump that we can experience sometimes, we can try to have slow digesting carbs with our meal instead of quick digesting carbs.

In addition to them just being great sources of fiber, these slow digesting carbs give us a more steady and continued release of energy throughout the day.

Being deficient in certain nutrients can really affect sleep.

This is something we found across a whole bunch of different research papers where if certain people are deficient, for example, in iron, magnesium,

potassium, zinc, selenium, beta- carotene, B vitamins, and vitamin C, E, and or D, they tend to sleep more poorly.

Now these vitamins and minerals, they take part in a whole bunch of the different complex reactions that occur in our body.

So like iron, for example, helps with the production of serotonin, whereas B vitamins help to create melatonin.

But there's no need to go out and supplement with these vitamins

and minerals unless your doctor has specifically advised that you do.

But that's namely because our philosophy is to follow a food first approach.

It is definitely possible and recommended

to get kind of the nutrients that we need just by eating a variety of different plant foods.

And so if you're curious on how to build your plate so that it is nutritionally balanced and adequate, you can check out our plate method video if you'd like and I'll link that for you here.

So we're gonna take a brief intermission to share two different evening snacks

that you can enjoy that can actually help to promote sleep.

And it's a great opportunity for us to put into practice what we've learned starting off with just simple banana

and nut butter.

Both bananas and almond butter contain tryptophan, and when you combine that with the quick digesting carbs that are in the banana, the tryptophan absorption in our brains is increased.

What's more is that these are both high in magnesium and bananas are high in potassium, which are a couple of the minerals that we just previously talked about.

Here's another option.

In place of having an evening tea that might have some caffeine in it, you could try out some warm soy milk instead.

This contains tryptophan, but also magnesium and calcium.

And if you'd prefer that the milk is flavored, you could try out our homemade golden latte mix.

It's really delicious and it makes for a comforting drink that also helps to promote sleep.

So we all know that caffeine, which is found in coffee most predominantly, but also in energy drinks and in tea, that this helps to make us feel more alert, right?

And this is because it's a stimulant that temporarily suppresses the buildup of sleep pressure, which is a mechanism that makes us tired.

Now, everyone is different, but in most adults, it takes the body about three to seven hours to break down half of the caffeine that's in our system.

This is known as its half-life.

So let's say that we drink our first cup of coffee at 9 a.m.

Five hours later at 2 p.m., there's still going to be half of that caffeine in our system.

And then another five hours later at 7 p.m., a quarter of what we drank at 9 a.m is still going to be in our system.

And then by the time it's midnight, we're going to have an eighth of that caffeine still in our system.

It's pretty interesting, right?

Now that you understand this it might make sense then

when you hear that like caffeine could just have such a lasting

effect even though it's something that we might have consumed many many hours before bed

so maybe what just is helpful to keep in mind is caffeine's half-life

and to try to have our caffeine early in the morning

or early in the afternoon and try to limit it later on in the evening

if we want to have a better night's rest water makes

up about 55 to 75 percent of our body weight and it's involved in so many different reactions in the human body, but a lot of adults just don't drink enough.

And even mild dehydration, according to the research, can cause things like fatigue and daytime sleepiness, mood changes, and a drop in cognitive performance.

So if you find that you're tired a lot during the day, it might help to just check in and see if you think you've been drinking enough.

Some telltale signs are your skin or lips might be dry, or your pee could be a bit dark in color.

And if it is, it's just a reminder to drink a little bit more.

100

I myself am terrible at remembering to drink enough water

101

so it helps to just kind of have a cup by your desk as a reminder to drink sometimes

102

or you could make it more fun by trying to flavor your water with a little bit of fruit

103

or cucumber or mint for example.

104

But overall what we saw in

105

so many different studies was this kind of recurring message on the importance of eating whole plant-based foods

106

and a variety of them as often as possible not only to support overall health

107

but also to help us feel more energized throughout the day and to help better support our sleep.

108

But there are also some other nutrition topics we didn't get

109

a chance to explore in today's video like how does fat

110

or salt or alcohol affect sleep or other dietary and lifestyle choices

111

so if you are interested in geeking out

112

and learning more I'm going to leave that article

113

that we've written in the description box below that's also where

114

you're going to find links to the different research papers

115

that we were kind of referring to in today's video

116

and I hope you have an awesome night's sleep

117

and an awesome energized day tomorrow that you learned something new in today's video

118

so if you enjoyed feel free to give it a thumbs up means a lot

119

and Pickle Plimes signing off we'll see you in the next video Thank you.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “Why you’re always tired (+ food fixes!) 🍜”. Las palabras que más se repiten: sleep, carbs, digesting, tryptophan. Este vídeo tiene 119 frases y 1944 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 9:36. El hablante habla rápido, unas 203 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. El 83 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
tryptophan sustantivo	/ˈtɹɪptə(ʊ)fæn/	triptófano
digest verbo	/daɪˈd͡ʒɛst/	digerir
caffeine sustantivo	/ˈkæfiːn/	cafeína
fatigue sustantivo	/fəˈtiːɡ/	fatiga, fatigación
vitamin sustantivo	/ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/	vitamina, vitamínico
circadian adjetivo	/sɚˈkeɪ.di.ən/	circadiano
banana sustantivo	/bəˈnænə/	banana, banano
rhythm sustantivo	/ˈɹɪð.əm/	ritmo
nutrition sustantivo	/njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/	nutrición
magnesium sustantivo	/ˌmæɡˈnizi.əm/	magnesio
mineral sustantivo	/ˈmɪn.ə.ɹəl/	mineral
deficient adjetivo	/dɪˈfɪʃənt/	deficiente
delve verbo	/dɛlv/	ahondar / profundizar, hurguetear
energize verbo	/ˈɛnəd͡ʒaɪz/	jumpear
melatonin sustantivo	/ˌmɛləˈtəʊnɪn/	melatonina

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
go out verbo		salir
try out verbo		probar, ensayar
wake up verbo	/ˌweɪk ˈʌp/	despertarse, recordar
break down verbo		descomponerse, averiarse
check out verbo		investigar, chequear
sign off verbo		firmar, aprobar
turn out verbo		resultar

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — una acción que empezó antes y continúa	we've been fasting · you've been drinking
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa	sync, which can · somebody who kind · those who eat
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	can be brought · is known · is called
Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora	we've simplified · have shown · we've been

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 34 contracciones y formas reducidas, como we're, we've, you're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “th”: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, thumb /ˈθʌm/, eighth /eɪtθ/
Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: nutrition /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ən/, deficient /dɪˈfɪʃənt/, absorption /æbˈsɔɹp.ʃn̩/, cashew /ˈkæʃuː/, dehydration /dihaɪˈdɹeɪʃən/
Palabras largas — cuida el acento: tryptophan /ˈtɹɪptə(ʊ)fæn/, circadian /sɚˈkeɪ.di.ən/, magnesium /ˌmæɡˈnizi.əm/, melatonin /ˌmɛləˈtəʊnɪn/, serotonin /ˌsɛɹəˈtoʊnɪn/

Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:

s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: sleepy /ˈsliːpi/, snack /snæk/, stimulant /ˈstɪmjʊlənt/
/v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: vitamin /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/, delve /dɛlv/, flavor /ˈfleɪvə/, convert /kənˈvɝt/, beverage /ˈbɛv(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
/z/ — sonora, no /s/: magnesium /ˌmæɡˈnizi.əm/, energize /ˈɛnəd͡ʒaɪz/, compose /kəmˈpəʊz/, synchronize /ˈsɪŋ.kɹə.naɪːz/, zinc /ˈzɪŋk/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como tryptophan, digest, caffeine.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Gramática en este vídeo

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?