Surviving Summer and Keeping Energised

The end of the summer holidays is near and I know many parents are in the same position as me; tired, tired and more tired.

We’ve been having a jammed packed few weeks. Hannah and I have taken advantage of the school holidays and tried to spend as much time together as possible.

As a long distance relationship it can be difficult at times to go long periods without seeing each other. The difficulty lies with having children and when we can actually spend time together.

Having one set of children in full time education and another set with regular committed access times it makes term time visits incredibly difficult. However, the holiday period meant we can have solid time together.

This also allowed us time to see how well the children can blend together. We were both very aware that this could go quite badly but it was, in our opinion, worth finding out and trying.

One thing was clear from the start; there will be a lot of driving from Kent to Cornwall and back and to try and have the energy to manage and entertain 4 similarly aged primary children.

The 300+ miles and 5 hours and 30 minutes of driving can be quite draining. The drive itself isn’t, in my opinion, too bad but the strain of driving, being restricted and concentrating on the road and the cars around you is both mentally and physically demanding.

This, of course, is based upon the best case scenario and not getting caught in traffic, heavy holiday drivers and, the usual, extra busy movement on the A303 around Stonehenge. It has on a couple of occasions meant that a 5 hour journey has turned into 9 hours which, understandably, increases the exhaustion of everyone in the car.

In these scenarios I was just left a stressed, tired and sweaty mess!

This then can ripple on to the following day when all children are tired and we adults are pulling out every last bit of parenting magic to just stop all hell kicking off.

Now throw in the fact I have FSHD and my body constantly holding me hostage for a few days after anything draining and many of you will possible start to question what my secret is to carry on and cope!

Well I will admit that there isn’t just one thing that we were doing but I went for three fundamental things:

• Eating Healthily
• Sleeping
• Drink Plenty

Regular readers will know that we, as a family, eat well. We source and find the best ingredients to offer healthy but balanced diets and with William at the helm being “My Little Chef” we end up getting lots of delicious meals to keep us going like Peppers stuffed with Bolognese which was lined with lots of vegetables or a wonderful Squid Stir fry.

Sleeping was the difficult but for me.

Despite some days feeling both mentally and physically drained I must admit that once I was in bed my brain was still on “alert”. I am unsure if this the mental mind-set that you create when driving long distances or not but I was always wishing for an early night and still going to bed at my standard late hour. However, I was aware that I needed more rest time so I made sure I took time away from work and the blog and had some rest to fully recuperate.

We are big fans of drinking water in our house but sometimes, despite the natural goodness, we sort other ways to boost our energy with liquids. One example that I used was with Berocca!

Berocca is the UK’s No.1 energy vitamin that helps you be at your best so you can make the most of each day! Each drink is packed full of energising B vitamins including vitamins B1 and B2; a daily Berocca works with your body to help you release your natural energy so you feel energised.

I had two moments through each day. The first was mid-afternoon around 4.30pm, my legs would feel sore and tired and mentally I was starting to count down for bedtime; the other was mid-morning around 11.00am.

I suppose the busy and draining day before and then the subsequent lack of sleep meant my energy levels were drastically dropping. My initial want was to reach for the nearest chocolate bar and huddle in the corner with a blanket and hide but with the children on the go and us planning fun activities inside and out there was little option and this is when I used Berocca.

Because each fizzy tablet is made of a specially tailored formula packed full of B vitamins, plus other essential nutrients, which are scientifically proven to help support energy release and mental performance it gives that push that is needed. This then allowed me to be me on a good day rather than grumpy and tired dad!

This worked brilliantly. So much so that it was perfect to be used for the long drives from Kent and Cornwall.

No longer was I the stressed, tired and rather sweaty Martyn but a more engaged dad.

For more information visit Berocca.co.uk or follow on Twitter @BeroccaUK or follow the hashtag #YouButOnAReallyGoodDay

I am sure I am not the only one who has had a long and draining summer holidays so how did you all cope and survive?

(This is a collaboration with Berocca. My opinions and images (Apart from the Berocca image) are my own and I am under no obligations to give a positive review! Please see my full disclosure at the bottom of my blog)