9. Exhaustion Cause: Information Overload
Ever spend an hour watching the news and feel hungover afterward? Felt knocked down and slapped around after checking your BlackBerry for the 40th time? If so, you're suffering from a common energy-zapping malady: information overload. "Our media culture offers up sensory experiences that don't nourish us, even when they seem pleasurable," explains Thomas Yarema, M.D., national director of clinical services at Kerala Ayurveda USA.

In Yarema's view, based on India's ancient health system, Ayurveda, the underlying cause is a disruption of the energy that animates our lives, known as vata. But you don't need to understand Ayurveda to know that too much information can leave you upset and depleted.

Exhaustion Cure: Get Grounded
As you make strides to reduce your media exposure, Yarema also suggests creating a stronger center of gravity so that you're not so easily buffeted on the winds of information. To that end, follow a simple grounding ritual every morning: At sunrise, drink 2 to 4 ounces of warm water with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Then warm some sesame oil and, sitting on a towel, massage the oil into your skin, head to toe. Follow this with five minutes of deep breathing, directing the breath to tension in your body. Finally, do some yoga or take a walk. With this nurturing, vata-soothing routine, you'll be able to strengthen your center in the face of sensory overload.

10. Exhaustion Cause: Resentments and Regrets
If you've dallied in the spiritual life at all, you know that living in the present moment allows you to feel awake, alive, aware, and energized. Unfortunately, says Borysenko, too many of us live in the past. 

While running a mind-body clinic at Harvard Medical School for people with cancer, AIDS, and stress-related disorders, Borysenko noticed that some people underwent stunning transformations and others didn't get much at all out of the program. "The difference was the willingness to let go of [negative experiences] in the past," she says. "People who weren't ready to release regrets or resentments simply couldn't come into the present to make use of the program."

Many of us have our own "grievance story," says Borysenko, and replaying it over and over wedges it ever deeper into the limbic brain, which controls basic emotions and instinctual drives. Eventually, the story takes on a life of its own, zapping our energy in the process.

Exhaustion Cure: Forgiveness
Forgiving someone -- or yourself -- comes with realizing that the feelings you're holding on to have "made your life unmanageable, stealing your energy, your sleep, and your happiness," Borysenko says. "Forgiveness isn't about pardoning the offender; it's about transforming the forgiver.

Borysenko recommends creating a ritual to help reset the limbic brain. "This involves two kinds of memory: verbal memory, which we're all aware of, and iconic memory, which stores images away in the amygdala. When you perform a forgiveness ritual, you create new images that can get into that part of the brain."

Write your intention to forgive on paper and burn it, then bury the ashes. Or tie a string to yourself and a photo of the person you want to forgive, then cut the string to set yourself free. To forgive yourself, try this ritual drawn from the Judaic tradition: "Deposit your sins into a piece of bread, and throw it in moving water," says Borysenko. Although traditionally done during Rosh Hashanah, you can try it anytime you need to see your regrets float away.

Don't Forget the Basics
Take care of the energy essentials to maximize your personal vitality
Get Enough (but Not Too Much) Sleep
Studies indicate that seven or eight hours a night work best for most people. To get them, establish a wind-down routine: Keep everything but sleep (like paying bills or watching TV) out of your bedroom; avoid caffeine, alcohol, spicy food, and strenuous exercise within four hours of bedtime; and dim the lights an hour before you hit the sheets. Remember, though, that you can get too much of a good thing. Sleeping more than nine hours is associated with waning energy levels and increasing illness.

Eat Right
The body thrives on a diet of whole foods, with lots of anti-inflammatory fruits and vegetables. "Start by trying to make one meal a day perfect," says Ronald Stram, M.D., founder of the Center for Integrative Health and Healing in Delmar, New York. "Get some lean protein, a monounsaturated fat or omega-3 fatty acid, a whole grain, and a serving or two of fruits and vegetables." Beyond that, limit your intake of processed foods, sugar and white flour, and artificial flavorings and sweeteners.

Stay Hydrated
If you're underhydrated, fluid doesn't move through the body as actively as it should," Stram explains, and the body has to work harder to keep its processes going. That depletes your energy. If a headache accompanies your fatigue, you probably need more fluid. Stram recommends 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of body weight; if you're an avid exerciser, add another 16 ounces to your daily intake.

Get Plenty of Exercise
Upping your exercise quotient is perhaps the surest bet for more energy. "On a cellular level, it's mitochondria that produce energy," says Woodson Merrell, M.D. "You can increase the size, efficiency, and number of mitochondria by exercising. It plugs you into the energy grid." Cardiovascular exercise also tones the body so it needs less energy to operate, says Stram.

Limit Caffeine
A cup of coffee may be the quickest route to energy, but it comes at a cost. "It doesn't give you energy, it just bunches your energy up early in the day, says Andrew Weil, M.D. "Then you run out." Consider switching to green tea.

Check with Your Doctor
A number of health conditions can underlie fatigue, so visit your health-care provider if you're tired all the time.