Feeling Tired? Here's How To Naturally Boost your Energy Levels
Perhaps if you are reading this you may find yourself wanting to have more energy during the day, or more specifically, to have more stable energy levels throughout the day.
It is normal to have dips and rises in our energy during a course of a day, however, there are many things that are within our control and are actually taking away more energy from us, than what is normal.
I discuss these energy-draining factors below and also offer a simplified and practical view on how to boost your energy through natural and accessible methods - Because I think that everyone can benefit from having more disposable energy during the day.
Happy reading.
FACTORS AFFECTING OUR ENERGY LEVELS
There are a couple of main factors for which we can be sure that they affect our energy levels. These factors are written below and are further expanded on in the next section.
If we can begin to control these factors, we are much more likely to end up with stable and consistent energy throughout the day.
Sleep: Both length and quality
Diet: What you eat, how much of something you eat, and when you eat
Stress management
Physical activity and movement
Illness or feeling unwell
Drinking enough water
Consumption of caffeine
Smoking and alcohol
Our posture
Depth and rate of our breathing
LACK OF ENERGY: CAUSES & REMEDIES
1. SLEEP
Sleep is something that we often underestimate the importance of, but after a night of just a couple of hours of sleep with an early wake up the next morning, we feel groggy and underslept, and only then do we wish we went to bed earlier and spent more time sleeping.
The amount of sleep that you need will mainly vary based on your age, your health status, and your physical activity levels.
On average, here is the amount of time you should spend sleeping per night:
6-13 years olds: 9-11 hours
14-17 years olds: 8-10 hours
18-25 years olds: 7-9 hours
26-64 years olds: 7-9 hours
With sleep both the quality and quantity of our sleep matters as the quantity ensures that we go through all the stages of sleep in a given night and the quality is responsible for sleeping deeply enough.
But as it turns out the wide majority of the global population is underslept and frequently experiences poor sleep. For example, across the world, about 37% of adults ages 20-39 report short sleep duration, and roughly 35% of adults in the US, say that they sleep for less than 7 hours per night. Furthermore, another pressing issue is insomnia, where now across the world, between 10 and 30% of adults frequently struggle with chronic insomnia.
Overall, sleep affects many more things than just our energy levels where it is also heavily linked with negative changes in our emotions, mood, cardiovascular health, memory, and our immune system.
If you are interested to find out more about sleep and how to sleep better, check out this post here
IMPLEMENTATION STRATGEIS:
Before going to bed, try having a set nighttime routine to cue your brain into going to sleep
Relax and calm yourself before sleep
Optimize your bedroom environment: Dim and warm the lights, cool the room temperature, and limit loud sound
Have a consistent sleep and wake up schedule
Include physical activity during your day
Limit caffeine consumption in the afternoon
Reduce exposure to blue light in the evening and increase exposure to natural light during the day
2. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Even just from an evolutionary point of view, humans are not designed to sit for several hours in one sitting, we are made to move. It is crucially important to fit in movement during our day every day, as sitting down for extended periods of time without standing up in between, has been correlated with poorer cardiovascular health, back pain, type 2 diabetes, and potentially also various forms of cancer.
The point here is that you do not need to do extended periods of vigorous exercise to feel any of the benefits, as even just a 30-minute walk can completely change around your mood and energy levels. It is even better if each day you manage to go out to get some fresh air and expose your skin to some sunshine for a bit.
In terms of why exercise can improve our energy levels, it is that doing more physical activity has been shown to increase the number of mitochondria in certain cells, which means that we are able to have a greater respiration rate and thus produce more energy. Additionally, during exercise, our body naturally releases hormones of happiness, also known as endorphins, which work to raise our mood and in turn also our energy throughout the day.
Perhaps a less commonly mentioned aspect, but people who do regular exercise, have also been shown to have better posture, which can otherwise lead to issues such as back or neck pain, as well as disrupted digestion.
IMPLEMENTTION STRATGIES:
Aim to do at least 30 minutes a day of some form of physical activity per day
Once you have been sitting down for long periods of time, aim to stand up or readjust your posture. Perhaps if you have the time and space, try doing some stretches or going for a short walk, which should help with adjusting your posture
Try different forms of movement and stick to what you like: Walking, cycling, running, dancing, yoga, weight training, hiking, swimming, tennis, basketball, etc.
When working sitting down, try and stand up every 20minutes or so and get some movement
Set daily movement goals (Eg: The number of steps or distance you want to walk)
3. FOOD AND DRINKS
I’m pretty sure that most of us by now know just how important food is and how it can drastically impact just about every aspect of our health and wellbeing - Including our energy levels.
You can imagine food as a simple fuel source for your body, whereby if you fuel your body with the food it’s designed to eat, your body will reward you with better and more stable energy levels. Eat real food, limit processed “food” and keep things in moderation, and very likely your energy will show an increase.
While this idea of healthy eating may sound simple in theory, when it comes to real-life it can often be more complex, because nowadays there is more processed food available than ever before, making junk “food” more convenient, affordable, and accessible wherever we go. Because of this, it is that much more important we take care of what we eat and be mindful of what we are fueling our bodies with.
Excessive consumption of highly processed food such as regularly consuming fast food, sugary sodas, and desserts, and snacks with lots of added sugar has been increasingly linked with poorer cardiovascular health, which puts you more in danger later on of developing type II diabetes and obesity. Furthermore, these medical conditions can lead to other unwanted health issues such as poorer oral health, more inflammation in your body, and a greater risk for the development of various types of cancers.
As a general recommendation, limit your intake of highly processed food that is full of chemicals and artificial additives that in the long term, don’t bring many benefits to your body at all - apart from your taste buds. Try incorporating more foods in their whole food form, and try making more meals at home by yourself, since that way you not only save yourself money from takeouts but also learn to budget your groceries better and have more control in terms of what you put in your food.
IMPLEMENTAITON STRATEGIES
Focus on eating natural and whole grains and limit processed food
Avoid excessive added sugar consumption
Eating enough calories for your needs
Drink more water during the day, especially if you are more physically active
Aim to eat at regular intervals
Aim to space out your meals into smaller portions throughout the day
Eating larger meals can often lead to feeling heavy after eating
Try to not eat too late at night as that can interfere with your sleep
Incorporate more fruits and vegetable into your diet with a higher water content
Limit alcohol consumption
Alcohol is a sedative, which slows down and relaxes our body, by slowing down our brain functioning
4. STRESS MANAGEMENT
You might not be aware of this, but stress and anxiety are very energy-intensive states for our body to maintain, due to having a more rapid heartbeat as a result of the hormone cortisol. From an evolutionary point of view, stress was useful and told our body to respond quickly in times of danger so that we were able to survive.
However modern-day causes of stress are much different than what they used to be because we no longer have to run away from lions and worry about making it through the night. Nowadays, stress arises not from physiological factors, but from psychological factors that are a result of our environment - which is becoming ever more busy and demanding to upkeep.
Stress in the right amounts is actually believe it or not, beneficial to us, however, it is crucial that we maintain stress at healthy levels as otherwise many other aspects of our health can suffer as a result. I have talked more about the dangers of chronic stress in this article here
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES
Try different things to calm yourself down: Meditation, exercise, journaling, reading, taking a bath, seeing or talking to a friend (Doing something you love)
Try breathing techniques
Become better at managing your time
Become better at prioritizing your work
Self-reflect: Why am I stressed? Is this in my control? Is this an appropriate reaction?
5. LIFESTYLE CHOICES
In terms of lifestyle choices, I am referring to smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, both of which strongly influence our energy levels throughout the day.
Smoking has been around for a long time and even though we are now more aware of the danger of smoking than ever before, people still persist to smoke nonetheless.
Several clinical studies have shown that smoking several cigarettes per day has been associated with the development of various types of cancers, heart disease, a greater risk for stroke, a weaker immune system, type II diabetes, and serious respiratory conditions such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
There are now plenty of available methods such as various cigarette replacements, with which you can try and reduce your smoking.
In terms of alcohol, moderate consumption shows less serious health effects, however excessive drinking of highly alcoholic beverages has been associated with increased levels of inflammation, a rise in blood sugar, and causing a slower response rate.
Alcohol is classed as a sedative drug, which works by slowing down the electrical impulses carried by never cells across our nervous system, which results in a slower reaction time and responsivity.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES:
AIm to reduce your smoking, or even better if you quit completely
Drink alcohol in moderation. If drinking is not your thing, simply don’t feel pressured to do it
