So many of us feel tired and sluggish a lot of the time, and we get stuck in the trap of reaching for a quick energy fix using caffeine, sugar, carbs or booze – none of which help our energy levels in the long term.
One of my friends the other day put a post up on FB asking for advice from friends on how to improve their energy levels so I thought I’d share my top tips on how to increase your energy, things that I’ve generally found work for me.
1. Drink plenty of water
If you feel tired all the time, dehydration may be a cause. One in five people don’t realise that they need at least 8 glasses of water per day. We lose around 1.5 litres of water each day just through bodily processes alone, and this doesn’t include if you’re sweating more in hot weather, exercising more, or drinking tea and coffee which act as diuretics. A lot of people get stuck in a trap of feeling tired, drinking more coffee to perk them up and dehydrating themselves even more. Drink a litre of water when you wake in the morning, and at least another litre of water throughout the day.
Don’t like boring plain water? Mix it up a bit with some lemon or lime juice.
In the morning I add the juice of half a lemon, some apple cider vinegar and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper to my water – this stimulates the metabolism and helps the body get to work detoxing everything that’s been sitting in your body while you sleep.
In the evening I make fire tea by boiling up some water with fresh ginger and cinnamon sticks for 20 mins, adding a teaspoon of raw honey to sweeten it up. This puts your body in fat burning mode as an added bonus.
2. Meditate
Meditation is an amazing way to increase your energy levels, and the great thing about this is you can do a few short minutes or longer sessions depending on how much time you have. Meditation transforms the way you respond to stress as it calms your mind, and supports your body to lower the stress hormone cortisol. Many of us are living in a state of constant “fight or flight” with high levels of cortisol, which zaps energy from the body. One study found that meditation reduced cortisol levels by 50%! One landmark 1995 study compared the brains of meditators with those of elite runners and found that meditators had even higher levels of endorphins – the happy hormone – than the runners. Meditation also boosts the sleep compound melatonin, leading to better sleep.
3. Exercise
Any kind of physical activity that gets the heart rate up and the blood flowing will release endorphins and increase your energy levels. It’s important to do exercise you love so that you feel motivated to do it. I do a mixture of heavy weight training, combined with high intensity interval training, yoga, pilates and walking on the beach. Exercise will also help the body to get rid of the toxins that keep you feeling sluggish, and the better you feel from exercising the more you’ll want to eat a healthy diet.
4. Good nutrition including cleansing
Most of us know what constitutes a good diet, but do we stick to it? If we are tired a lot of the time our bodies are likely to crave carbs which give us a quick hit of energy, but ultimately convert to sugar in the body. Pay attention to how you feel after eating certain foods. We often don’t get enough of the vitamins and minerals we need through our diet so it’s important to supplement with good quality supplements. I use a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement, plus magnesium powder, fish oil and probiotic. Sometimes if my energy levels seems really off I’ll go to my GP and get my iron levels checked, and supplement if needed.
I’ve never been a believer in dieting, I believe in eating a healthy, balanced diet that suits you. Everyone is different, so it’s important to eat intuitively.
I am, however, a huge believer in regular detoxing/cleansing. I’ve done this for years and it makes a huge difference to my energy levels. 2-3 times a year I do a 30 day cleanse to reset my body, and for the last four years I’ve followed a specific cleanse which got me out of burnout, and I now cleanse coach others through it. Check out my page for more info on this.
5. Know your limits
In the world we live in we can be switched on 24/7. We generally don’t get enough sleep or rest, but we just keep on keeping on and pushing through all the things we need to get done. This can easily lead to burnout. The key to avoiding this is to be aware of your limits, and part of this is setting strong personal boundaries, giving you the ability to say no rather than yes out of obligation.
6. Make the most of nature’s anti-inflammatories
A lot of people experience aches and pains in their body. I like to make the most of natures own anti-inflammatories and I add organic ginger powder to my morning shake along with organic turmeric powder, both of which have amazing anti-inflammatory properties. One of the best ways I’ve also found to reduce inflammation in the body is to focus on alkalising it – I drink alkaline, ionised water through my own water ioniser (message me if this is something you want to know more about), and I also find that the cleanse products I used alkalise the body.
7. Spend time with positive peeps
It’s often said that we become like the five people we spend the most time with. Think about your circle of friends and family – who in this group drains you when you see or speak to them? Who is always negative about your goals and your life? Who is your cheerleader no matter what’s going on in your life? Spend more of your time with people who lift you up, because the others will suck the life out of you.
8. Do more of what you love
Have you ever noticed how when you’re doing something you love, you feel in a really high energy state? And how when you’re doing something you can’t stand, you seem to have less energy? That’s a clue – spend more of your time doing the things you love.
9. Get enough sleep
How many Zzzz’s are you getting each night and is it good quality sleep? How is your bedtime routine? If you’re spending right up until the last minute watching TV, looking at your phone or laptop, you’re disrupting the natural circadian rhythm of your body which will disrupt your sleep. Do yourself a favour and turn your phone off at night, or at least onto airplane mode. Also be aware of how late in the day you’re drinking caffeine as this also disrupts your sleep.
10. Love yourself
If you have a healthy level of self esteem/self worth/self love, you’ll do more of what’s good for you, and less of what isn’t. You’ll set stronger personal boundaries for yourself and stop saying yes to things that don’t bring you joy.
11. Energy work
I love using energy work to keep my energy levels in check and to clear away any crappy energy that might be holding me back. I’ve been using and teaching Reiki and other energy healing techniques for 12 years now and I swear by it – I very rarely get sick and I believe this has a big part to play in it. I also get weekly kinesiology done which is amazing for clearing stuck energy. Other forms of energy work can include massage, reflexology, bars among many others.
12. Get enough sunshine
It’s sooo important to get enough sunshine on your skin to boost your Vitamin D. Ironically here in Australia many people have a Vitamin D deficiency as they slip slop slap on the sunscreen. Aim to spent 20 minutes outside a day. I like to go for an early morning walk or lay in the backyard with a good book 🙂
13. Visualise what you’re like when you have increased energy
How do you feel when you are full of energy? Close your eyes and visualise the last time you felt like you had loads of energy. How did you feel? What were you doing at the time? Breathe in that feeling. Often by putting ourselves in a state where we visualise how we are wanting to feel, we get a bit of that energy happening.
14. Forgive and release the past
If you imagine that we are all born with a blank slate, or an empty suitcase, and that over time we fill this suitcase full of hurts, resentments, anger, bitterness etc of things that have happened to us in the past, eventually that energy weighs us down if we don’t do the work to forgive and release it. By using forgiveness techniques, we can free up SO much energy. Check out the interview I did where I explain more about how to do this.
15. Declutter
The level to which you hold on to physical clutter that you don’t need is a direct reflection of how much emotional and mental clutter you’re clinging on to. Try going through each area of your house, car, office, bag and decluttering the things you don’t want or need anymore. Be ruthless – if you haven’t worn that dress for five years chances are you never will. Sell stuff on Gumtree, give stuff to charity and give stuff to your friends. This frees up so much energy and leaves room for more amazingness to come into your life.
16. Stop doing things that numb you
How much of your time do you spend zombie-ing out on mindless Facebook scrolling, TV watching or watching trashy stuff on Netflix? Be aware of what you’re putting into your brain and make sure it’s good brain food. Other things that you might be doing to numb how you feel is emotional eating, drinking and partying. Where are you stuffing down your feelings? If you invested your time in feeling your feelings instead of avoiding them, then you can deal with whatever it is that needs to be dealt with. By continuing to avoid how you’re feeling, this takes up a lot of energy that could be spent on much more fun things.
17. Try fasting
Intermittent fasting has had a huge impact on my energy levels, and has also reduced the inflammation in my body to the point where I no longer get back pain (which I have had most of my life, including two slipped discs and arthritis in my spine). As an added bonus I also found it has improved my memory, my eyesight and my general happiness. It’s an amazing way to get rid of the toxins and gunk stored in our bodies that contributes to brain fog and low energy levels. I created a playlist on YouTube full of amazing videos about the science behind fasting as well as how to do it, which you can check out here.
18. Incorporate mushroom powder into your diet (no, not the trippy ones)
Recently I’ve been using mushroom powder in my coffee and tea to boost energy levels, improve memory/fitness/concentration, and to de-calcify my pineal gland. I’ve been using chaga, reishi, lions mane and cordyceps and love them all. I get mine straight from Teelixir after I heard about the benefits of mushroom powder from Tim Ferris, who is an absolute champion at peak performance.
What are your top tips for maintaining your energy levels? I’d love to hear them in the comments below 🙂
Catcha on the flip side,
