100 Ways
to Boost
Your Energy
Theresa Cheung
Table of Contents
Part One: Understanding Energy
The causes of low energy: energy-drainers
Energy-draining medical conditions
Boost energy with a good night’s sleep
Boost energy with positive thinking
Part Three: Instant Pick-me-ups: Recharge In 60 Seconds Or Less
TIRED ALL THE TIME?
Along with more time and more money, more energy is high on everyone’s wish list. Without doubt, energy is an essential in today’s overstretched, high-speed, 24/7 wired world; but it can be hard to recharge your batteries when there is a constant drain on your energy supplies.
Energy-shutdown is something most of us have experienced from time to time. Remember that drained feeling when, however much you have looked forward to a party, new movie or hot date, you just can’t summon the energy to go? What is tougher to recognise, however, is low-key energy-drain. This is when you don’t get that tired-all-over feeling but you do experience a gradual but increasing lack of enthusiasm for activities you used to get excited about. Getting out of bed in the morning seems harder, concentrating on what you are doing is a challenge and, most surprisingly, as you aren’t normally like this, you find yourself getting worked up about the silliest things.
If this ‘grumpy and run down’ theme is starting to sound very familiar, don’t despair. There are energy-drainers all around us – some obvious, some hidden. The good news is that you can find ways to deal with virtually all of them. Try one or all of the 100 simple and practical energy boosters in this book and, however hectic your lifestyle, you’re bound to see your energy levels soar. Use them both as ‘quick pick-me-ups’ when the going gets tough, and as energisers to increase your stamina in the long run, so that you have all the get-up-and-go you need to rise and shine every day.
Use them to help put a spring in your step and a twinkle in your eyes so that you look and feel alert, vibrant and sparkling with energy.
Energy is life. It is the invisible force that animates the human body and permeates everything in the natural world, including animals, plants, trees and mountains, as well as the earth, sun, moon and stars. Whenever something moves, heats, cools, grows, changes or produces light or sound, energy is involved.
One of the simplest forms of energy is metabolic; this is the energy we get from the food we eat and the air we breathe. In short, energy means that birds can fly, winds can blow, the sun can shine, cars can go fast, light bulbs can glow and you can read this book. Without energy there would be nothing: no life, no movement, no light, no books…nothing.
‘Vital energy’ is a term used to describe the collective physical energies of the mind and body working together to produce feelings of well-being. In other words, it means feeling glad to be alive, and bursting with health and energy. Typically children are bursting with vital energy – but an increasing number of adults are finding it harder and harder to remember the last time they felt like that.
Energy and health
A healthy person is a person who has a sense of well-being characterised by a high level of energy and the ability to cope with stress. Feeling tired and stressed a lot of the time is not healthy. Unfortunately, many of us unconsciously settle for energy levels that are lacklustre, in the belief that it is normal to ‘run on empty’. But low energy levels are certainly not normal or healthy.
Energy is our most precious human resource. If we don’t have it, not only is our immunity low and our health at risk, but we don’t have the ‘oomph’ we need to rise to the challenge of work, have fulfilling relationships and experience the joy of being alive that is our birthright. If we don’t have energy, we are simply going through the motions of life.
Although energy can put a spring in our step and help keep disease at bay, it’s important to remember that healthy energy levels are also balanced energy levels. In other words, we need to have the energy to meet the challenges of life without going into overdrive. Overdrive is certainly not good for our health and well-being because it makes it hard to switch off and relax, and increases our risk of stress and poor health. What we need to be aiming for isn’t constantly high energy levels but a steady flow of balanced physical, emotional and mental energy; these balanced levels are essential if we are genuinely to experience good health and vitality.
Energy peaks and troughs
It’s important to know that our energy level won’t remain constant throughout the day; there will be natural dips. In fact, scientists have identified 2.16 p.m. as the time most of us experience an energy dip, so if you get a slump around this time it does not mean