Fall is here and the school season in full swing. Extra curricular activities are taking up time in our schedules and the days are starting earlier. Are you mentally or physically ready?
Daylight savings time will soon add fuel to our fatigued fire, too.
What would having more energy do for you? How would that change your attitude and outlook on life?
Here are three ways you may be zapping your energy and how to make some small energy boosting tweaks:
Mistake #1: Drinking too much Coffee
You've heard the saying that too much of a good thing can become bad. Coffee is what we call a "nootropic" which means that its a substance we use to enhance concentration, our mood, brain performance, memory, and higher executive functions. WOW! So what's wrong with coffee then?
When we dose it correctly, which is about 1-2 cups daily taken with food, we can feel the nootropic benefits that coffee provides. But there is a point where it can become too stimulating and also drain us more, making us feel even more tired.
The stimulating affect of coffee is what gives us that boost we desperately need sometimes but a system that's already running on empty can't handle that much stimulation. It can actually wear us out more, making us feel even more tired. That's why we can experience the "coffee crash"...which in turn makes us want to drink more.
Top Tip:
Try drinking an entire water bottle or 2 BEFORE you grab the next cup of coffee.
Mistake #2: Getting less than 5,000 steps a day.
Before I started making exercise a priority, I would have days where I barely got 2000 steps in. I sat all day long: during my commute, all day at the desk, and then back home to sit on the couch. One day, one of my patients mentioned that I looked tired. That was one of the moments I'll never forget. I decided to make going to the YMCA a priority and split my day with a quick 30 minute lunch time workout. This ended up giving me so much energy for the afternoon. I handled stress better and mentally, I was able to focus that much more.
Movement increase circulation and therefore, brings oxygen and nutrients all over your body. This can significantly increase energy throughout the whole body, including our brains.
Mistake #3: Dehydration During my Get Your Spark Back Series, the attendees were instructed to take one goal and focus on that for one of the weekly modules. One woman picked drinking more water. She picked out a cute jug, decided to add cucumber and other fruits to the water to make it more interesting. The next day she sent me this text:
*Water is LIFE! Day one of being hydrated and I feel like a new person. How did I not start doing this until 54!? Thank you! What you said about our bodies electrical system needing water really gave me an aha moment."
She later said, "the benefits of water continue...I just slept through the night."
So what is it about the simple task of drinking more water and being hydrated? Electricity travels super fast through water and our brains and nerves all require FAST electrical pulses. Our joints, our skin, and everything that needs moisture, like our eyes, all need WATER!.
Walking around dehydrated will absolutely contribute to fatigue and our bodies functioning much slower.
So friend, to have more energy:
A. Have 1-2 cups of coffee WITH FOOD a day
B. Get MOVING
C. HYDRATE
Energetically,
DrLexi
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