6 Ways to Boost Your Energy and beat fatigue

One of the biggest challenges women face today is fatigue. You try to ‘get’ or ‘find’ energy and come up short every time. Energy is like water. If you want to ‘hold’ it, you have to create a mould for it otherwise it’s a waste. Just like you can’t grab water, you can’t grab energy. Holding it is the by-product of the mould or the conditions that allow it to stay. If you are physically, mentally, and emotionally aligned, you will feel energized. Energy is like the side effect of wellness.

For example, if you are a runner who is wearing a weighted vest and you want to improve your time. You can research the latest athletic gear technology and it will give one second or two, but take off the weighted vest and you’ll be amazed how much faster you will be. In today’s life, most of us are logging around weighted vest, but looking to feel more energized and run faster. We chug coffee after coffee, red bull after red bull, stimulant after stimulant, but drop the dead weight and you’ll automatically go faster.

So what is your weighted vest? Too little sleep, disorganised desks, high sugar diets, dysfunctional relationships, food sensitivities, overloaded work schedules…the list goes on. Close that chapter of exhaustion and in many ways sickness,  with these 6 tips.

1. Free Yourself

Your energy has a perfect inverse relationship to the accrual of stuff you have, but if you are honest, you don’t need. Whether you believe it or not, the more stuff you have cluttering up your life, the less energy you have. The condition of your wardrobe, desk, office and living space actually reflects what’s going on in your head. Take time to clear the clutter and organise your stuff and you’ll be freeing up a lot of head space, and that might just be the kick you need to get turbo-charged.

2. Fuel right

Food is fuel and just like a car needs fuel to start, you need food. The better the quality of fuel, the better the car will run. By eating the right balance of alkaline and acid forming foods, you can significantly improve your metabolism and digestion, mental clarity, your waistline and ultimately, your energy levels. Allowing your alkaline levels to deplete encourages fatigue, allergies and disease causing compounds to exist in the body. So this year, increase your intake of alkaline foods like green leafy vegetables, fruits, alkaline water (water with lemon), kelp, avocadoes, and almonds.

3. Support your liver

Toxins are everywhere—plastic bowls you microwave your food in, household cleaning products, beauty products, processed foods, alcohols, stimulants, medications. Just everywhere! They accumulate in our bodies and over time, they start to create inflammation and impair our bodily functions. When your liver is not working correctly, your energy is the first thing that will suffer. Giving the liver all the nutrients it needs to perform its daily tasks is vital to your wellbeing. You can help your liver do its job more effectively and give boost your energy in the process by eating liver supporting foods like carrots, beets, garlic, grapefruit, spinach and walnuts.

4. Move

Everyone knows that exercise gives an energy boost, but when it comes to working out, somehow time becomes a huge factor. Not being able to get to or afford the gym or equipment should not be an obstacle. There are so many options. Here are two no-equipment workouts that you can do just about anywhere in as little as 15 minutes to boost your energy. 1) Run 2 to 2.5 km; 2) Do a circuit [Do each exercise for 20 seconds and the rest for 10—Jump squats, push-ups, backward stepping lunges, plank, burpees and mountain climbers, then repeat 5 times]. Exercise helps oxygenate your body and support detoxification, while sweat removes acids from the body. It doesn’t matter what exercise you do, just do it.

5. Disconnect

We live in a world of information overload. We are constantly deluged with information via email, RSS feeds, Instagram, twitter, blogs, TV, you name it. Knowledge may be power, but if you are not energised and able to process and use the information, it is just noise. Give yourself the gift of a media free day, and feel your own energy accumulate rather than dissipate. Do you need to spend that time mindlessly scrolling one outlet after the other? Probably not and definitely not every day. If the thought of this frightens you, you are exactly the sort of person who needs to switch off and disconnect.

6. Get some sun

Just 10 minutes a day will do wonders. The sun not only lifts your spirits, but is a source of energy. We have become so sun phobic that we are missing out on a myriad of mood boosting and energy enhancing benefits. The sun gives us vitamin D and low vitamin D levels have been linked to obesity, which can make it really hard to feel energised.