How to increase your energy

The up and down energy levels get old really fast. You feel great in the morning, and after lunch, nothing. Or you got nothing all day until it’s time for bed, then you’re up feeling wide awake and productive until 2 in the morning. Or you have a great week, and then nothing for the next week (or two). We tend to maximize our high energy moments to get it all done. We feel great, we make plans with everyone, and it feels like the start of a new frontier. Until the shoe drops. Again. 

The great news is, having constant, stable, elevated, focused energy where you (a) wake up feeling rested, (b) ease through the historically painful witching hours, and (c) no longer hide out for weeks at a time is just a few simple habits away. The key to sustained energy are habits. 

Here are 3 important factors that affect our energy levels.

Circadian rhythm

When your body’s in balance, what feels natural to you supports good health. When you aren’t in balance, what feels natural is what you’ve been doing (think addictions). 

Sleep is important. It’s not just how many hours but the time you go to bed, and when you wake up. Our physiology syncs with natural outside light, and when we oppose that for longer periods of time, our internal clock becomes misaligned with our environment, causing sleepiness at inopportune times, and we end up using stimulants for energy, further bringing us out of balance. The ideal is to get up by 6 am and to bed by 10 pm. Adjusting your habits to realign circadian rhythm will feel unnatural because your body is screaming for what you’re used to. The next two factors will help ease the shift 

Diet

There is no one special diet that works for everyone. It depends on your individual constitution and your activity levels. Are you sitting at a desk all day or a professional athlete? 

That said, no matter who you are, you need to take in enough nutrients per day, and per meal, in order to sustain yourself until the next meal. You want the right amount of fats, protein, carbs, vitamins, and minerals to keep your energy level stable, your pooping regular, and you feeling good. 

If you’re a grazer, eat only when you’re hungry for food. Take a moment to check in with your stomach. It may be that you’re hungry for something else. The challenge with grazing is (1) consuming too many calories impacts energy levels, and it’s easy to take in too much for the day, and with less ideal foods, and (2) it’s difficult to get enough sustenance in smaller grazes, which doesn’t take you through to the next meal before feeling hungry and tired. There are proponents of grazing; you decide... 

If you’re not used to connecting what you eat with how you feel, start practicing awareness by checking in with your body immediately and up to an hour after you’ve consumed anything. There’s no need to figure out how to fix your diet right now. First, tap into the power of awareness, because that will do much of the work: when you do something and it feels immediately bad, it becomes easier to stop. When if feels good, it’s easy to continue. Connection is key. 

Mental hygiene, quality of self-talk

People will say that having so much on your plate is what drains your energy. I disagree. Having so much - or anything - on your plate that you dread doing drains your energy. 

I’ve met enough people who have little on their plate who always seem drained, and enough who have multiple plates overflowing continuously who seem to generate an unlimited flow of energy and joy. There are of course many that have full plates and feel busy, stressed, and anxious. The difference is in the quality of their self-talk and the lens through which they perceive a situation. The story you project on anything matters. How much you love or embrace what you do or see it as meaningful to you will become the deciding factor. 

Don’t love every bit of what you do? Here’s where to start.  

1. Meditate. Meditation is an effective way to shift out of your negative, stuck self-talk and connect with truth. Daily morning meditation helps you conquer yourself so that no one else can. 
2. Immediately after meditation, feel the energy shift, both physically and mentally. Leverage this shift by soul-journaling for no more than 3 minutes (otherwise your head starts to get involved). Ask yourself, what do I want to experience in my day to day life? Write from your body. Write from that lighter, more open post-meditation space. Think later. Don’t edit your thoughts or your sentences during your journaling time. 
3. Turn your insights into a habit stack, one at a time. 

You got this. 

Love Savitree

P.S. - Need more support with this? HealedLovedFed helps you tweak your habits to give you sustained energy so you can live the life you love. We use meditation, soul-journaling, yoga, and group support to strengthen your nervous system, help you navigate your emotions, and master the right kind of productivity that delivers alignment in your life. Consider joining us.