Many people start their days on the brightest of notes – energetic and rearing to go, only to get to midday, and they’re already feeling fatigued and worn out. They stare at their to-do list, and all they can see is nothing but a mountain of burden.
They just cannot go on at full speed anymore – their bodies are shutting down, and their energy levels just keep sapping out.
If you’ve ever experienced this, we want you to know that it’s nothing to worry about.
You’re just low on energy. It’s nothing serious.
Below is a list of things you can take to raise your energy levels throughout the day.
Start your day with a cup of coffee
What better way is there to stay energized throughout the day than by taking an actual energy-booster?
Coffee, as we all know it, provides people with an instant burst of energy, strong enough to drive them through the day. Coffee is able to do this because it contains a stimulant called caffeine – the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world. When you drink coffee, the caffeine is absorbed into your bloodstream, wherein it’s later sent to your brains to enhance the firing of neurons.
By and large, coffee is the perfect pick-me-up anyone can use to launch their day. Once you get out of bed, move down to your kitchen and brew a high-quality coffee made from freshly roasted coffee beans. With this, you can rest assured that you will feel active and energetic throughout the day.
Control stress-induced emotions
Now that you’ve taken a cup of coffee, the next thing is to keep an eye on everything you do afterward. That is, you want to make sure you don’t wear yourself down with emotional or psychological stress at any given time of the day.
Right from when you finished your cup of coffee, stress-induced emotions such as anger, irritation, and worrying could appear in various forms, causing you to lose huge amounts of energy.
PRO TIP: To control in-house stressors, make sure everything you need in the morning is set and in place the night before.
Upon getting to your workplace or where you intend to spend your day, you also need to watch out for other stress-induced emotions such as feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, restlessness, and anxiety.
PRO TIP: To control outdoor stressors, regularly take breaks, walk around briefly, talk with friends, and eat regularly.
Fuel your day with protein
I don’t know whether you’ve heard this before, but if you’re looking for an energy-giving food, there’s no looking beyond protein-rich content. Unlike common food classes like carbs and fats, protein takes longer to break down in the body. As a result, it stays longer in the body, providing you with sustained energy for the day. This way, it will be impossible for you to experience a crash during the day or experience energy loss after a few chores.
Intake of protein-rich content is even more crucial if you’re the type who loves to hit the gym regularly. Studies have shown that ingesting enough protein seems to maximize the body’s ability to recover after rigorous activities like exercises.
For starters, we strongly recommend starting your day with protein-rich content such as eggs, nuts, yogurt, and shakes. As your day progresses, you can throw in a couple of protein-rich snacks, such as the Ember Biltong snacks.
Exercise regularly
Whether before or after your day has ended, it’s highly recommended that you imbibe a healthy exercise routine. I know this may sound counterintuitive (engaging in stressful acts like exercises when you’re trying to gain and retain more energy), but it’s surely one of the things you want to include in your daily routine.
Exercises almost guarantee that you’ll sleep more soundly. And with good sleep comes a healthy dose of benefits, including stress reduction, blood pressure maintenance, mood regulation, and lots more.
In addition, exercises also encourage the body to release, in modest amounts, stress hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which are great for energizing the body.
Avoid overworking yourself
It’s no news that fatigue and energy loss can come when you overwork yourself. There is a certain level of workload the body can sustain. Once you push beyond this level, the body fights back in response. To ensure you don’t lose energy as a result of your workload, you can try to streamline your to-do list to align with what your body is able to manage. To do this, you just have to set your priorities right and arrange your tasks from the “most taxing” to the “least taxing.” This way, you would finish the strenuous tasks early enough before your body starts shutting down.
Rest rest rest
It’s absolutely normal to feel weak and less energetic during the day if you didn’t take adequate rest the night before. This is why most experts recommend that you take at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep every day.
However, if your schedule won’t allow this, you can get creative with your sleeping patterns by adopting any of these tricks:
- Set a fixed sleeping and waking time.
- Set up a nightly routine that precedes your “going to bed.” This could be a brief exercise, meditation, reading, or anything you find interesting.
- Set screen time limit and stick with it. It’s been proven that TV and phones can hinder good sleep or delay sleep time.
- Set up your bedroom in such a way that it feels cozy and sleep-inducing.