It can be frustrating for a lot of people, when you find that you just don’t have the energy that you used to have.
Firstly, energy comes from one place; your energy jar. You don’t have a pot of energy for work, a pot of energy for home, a pot of energy for the gym; it all comes from one place. You need to be mindful of that when you’re trying to manage your energy levels. If you’re depleted because you’ve had a really tough week at work, there’s going to be less in the tank for the gym, less in your tank for home. It’s about pacing; the same way that an athlete would pace themselves based on their energy levels. Also look ahead to the demands of your lifestyle. Have you got enough energy for what’s coming up? Or do you need to double down on some of the really key things that I’m going to talk about now?
One of those is sleep. Are you getting enough sleep? Most of us, and that’s the vast majority of us, need between seven and nine hours sleep.
Think about getting back to basics, and looking at your sleep routine. Have you got a good routine that helps you to get ready for bed? And have you got a good routine in the morning that prepares you for the day? Are you physically getting enough hours sleep? That’s really important.
The other thing is nutrition. Nutrition is a key part of energy. We use food to energise ourselves; eating the right kind of diet and making it personal to you. Don’t eat a diet that works for the majority of people, make it personal. Do some tests. Eliminate foods and bring them back in, and see what works for you. But focus on eating lots of vegetables, and avoiding foods such as refined carbohydrates and sugars, which are obvious energy depleters. Also eat lots of good fats, for example; avocados, oils, oily fish. Find a diet that’s really personal to you that will help fuel you for the day ahead.
Mental nourishment is another really important one for energy; looking after your mind in the same way that you might look after your body. One example of this is meditation, a mindfulness practice, but also just getting the mind stimulated with something that I call heartfulness, which is practicing gratitude. It’s doing something that you really love. It’s spending time with people you really love. It’s focusing on heartfulness. That’s a really key one I think for energising.
Also incorporate lots of movement into your day; micro breaks, getting up, standing up, walking meetings, taking phone calls standing up. Active commuting, active transport, getting from A to B, avoiding tubes and doing more walking. This is super important.
Finally, something I notice in myself and people I know and a lot of people I work with, which is over-scheduling. Take a look at your diary. A quick way to energise yourself would be to go through, and think about things you don’t need to be doing. Can you postpone that event? Create some pockets of space for yourself in amongst your schedule, and you’ll find that’s usually beneficial for creating more energy.
What’s your Health IQ?
If you’re reading this, you’re are probably in a reasonably senior position, running your own business or have a busy life running the home and juggling other responsibilities. Either way, you’re busy. The convergent pressures of work and family life have probably meant that the time you did have to spend on health and fitness has disappeared. Why not talk to us and see how we can help.
Leanne Spencer is an entrepreneur, coach, TEDx Speaker, author of Remove the Guesswork, and founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. Bodyshot is a health and fitness consultancy that helps busy professionals get more energy by removing the guesswork around their health, fitness and nutrition. Visit www.bodyshotperformance.com or email [email protected] to register your interest in our services and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.