Increase your energy. Have a better life!

byPetervanDijk

724 followers

5 years ago

Most people are outstanding in losing energy. Without even thinking about it, they lose a lot of unnecessary energy and gain a lot of unwanted side-effects, like high blood pressure, stress, sickness, overweight and what not more.

Being locked up for a while now, and not be able to run a couple of times a week or just go for a walk down the beach, I started looking for ways to improve my energy level. Not only for the next month but preferably for the rest of my life!

What not to do

In my search I found a lot of things I shouldn’t do: no stress, no alcohol, no caffeine, no junk food, don’t skimp on sleep, don’t smoke, don’t watch too much TV etc.

And of course a lot of do’s. Drink a lot of water, sleep enough, move enough, eat healthy and enough, control your stress.

Ok, that sounds all logical, but why doesn’t anyone do it? Or why is it so difficult to maintain? For me included!

First of all most of the things we like so much are quick satisfiers. Most of the time, they contain a lot of sugars. So they give us a big (almost instant) boost of energy. Energy drinks being the best example. After a workout and you are in, desperately need energy, then they are amazing and useful for the job. Waking up as a 16-year-old and the only way to drag yourself out of bed is a quick shot of energy, not so much.

What if your energy is low?

The lower your ratings in energy:

• The lower your overall happiness
• The lower your enthusiasm for taking on challenges
• The lower your (perception of your own) success vs your peers
• The lower your confidence
• The lower the degree of influence you’ll have with other
• The lower the chances are you eat well and/or exercise

Your mind-set sets off, and you (can) feel emotions of:

• Grief
• Loneliness
• Fear
• Resentment
• Sadness
• Jealous
• Guilt
• Depression
• Hostility
• Anger

Your energy is crucial for you. Low energy affects all aspects of your life!

What we should avoid:

Most people know precisely what to avoid or what not to do. But keep on coming back to their bad behaviour, because of individual mind-set’s (see above) they want to run away from. Or, they are in just deep denial and say it doesn’t count for them and they (love to) tell themselves and others, that they can change or stop whenever they choose to do so.

Well, if it makes you “feel better” to say so, please, be my guest and feel “Amazing”.

Energy suckers

More and more people have a very sedentary lifestyle. And hardly move at all anymore. Besides walking to the fridge, for their necessary energy-intake-consumption.

So, driving to work in your car, then working behind a computer (most of us!?) all day and coming back home and watch some TV or play a game on the computer or laptop.

Those mindless people have the tendency to eat without thinking. And start overeating.

Negative people

Unless you really have to be around negative people, because it is your boss. Or a fellow worker which you need. Otherwise: run!

Negative people will keep you down, and most likely, they are the ones benefitting by making you feel miserable.

Dissatisfaction

Everybody isn’t happy about something, every now and then. But if you only can see the negative side of things, it really is time to change your perspective. Merely complaining about the things that are not working (the way you want them to work), the people around you that are all lazy or are just stupid…

Start looking at the things you do like! About yourself, about others and your surroundings. Start with the first thing and build it up from there. You will be surprised.

What we should do:

Mind-set

Focussing on positive things or change your perspective before losing “it” will alter your focus to gratitude, joy and love. Even your passion will increase a level.

Strategies to give your energy a boost with your mind is to set up some strong believe you want to live by. Start the day with affirmations (e.g. “I love my life!”), meditate and breath!

Start by paying attention to your breath a couple of times a day. Especially when things aren’t going as you want them to go. Take a couple of minutes or even just one. Change your mind-set and try to see the perspective. Just notice your breath. It can silence your “voices in your head” down and re-energise you for the next hour or two. Try it, you will be surprised.

Regular exercise

“I can’t go to the gym, I don’t have time, I don’t know anyone…..tomorrow I’ll go”.

We all know we should move and why. Most of the times, we quite like it as well, after the exercise. But they go or get ready to go, that is mostly the hard thing to do.

For many people it is difficult to visit the gym or even go out at all at the moment.

The things we can do at home are endless. But some that are really good are:

• Tai chi
• Yoga
• Chi Gong
• Stretching

Go to www.youtube.com and find yourself an instruction video and start. Plan it in every morning or afternoon and give yourself that bit more of energy or focus.

If you don’t like this kind of things, or you think it’s not manly enough. Maybe you love to trampoline? Yes, the one your kids jump on!

Supposedly it is 68% more effective than jogging. It helps your metabolism and your cholesterol levels. Also, it increases the performance of the heart and the circulatory system.

If you don’t care about that all, just jump. It is hilarious, gives a smile on your face, and you can do it in every room in your house. Perhaps even with your kids. Good luck!

Relaxation

Exercising is essential but taking time off as well. Plan your daytime, plan your sleep time and plan some time off. Take your breaks. Even for just five minutes. Walk around, go outside or just breath and reset yourself.

If your body is only “ON” all the time, you will eventually only get more stressed or upset or lose focus and concentration, and in the long run, you will do less.

Take enough resting time. Go on holiday, go away for the weekend, go to the sauna or something…relax!

Set yourself goals

Goals are fundamental in life: “no goals, no growth”.

So, why not besides setting goals for your business or your work, also set goals on improving your energy?

If you want to start running but you don’t know-how. Set a goal for yourself that you want to run 5K in 6 months or even in three. Plan it in and start by running just for one minute. Walk a bit and run again for only one minute. And slowly, you can build it up.

Instead of eating three unhealthy meals a day, start by replacing one meal with a salad or just a healthy soup. Start with only one!

Supplements

We all know we need our vitamins and minerals. But do you know what YOU need? Or what exactly your daily intake is on your healthy diet?

A lot of the supplements which you see on TV are most of the time BS. But some can be necessary for you. Even if you eat really healthy.

A lot of healthy foods are less healthy than they were thirty or forty years ago. The mass-production of foods these days is slowly decreasing because of the grounds they are built on. We hardly give the soil enough time to recover anymore. The only important thing these days seems to be: production, production, production. “If it looks like a tomato, ….well it most likely should be one!”

The advice here is to see a nutritionist. And perhaps it is wise to change your diet. Or you are allergic to some types of foods.

Breath healthy

First of all, start breathing from your stomach. Most people breath from their chest. To impress or because they don’t want to pay too much attention to their belly(-fat). To quickly increase your energy levels, you can increase the level of air you breathe by using (also) your stomach. More oxygen more feeding to the body.

Furthermore, an easy fix can be to purify the air you breathe. Our atmosphere is filled with all kind of pollutants, dust mites, bacteria’s and other particles that can drain our energy.

Look into a good quality air purifier to improve the quality in your bedroom while you are asleep or in your home in general.

Laugh and be social

Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

And because it is easier and even more fun to laugh with another person, meet people. Go out and network or just talk to people about whatever.

This can promote an overall sense of well-being and can even, temporarily, relieve pain. So, laugh. A lot!

Be grateful

Start being more grateful for the things you have! So many things in life we start to take for granted after a while. Quite often, we only realise what we had when it is gone. Sounds familiar?

Start being happy, start enjoying, start being grateful to what you do have in your life. Instead, only looking at the things we don’t have. Focus on the positive. The more positive things you notice, the more positive things will come your way.

Be happy for your health! Are you fat and unhealthy? Be happy about your hair. About your little toe whatever.

Be happy you have a house.

Be happy you have a friend.

Be happy you have parents are still alive.

Be happy you can work, read, watch, walk, listen, smell, eat, drink,….whatever.

Be happy you are still alive!

15 TIPS FOR INCREASING YOUR ENERGY:

1. Wake up early and direct. Set your alarm (an hour or five minutes) earlier than usual and wake up straight away when it goes off. Don’t snooze!
2. Don’t use your phone for the first couple of hours (and also not the last couple of hours of the day). By getting your phone straight after you wake up, you let others rule and influence your life. First, pay attention to yourself and then the rest of the world. Using your phone before you go to bed may interfere with your sleep (so-called blue light). A solution for this is to turn on “night modus” on your phone or tablet. Another option is to buy blue-light-blocking glasses. They work like a filter for your eyes.
3. After waking up: meditate for 5 to 30 minutes. Or if this is too long, just watch your breath for one minute.
4. Hug your partner for a minute, or your kid and say you love them. No partner or kid? Watch in the mirror and say you love yourself.
5. Do affirmations and set your intentions for the day. “I love my life, I love my body! Today is going to be a good/productive/nice day!”
6. Drink a glass of water with lemon in it. Wake up your inner system; let your body know the day starts, and it has to get ready.
7. Plan your day; your appointments etc. but also write down the things you want to achieve today, you are grateful for, you looking forward to, what you have to be careful for and set your intentions how you want to deal with the different situations in your day. What do you want to achieve?
8. Be active! Run, jump, swim, cycle, exercise, get active and get the rest of your body know that it is time to be busy! Try to get to 5 days of training a week.
9. Take a cold(-er) shower. There are many benefits to taking a cold shower. First of all, it is a good reminder to your body to get ready and waken up. But it is supposed to be suitable for your immune system.
10. Eat healthily. Eat at least one healthy meal today, but preferably three. Don’t take more than one snack during the day (also preferably healthy of course).
11. Take your moments during the day (breath or meditate for a couple of minutes) to refocus.
12. No caffeine after 4pm. Or even 2pm when you (still) sleep poorly.
13. Drink two-litre of water. Or even three when you are active, or it is warm. More when you exercise intensely.
14. Sleep between seven and eight hours at night. In a dark and cold room (20C or 68F) with no lights at all.
15. BE HAPPY, ENJOY AND BE GRATEFUL!