Feeling rundown and tired can seriously affect your lifestyle, damaging both your mental and physical health, and we’ve all been there. It’s easy to go for a mid-afternoon caffeine hit to help you get through the day, but there are a lot of ways that you can boost your energy levels naturally without turning to that next cup of coffee – follow our top four tips, and you’ll notice significant changes to your health.
Sleep Well
It goes without saying that getting more sleep can improve your energy levels, support your immune system and leave you feeling ready to take on each day. But how do you actually do this? The best approach is to work on your sleep health by creating a structured routine that includes:
Developing A Regular Sleep Pattern: A regular sleep pattern is highly important to help you manage your energy levels, as your internal body clock depends on a structured sleep and wake up routine.
Cutting Out the Coffee: The high levels of caffeine in coffee can keep you sitting awake at night, by blocking the adenosine receptors in your brain that promote sleep. Simply pausing coffee consumption from mid-afternoon each day allows your body to shut down for bed and get adequate rest.
Turning Off Your Tech: Whether you’ve been working on your laptop all evening, or you just can’t resist scrolling on your phone, the blue light emitted by these devices has been proven to restrict the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that controls the sleep-wake cycle.
Exercise Regularly
When it comes to boosting your energy levels, it might feel counterproductive to prioritize exercise – after all, how can more movement give you more energy? The reality is that on top of physical health benefits like lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of heart disease, frequent exercise has been proven to fight fatigue.
You don’t need to run a marathon, either. There are plenty of different types of exercise that you can do regardless of your fitness level that can leave you feeling revitalized, such as yoga, weightlifting or hiking. By taking some time to find an exercise you enjoy, you can settle into a routine and boost your energy levels in no time.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
One of the biggest influences on a drop to your energy levels is alcohol consumption. Alcohol wreaks havoc on a range of factors that influence our energy, such as our weight, sleep pattern and mental health, so cutting out or reducing your alcohol intake can work wonders for boosting your energy levels and improving your overall wellbeing. In turn, this gives you the opportunity to refocus your ambitions and work on your goals.
Use Supplements for Support
If you’re working hard to improve your energy levels through exercise, good sleep health and alcohol restriction, but still feel rundown, then it might be time to consider whether a mental health condition might be causing your energy to fall, and if so whether using a natural supplement to boost your ‘happy hormones’ might help. These hormones include dopamine, serotonin and endorphins, that can sometimes fall out of sync as a response to adverse life events or health issues. To combat this, a quality dopamine supplement can make a world of difference to how your brain regulates these hormones, leaving you with higher energy levels and the motivation needed to reach for your goals.
Feeling rundown is difficult to deal with, so it’s important that you work hard to address this and make changes. By following the top tips in this guide, you can make lifestyle adaptations that will leave you with more energy and enthusiasm to take on the day.