How’s your energy? Tired, fed up and lacking motivation?

When you experience a lack of energy it takes all the fun out of life. Lethargy and boredom means that it’s extra hard to achieve your goals which leads to lower self-esteem and a lack of purpose and further despondency.

On the flip side when you have more energy you get more enjoyment out of life:

It changes everything:

I’ve put together my top 5 tips to quickly and easily get you back on the right track.

I always like to keep things simple and practical so with only 5 things to focus on you can do them all and turn things around for a better life. 

1. Drink more water

Easily the most common reason a lack of energy is dehydration. Your body is made of around 50 - 70% water, so it’s fairly important!!

Water assists with flow; it keeps everything moving and without it the body slows down and dries up.

Breaking this down into the 3 important areas that you’ll want to know about.

The body:

Water is the most critical building block for the body. Every single cell is predominately made up of water so it affects the function of every organ.

It is the major ingredient in all your body fluids: within the cells and between the cells.

• Transports nutrients to the cells
• Regulates body temperature
• Reduces inflammation
• Fewer aches and pains
• Improve elimination of toxins
• Protects and moisturises the joints.
• Aids in weight loss

You lose water constantly throughout the day so it needs to be replaced to maintain optimum water balance.

Water content regulation is one of the most important parts of homeostasis due to its influence on blood pressure and cardiac output.

The brain:

Your brain consists of 90% water – lack of water in the brain and the central nervous system is a major contributor to tiredness, fogginess, lack of clarity and memory loss. A lack of hydration causes a lack in brain integration meaning you do not have both sides brain at the same time. Water carries the electrical energy for all brain functions, including thought and memory processes. The glands in the brain produce vital hormones and neurotransmitters needed to direct the functions of the entire body. Nerve transmission requires one-half of all the brain’s energy.

Dehydration can lead your brain turning of, confusing and crossing signals slowing your reaction time and making you clumsy. Like the rest of the body, water supplies the brain with the essential energy, maintains nerve signals, provides nutrients and removes toxins. 

The skin:

How much money do you spend on skincare? We all want lovely plump skin but it’s not so much what you put on it but rather what you put in your body that contributes to beautifully hydrated skin.

Your skin is the largest organ of the body and most importantly ladies it’s the one that everyone gets to see. Hydration means increasing the amount of water in your skin cells, which results in a healthy, smooth and plump complexion. Dry skin has less resilience and is more prone to wrinkling.

So for your skins sake drink more water. 

There is great debate about how much water to drink each day. The general consensus suggests about 2ltrs but that varies a lot depending on level of exercise and sweating, what you eat and dehydrating drinks such as alcohol, tea coffee and soft drinks. Drink lots of smaller amounts throughout the day rather than trying to get it all in at once or the kidneys will just pee it out.  Ingested water is absorbed mainly in the small intestine. It appears in the blood as soon as 5 minutes after ingestion.

2. Smile

Each time you smile you activate neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness. ... The feel good neurotransmitters dopamine, endorphins and serotonin are all released when a smile flashes across your face as well. These neurotransmitters are triggered by the movements of the muscles in your face, which are interpreted by your brain, which then releases the cascade of beneficial chemicals. Endorphins are responsible for making us feel happy, and they also help lower stress levels.

Faking a smile or laugh works as well as the real thing—the brain doesn’t differentiate between real or fake as it interprets the positioning of the facial muscles in the same way. The more we stimulate our brain to release this chemical the more often we feel happier and relaxed.

You can’t smile and feel angry at the same time – try it for yourself. 

3. Focus on what you want.

Thinking about what you want, what makes you happy, what makes your heart sing, delights you and inspires you, creates excitement in the brain and then throughout the body.  Anticipation is the best stimulant for the brain. It gets excited and starts pumping out those positive brain chemicals such as dopamine. It is released from the brain’s frontal lobe and acts as a stimulant that prevents pain, stimulates arousal and causes more excitement.

When my clients come to see me in my kinesiology clinic we usually start talking about how things are going and in particular we discuss what’s not going so well. It makes sense that they tell me what they want help with. But what used to surprise me is how many people can talk all day about what they don’t want but they cannot answer the question “what do you want”?

Write a list of your goals and dreams, it makes them more concrete and helps you get clear.  You could also create a vision board made up of images depicting what your dream or goal looks like. Then most of all feel what it feels like when you have it. That’s where the gold is. Positive visualisation is only part of the solution you must feel what it feels like then you are half way there. 

The Reticular Activating System in a tiny part of the brain that feeds your awareness more of what you focus on. If you focus on a problem then you’ll get more of it so it’s more beneficial to focus on what you want.

4. Get moving

We all know it but I have to say it again; exercise boosts your energy and fights fatigue. The body has to create more energy producing cells to meet the demands of your extra activity and so it improves the energy output. 

Physically, exercise increases respiration rate and therefore the amount of oxygen in the blood. It also boosts circulation, strength and stamina.

Emotionally it boosts the feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters. It’s allows you have some time for you, time to look after yourself and give your body what it needs. Imagine how good you feel when you can feel proud of yourself.

Exercise:

• Reduces muscular tension
• Reduces stress
• Increases blood circulation
• Reduces blood pressure
• Promotes sleep efficiency

All of which improves your energy.

You don’t have to do a massive boot camp or run a marathon. If you are not the gym type then just go for a little walk or stretch. Raise your arms and bend your back and legs a few time using lovely big deep breaths.

Enjoy your freedom to move and the experience and awareness of your body.

5. Clean up your diet.

Less weight = more energy.

If you want to loose weight and feel better it’s actually really easy  - Eat less!

And just like exercising you know what you have to do. Don’t overcomplicate it.

Eat more clean fresh food, Load up on vegetables and fruits and reduce fats and carbohydrates.

Fasting has become popular and it’s one fad that I feel has long term benefits. Again don’t over do it. Either do the 5 – 2 where you eat only 500 calories over two non-consecutive days a week or eat only during an eight hour period during the day.  This means that you maximise your night-time fasting.  Choose the 8 hours that suit your life. I like to delay eating until 10 or 11 am and then have a light lunch and eat dinner around 6 or 7pm. I find that I also sleep better.

The benefits of fasting are mainly that your stomach and intestines get a chance to rest and recuperate and allows for cleansing and detoxification of the body.

Choose one of these 5 top tips each day to focus on and make it really easy.

To help and support you towards more energy and vitality I also encourage you to make use of the Altearah Bio perfume and body oil in Royal Purple.

The Royal Purple blend of pure organic essential oils delivers more Energy to your body and mind. Royal Purple is the colour for grounding and getting close to the earth, giving you strength and stability and a renewed source of energy. The hero in this blend is Clove essential oil which is a neurotonic; it invigorates the body by supporting the nervous system. The blend also includes Cedar and Geranium to re-establish a rhythm with life and get you back in sync with yourself or when you feel emotionally exhausted.

To have the life of your dreams and a life worth living get more energy, get out and enjoy all that life has to offer.