Are you feeling low on energy already in the middle of the day? Feeling too tired to exercise, hang out with friends, or just find enough strength to go out at night? If so, you need to work on yourself a little more to charge yourself with energy. All you need to do is maintain a diet that maximizes your vitality and try some simple tricks to keep your mind and body active. If you want to feel energetic, just follow these steps.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: With the Diet
Step 1. Have a healthy breakfast
It is the best thing you can do to start the day on the right foot and to charge up with energy before you walk out the door. A nutritious and not too heavy breakfast will give you the necessary strength to avoid collapsing or getting tired before noon. You should find the right balance of lean proteins, healthy vegetables, and some carbohydrates. Avoid foods that are too sugary like muffins or too fatty like bacon, and instead choose something that is satiating but healthy. Here are some foods that can help you.
- Oatmeal.
- Hard-boiled or fried eggs cooked with low-fat butter.
- Turkey bacon or ham.
- Vegetables such as celery, spinach, leeks, or kale.
- Blackberries, raspberries, bananas, apples or pears.
- Wheat toast or wholemeal flour focaccia.
- Low-fat milk cereals.
- Yogurt and muesli.
Step 2. Eat three balanced meals
While breakfast is the most important meal, you need to stay energized throughout the day so that you continue to feel alert and motivated. Always eat breakfast, lunch and dinner regularly, no matter how busy or tired you are. Maintain the right balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables throughout your meals, and try not to eat too much lunch, otherwise you will feel weighed down. Dinner should be adequate, so that you don't wake up because you're still hungry, but not too heavy that you feel completely lethargic after eating. Here are some great foods you can eat for lunch or dinner:
- Lunch: salad with nuts and berries, tomato soup, turkey sandwich with wholemeal bread, salmon, polenta and tuna with fennel.
- Dinner: salmon and quinoa, wholemeal pasta and chicken with lemon, rice and mushrooms, couscous and turkey.
Step 3. Eat some energizing snacks
The three meals are important, but so are the snacks that keep you active throughout the day. You should consume something at least every 3-4 hours, even if you are not particularly hungry. Avoid going to lunch or dinner feeling faint or too hungry, because this will surely cause you to lose energy, you will eat too much and you will feel tired due to the binge. Avoid this vicious circle by keeping healthy and nutritious snacks on hand. Here are some great energizing snacks you should eat:
- Muesli.
- Yogurt.
- Almonds, cashews or peanuts.
- A small piece of chocolate.
- Celery and peanut butter.
- Apples and honey.
Step 4. Eat more fiber-rich foods
Fiber, compared to carbohydrates, gives you more energy throughout the day, because it flows into the blood at a more constant rate, so it allows you to stay active longer. Foods rich in fiber can be a good addition to meals or snacks. Here are some foods with these characteristics:
- Rye bread.
- Pistachios.
- Raspberries.
- Lentils.
- Figs.
- Lima beans.
- Pecans nuts.
Step 5. Eat foods rich in omega-3s
Omega-3 fatty acids, which you can find in rapeseed oil, fatty fish and nuts, are known to make you feel more mentally active and therefore more energized. You should try to eat oily fish and nuts at least every day or two to feel energetic.
Step 6. Stay hydrated
To feel good, you need to drink at least 10 glasses of water every day. You must drink even if you are not thirsty, if you want to always feel active. Carry a bottle of water with you wherever you go, or stop for a drink at the fountains even if you're not really thirsty. Drink a glass of water with every meal or snack to remind you to stay hydrated.
Step 7. Be moderate with caffeine
It doesn't mean you need to stop taking it entirely, but you need to know that the more you drink caffeine (which makes you awake in the short term), the more fatigued and tired you will feel in the long run. Try not to drink coffee after noon or, at least, try sipping it slowly, instead of gulping it down in a second and then feeling nervous. The caffeine in tea isn't that strong, so you might want to try substituting it for coffee to avoid losing energy quickly.
- Drinking too much caffeine keeps you awake late into the night, makes you sleep badly with the risk of waking up even more tired and consequently making you take more caffeine. Break this vicious circle if you want to feel more energized.
- If you want to free yourself from taking so much caffeine, you can do it slowly: quitting suddenly can make you feel tired and restless, especially if you are used to taking a lot of it.
Step 8. Avoid drinking too much alcohol
It is a sedative, and can make you feel tired and get a less restful sleep. If you want to feel energetic and more enthusiastic about life, you need to avoid bars and those five beers with friends. In fact, the more you drink alcohol, the more likely you are to feel tired and irritable, even if you don't feel its effects right away.
Even if you like to have a glass or two of wine in the evening, avoid drinking alcohol less than two hours before bed. It may perhaps help you fall asleep, but your sleep will be less deep and more restless
Method 2 of 3: Energize Your Body
Step 1. Exercise
Exercise keeps you energetic, happier and physically fitter. If you're feeling lazy, physical movement is probably the last thing you want to do, but that's exactly what makes you feel more alert and alive. Just 30 minutes of exercise a day increases your overall energy levels, not to mention the benefits to your health. You can work out every other day, take a yoga class a couple of times a week, play team sports, or find a training partner and go to a gym.
- Try to keep yourself exercising whenever you can. Take the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Walk instead of using the car. Do some abdominal exercises when watching TV.
- Work out in the morning. This way you activate your body right away and you will have more energy throughout the day.
Step 2. Take a restorative nap
Naps have been shown to be effective when you are feeling low on energy. Just stay in a dark room for 15-20 minutes, close your eyes and let yourself go. Even if you don't fall asleep completely, your rested body recovers energy. Naps are better than real naps; if you sleep for an hour or more you will feel more tired and dizzy when you wake up, and you may feel this way until the evening.
A good time to take a nap can be after lunch, when you feel a little tired after eating
Step 3. Sprinkle cold water on your face
Take a couple of handfuls of cold water and sprinkle it on your face when you feel tired. This is a great trick for waking up in the morning, as well as making you feel cleaner. And it's also great for feeling vital all day.
Step 4. Go outside
Staying out as much as possible has been shown to make people feel happier and more energetic. Taking a breath of fresh air into your lungs can invigorate you and make you feel ready to face the day. Taking a few steps outside or on the balcony as soon as you wake up and breathing fresh air, even for just a minute, can give you an almost instant energy charge. If you can stay in the sun for a while, make sure you do it; instead of having lunch at your desk, go out for lunch, or eat on a bench.
If you spend 8 hours uninterrupted at home, your energy drops much faster than if you take breaks and spend time outdoors
Step 5. Walk for about twenty minutes
Walking for even a short time can activate your mind and body and make you feel more vital. Whenever you feel the energy drop, go out, breathe fresh air, and move.
Step 6. Get enough sleep
Adequate sleep is essential if you want to stay energetic. You may feel tired simply because you haven't slept enough. You may think that willpower and caffeine are enough to overcome the fact that you get an average of five hours of sleep per night, but nothing can replace good restful sleep. Make sure you sleep at least 7-8 hours a night and go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time in the morning; when you change your regular sleep schedule you may experience a jet lag-like effect.
- Make sure you maintain a good relaxation routine at least an hour before bed. Turn off all visual stimuli, such as your phone, computer, and television, and read quietly in bed or listen to relaxing music. This can help you fall asleep faster.
- When you wake up, stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm and face the day. Keeping putting it off will only cause you to fall into a new short erratic sleep, and it won't make you feel more rested at all. Getting up at the first sound of the alarm, on the other hand, will give you more energy and allow you to better manage your day.
Method 3 of 3: Energize Your Mind
Step 1. Listen to music that energizes
Putting on some music can make you feel more active right away. If you're feeling a little low on energy, just put on your favorite music, be it Macklemore or the Jackson 5. Engage a friend in a quick ballet or dance alone in a room. You just need to move a little to feel more energized, awake and happy to be alive.
Alternatively, you can also try listening to classical music, even if it's not the best thing for you: it has been shown to activate the mind
Step 2. Alternate between different activities
Another way to revive your mind is to give it new stimuli. For example, you have been studying for the chemistry test for 3 hours and you feel devastated. Try doing something new! Start planning your Italian essay, or write that dreaded paragraph in Spanish. Changing and doing something different, when you can no longer pay attention to the first activity, is a great way to make you feel active and restore the energy you were losing.
- Even if the new task you are doing is no more exciting than the previous one, only the effort of change will make you feel a little more energetic.
- Start the day with a to-do list. In this way, it will be easier for you to move on to new tasks and you will not get stuck in those activities that drain your energy.
Step 3. Reward yourself for your achievements
Giving yourself rewards is a great way to feel active and motivated to continue in your job or any other task. Tell yourself that you will eat ice cream after studying for four hours. Promise yourself to finally go to the cinema to see a movie that interests you with your friends, when you have completed all your commitments. Just the thought of something fun on the horizon can make you feel more active and motivated to continue with your work.
You can also reward yourself without leaving your desk. Tell yourself that after half an hour of work you will spend five minutes reading the article your best friend sent you
Step 4. Avoid doing multiple things at the same time
You might think multi-tasking is a great way to stay active and get things done faster, but studies show that doing more things together can make you go into reserve faster, make you distracted, and are still less efficient. Checking one item off your to-do list at a time is much more effective, and probably saves more energy.
Step 5. Try the "ten more minutes" trick
Whenever you are truly KO'd in the middle of a task, say to yourself: "I'm only doing this for another ten minutes." Repeat it like a mantra, while continuing to carry out that activity. Setting yourself a short time limit can make your task more manageable and less overwhelming, and can keep you focused rather than losing your temper.
If this trick works for you, you can also give yourself longer time limits, half an hour or even an hour, if you want to gather the energy to manage a certain activity
Step 6. Plan your day based on your energy peaks
This is another great trick to keep yourself vital all day. While not everyone is lucky enough to be able to plan their day based on their biorhythm, small changes can make a big difference. If you feel more active in the morning, plan to run right then, rather than in the evening, after a long day at work. if you know you are a little tired after lunch, try to do things that do not require mental commitment for those moments, go shopping or do the simpler jobs.
- Make a list of your typical commitments and try to track the energy levels around it. What parts of your routine can you change to make your life a little easier?
- You may not be so aware of the fluctuations in your energy. Try to observe yourself on a typical day and keep track of how you feel.
Step 7. Take a vacation
While you obviously can't take a vacation every time you need to recharge, you will be amazed at how much “unplugging” can help you recover your energy levels. If you go to the Maldives or take some days off to clean up the house and be able to read all the outstanding books, or even if you just take a break from your usual tasks, indulge yourself a little, just to interrupt your life for a while. routine, you can feel happier and more energetic as you go through the day.
If you can't afford a vacation, even a day or two off work can make you feel less overwhelmed and more active
Step 8. Take breaks every 60-90 minutes
Even the most focused and enthusiastic person needs to take a break from time to time. Take a 15-minute walk, stop your work to call home, or just quit your job and read some news, just to regenerate and feel ready to tackle the tasks ahead. Resting your mind for a while can give you more energy and reduce stress. Don't skip your lunch break to get your work done faster; instead go out for lunch and go back to your homework with more energy.
Breaks can also be good for your eyes. Get away from that computer and read a newspaper, look out the window, or rake your own Zen garden. Your eyes get tired if you look at a computer for eight hours without a break
Step 9. Have a social life
If you think your mind is drifting and starting to go into "nap mode", it might be time to hang out with your friends. When you feel tired and sleepy, the last thing you want to do is hang out with a group of people, but that's actually what makes you more active. Talking to a friend or hanging out can make you feel more energetic, because you are interacting with others and engaging in a fun, active conversation, instead of sitting and lazy.
