In this day and age where we focus on constantly having and doing MORE, where our phones and email are pinging us throughout the night, our kids are enrolled in more activities, and we are just trying to do as much as possible with the little rest that we can squeeze in…the question of ‘How do I Have More Energy?” is a constant one. You’ll be curious to hear the answers aren’t to drink more coffee and take more vacations to catch up on sleep, in fact some minor changes in your daily routines can dramatically effect your energy levels. You’ll be better parent who can actually play with your kids, a better employee who is paying attention in meetings, and a better spouse who isn’t falling asleep on your phone at night.
Perhaps the most obvious, is to ensure you get enough sleep. Some of you Mothers are laughing at the thought of ‘enough sleep’ but others of us have the opportunity to get a full 8 hours and still aren’t utilizing it whether we have small children or not. The fact is we watch too much TV, scroll Facebook all evening, procrastinate prepping for the next morning until the last minute and then suddenly its midnight and we are still binge watching House of Cards and have to be up in 6 hours. Set a bedtime according to your wake up time in the morning (7-9 hours of sleep) and set an alarm for yourself to start getting ready for bed and then an alarm for yourself to BE in bed with the electronics and lights off. For some Mom’s it may make sense to set an alarm to stop doing house chores/running around, say an hour before bed is your ‘Stop Running Around’ alarm so you can get some relaxing in there and ease into bed. This simple small trick will get you to bed on time and feeling considerably better in the morning.
I know I certainly LOVE my coffee in the morning, and there is nothing wrong with a cup or two during the day. However, when its turned into 3-5 cups to get you through the day plus some soda or energy drinks sprinkled throughout to help you stay sane…then its time to admit you have a caffeine/sugar addiction. While 1-2 cups of coffee or tea has great benefits for your health, all the other cups or soda/energy drinks are not only hurting your body physically but effecting your energy levels as well. They shoot your bodies sugars UP and then they shoot way back down making you constantly want to grab for another cup. All of that caffeine during the day will also make it really tough to fall asleep at night, which perpetuates the cycle of exhaustion! Start to cut out the soda and energy drinks entirely, they have nothing beneficial for you, and start to slowly cut back on your coffee and tea intake to just 1-2 per day BEFORE 3:00pm so your body can fall asleep naturally in the evenings easier.
Regular exercise is going to astound you. Now this doesn’t have to be a long drive to the gym and a 60min horrible workout that makes you want to hate life, there are a variety of types of exercise you can engage in that will restore your body, naturally increase energy, release stress, help you sleep, and release endorphins so you genuinely feel better throughout the day. Consider home workout programs, quick 30min circuit training during your lunch break, or scheduling workouts on the weekends and only 3 weekdays. If you are just starting out, start small with something that’s easy on your muscles and joints and really stretches you out like pilates/yoga style PiYo. You want your 30-40 minutes (that’s really all you need) to make you sweat and breath harder, it’s supposed to be challenging. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest part of the day you dread. The benefits to your energy for the entire day will far outweigh the 30min of sweat.
Of course our favorite way to increase your energy is with a regular massage. All of the stress in your life is increasing the stress hormone cortisol into your system, this hormone is one of the causes of your exhaustion, constant hunger, and even abdominal fat. Luckily, you can use massage to manage this stress hormone and set you into a deeply relaxed state. The massage also increases your serotonin levels, which increases your melatonin levels, which in turn helps your circadian rhythms to reset. One regular massage (weekly, biweekly or monthly) can help your hormone levels in such a way that you are essentially resetting the hormones so they are working properly again giving your natural daily energy back and natural evening sleepy time feeling back.
So now it’s your turn. Let us know which of these have you mastered in your life and which do you need to incorporate more into your life?
Perhaps the most obvious, is to ensure you get enough sleep. Some of you Mothers are laughing at the thought of ‘enough sleep’ but others of us have the opportunity to get a full 8 hours and still aren’t utilizing it whether we have small children or not. The fact is we watch too much TV, scroll Facebook all evening, procrastinate prepping for the next morning until the last minute and then suddenly its midnight and we are still binge watching House of Cards and have to be up in 6 hours. Set a bedtime according to your wake up time in the morning (7-9 hours of sleep) and set an alarm for yourself to start getting ready for bed and then an alarm for yourself to BE in bed with the electronics and lights off. For some Mom’s it may make sense to set an alarm to stop doing house chores/running around, say an hour before bed is your ‘Stop Running Around’ alarm so you can get some relaxing in there and ease into bed. This simple small trick will get you to bed on time and feeling considerably better in the morning.
I know I certainly LOVE my coffee in the morning, and there is nothing wrong with a cup or two during the day. However, when its turned into 3-5 cups to get you through the day plus some soda or energy drinks sprinkled throughout to help you stay sane…then its time to admit you have a caffeine/sugar addiction. While 1-2 cups of coffee or tea has great benefits for your health, all the other cups or soda/energy drinks are not only hurting your body physically but effecting your energy levels as well. They shoot your bodies sugars UP and then they shoot way back down making you constantly want to grab for another cup. All of that caffeine during the day will also make it really tough to fall asleep at night, which perpetuates the cycle of exhaustion! Start to cut out the soda and energy drinks entirely, they have nothing beneficial for you, and start to slowly cut back on your coffee and tea intake to just 1-2 per day BEFORE 3:00pm so your body can fall asleep naturally in the evenings easier.
Regular exercise is going to astound you. Now this doesn’t have to be a long drive to the gym and a 60min horrible workout that makes you want to hate life, there are a variety of types of exercise you can engage in that will restore your body, naturally increase energy, release stress, help you sleep, and release endorphins so you genuinely feel better throughout the day. Consider home workout programs, quick 30min circuit training during your lunch break, or scheduling workouts on the weekends and only 3 weekdays. If you are just starting out, start small with something that’s easy on your muscles and joints and really stretches you out like pilates/yoga style PiYo. You want your 30-40 minutes (that’s really all you need) to make you sweat and breath harder, it’s supposed to be challenging. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the biggest part of the day you dread. The benefits to your energy for the entire day will far outweigh the 30min of sweat.
Of course our favorite way to increase your energy is with a regular massage. All of the stress in your life is increasing the stress hormone cortisol into your system, this hormone is one of the causes of your exhaustion, constant hunger, and even abdominal fat. Luckily, you can use massage to manage this stress hormone and set you into a deeply relaxed state. The massage also increases your serotonin levels, which increases your melatonin levels, which in turn helps your circadian rhythms to reset. One regular massage (weekly, biweekly or monthly) can help your hormone levels in such a way that you are essentially resetting the hormones so they are working properly again giving your natural daily energy back and natural evening sleepy time feeling back.
So now it’s your turn. Let us know which of these have you mastered in your life and which do you need to incorporate more into your life?
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