My Favorite Tips For Boosting Energy

One of the most common issues I see in my NW Calgary practice with my patients is fatigue, or less than optimal energy levels (meaning patients have enough energy to get through the day and that’s all, they want to crash on the couch at the end of the day at the expense of physical activity, or socializing with friends, or cooking).

One of the major pillars of health I work on my patients with is their energy levels. When I speak about Naturopathic Vitality, I mean having the health and the energy to live your best life and accomplish all of your goals. So, read below to discover my favorite tips (and there’s a lot of them) to boost your energy levels and live your best life.

1. Get proper sleep. Some patients stay up too late after their kids are asleep to enjoy their “me” time, or some patients can’t sleep even if they want to because they have an active mind, or are stressed. Prioritize your sleep, it is one of the most important pillars of health to optimize your health and energy levels, because sleep is when your body is deep healing and rejuvenating for the next day. Have a night time routine to signal to your body that it is time to wind down. Sleep in complete darkness to help your body produce melatonin, and avoid blue light close to bed time. Before bed time is a good time to journal, meditate, do some tapping, or anything that helps to calm you. Talk to me if your sleep is anything other than optimal. We can look at your cortisol levels, blood sugar levels, hormones, stress levels, and so much more.
2. Exercise! I won’t go into too much detail because I have already written a blog on this topic, but exercise is crucial to tiring out your body enough to sleep, coping with stress, and contributing to overall mental and physical health. If you are very energized with exercise, do not exercise too late in the day.
3. Eat properly. This means including protein with every meal and snack to minimize blood sugar fluctuations, prioritizing complex carbs over simple carbs, eating enough during the day, not over eating too close to bed time, minimize caffeine later in the day, avoid drinking too much water before bed time. Be mindful of foods that make you tired and minimize these in your diet. And, DO NOT skip meals, including breakfast! Try to eat a snack that includes protein if 3 hours without eating has passed.
4. Drink enough water! This is one of the simplest things you can do, but dehydration is a huge contributing factor to fatigue.
5. Manage your stress levels. This is easier said than done, but stress can cause fatigue. Be comfortable with saying no so you aren’t taking to much on your plate, create lifestyle habits to help you deal with stress, and get help! Talk to me about herbs and supplements if this is an issue for you (and really, who isn’t stressed sometimes…or a lot of the time 🙂)
6. Make time to socialize with friends that fill your bucket and uplift you, that are positive and make you feel good after you leave their company. We are social creatures and positive connections with other humans (or pets!) is good for our mental and physical health, and our energy levels.
7. Follow your passions. We always need to be striving and growing so that our minds are stimulated. Have hobbies that keep you physically active, mentally creative and get your mind off the daily stressors of work and obligations. Bonus points if those activities keep you in flow, meaning you lose track of time and don’t think about anything else but the task at hand. These things keep us balanced and contribute to our enjoyment of life and therefore our energy levels.
8. Have work/life balance. See above 🙂
9. See your Medical doctor for a yearly physical and bloodwork. I check patients bloodwork for vitamin B12, ferritin, iron, thyroid, glucose, vitamin D and CBC.
10. Get your hormones tested through urine, saliva, or bloodwork. Depending on which hormones are tested, bloodwork are adequate, but for others, urine or saliva are a better test. Hormones affecting energy levels include: TSH, T3, T4, Thyroid antibodies, Cortisol, Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone and more.
11. Schedule rest days. An afternoon where you can stay in and binge Netflix, read your favorite book, watch movies…whatever makes you happy. It doesn’t matter if this is considered “lazy”…take the time to rest your body and mind before it makes you rest. Our society values rushing around, pushing ourselves forward always….but we have one body to get us through life, and I think rest days actually make us more productive in the long run.
12. Watch your thoughts. Be mindful of what you are constantly thinking about, and if your thoughts are mostly negative, or thinking about everything you have to do. Ground yourself by thinking positive thoughts, something that makes you laugh, something you are excited about, something that made you happy recently. Keep a gratitude journal (bonus points if you can start and end your day with this!) The quality of our thoughts impacts our mental and physical energy.
13.  Limit alcohol before bed…although it can relax you and help you fall asleep, it can cause you to sleep lighter and wake up later in the night, thus affecting our energy levels.
14. Treat chronic pain and inflammation…..chronic pain is one of the most draining things someone can deal with. Talk to me about this, we can address it with acupuncture, bowen, herbs, supplements, and so much more.
15. Don’t over do the caffeine or the sugar. As much as these are quick fixes to boost your energy, they can cause energy crashes later on.
16. End your showers with 30 seconds of cool water…this shunts your blood back to your internal organs. You can even end with 2 minutes of warm, 30 seconds cool for 3 cycles. This boosts your energy levels.

Naturopathic Vitality Clinic

205-5403 Crowchild Trail N.W.

Calgary, AB

(403) 719-2594