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May is here!!! PYW plans to focus on Mentally Health and Wellness.

To kick off May our New Health and Wellness Consultant is going to share the goods on boosting energy.

What emojis or words would you use to describe your energy levels each day?

Typically, my clients use words like exhausted, lethargic, or even compare their energy dips to being on a roller coaster.

Sound familiar?

Often, people turn to stimulants like coffee or energy drinks to give them the boost they need.

The downside? Your rollercoaster of energy levels will get even bigger, getting a huge boost all of a sudden, and then crashing down suddenly (think Tower of Terror style of plummet!) desperate to lay down.

Additionally, those stimulants are loaded with unhealthy ingredients like artificial sweeteners and toxins that will make your body suffer even more.

Instead, try these three secrets to naturally increase your energy~

Secret 1) Get Outside

If you wake up tired and struggle to get going in the morning, or even if you feel a dip in your energy after lunch, try a 15-minute walk outside, or take your schoolwork outside. Exposing our skin and body to the sun supports our body’s natural circadian rhythms.

If our body is in sync with our natural circadian rhythms (the idea that when it’s light outside our body wants to be awake and alert, and when it’s dark outside our body wants to slow down and sleep) our energy levels will naturally become more stable. The key to getting in sync with circadian rhythms is to expose your body to light when it’s light out to give you energy and keep things dark in the house when the sun sets so that your body starts to slow down and unwind, getting ready for sleep.

Sun is a natural stimulant that our body craves. Expose yourself to sunlight every day for at least 15 minutes and you might feel a boost in your energy levels.

Secret 2) Chew Your Food Well

Did you know that 70% of our energy is spent on digesting our food?

It’s true, and if we aren’t chewing our food well, making digestion even harder for our body, it spends even more of our energy on it.

If you’ve ever noticed that you are really tired after a meal, it’s probably because your body is having to work extra hard to digest it.

Make things easier on your body and chew your food well. The longer you chew, the more digestive enzymes your food gets from your saliva. Digestive enzymes help digest food, so you want lots of them to make things easy.

Additionally, liquified food = easy digestion. Chunky food = difficult digestion.

Shoot for 30 chews per bite of food, or until the food is liquified.

Secret 3) Get Quality Sleep

I probably don’t need to explain this to you, but if you get poor sleep, you will be more tired throughout the day. If you get good sleep, your energy levels will be more stable.

There are a number of ways to improve your sleep, but here are two that I find most helpful~

First, exhaust your body during the day.

If you are sitting on a computer all day and get a little exercise, your body won’t physically be exhausted enough to sleep. Get outside and walk your dog, play a sport you love, or take a virtual dance class. Move your body throughout the day so that when you lay down at night your body feels like it needs a reprieve.

Second, keep a journal next to your bed.

If you are struggling to fall asleep because you have a lot on your mind, keeping a journal next to your bed (a real, physical journal, not a journal app on your phone) and writing your thoughts out right before bed can help. Once you’ve gotten your thoughts out, you can put your journal to bed, setting your mind at ease. This works for any to-do lists you have as well!

There you have it, three secrets to naturally increase your energy levels. What are you going to try? Start with just one, incorporating it consistently into your routine, and see what kind of difference it makes!

Enjoy!
Kelsey Cohrt

PYW Health and Wellness Consultant