Feeling Tired? – Natural ways to increase your energy levels

We’ve all had days where we just cannot find the energy to perform even the smallest of tasks, and we all probably know how difficult feeling like this can be, especially if you’ve got things to do. When your energy levels are dragging, rather than getting up and exercising, you probably choose to lounge around on the sofa instead. For some people, drops in energy last just a day or two, but for others, it may seem as if every day is a struggle. Some of you reach for the energy drinks, some of you grab the caffeine tablets, and some of you choose to just power through. However you choose to overcome your lack of energy however, you must remember that there is always a safer and more natural alternative. If you’re sick and tired of relying on stimulants to help you perform even the most mundane of tasks, here are a few natural ways of increasing your energy levels.

Drink fruit and vegetable juices

If you’ve seen the documentary ‘Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead’ you’ll instantly know why juicing has proved to be so hugely popular over the last few years. If not, the doc basically tells a story about how fresh juices can help you to lose fat, boost your energy levels, and provide your body with a whole host of health benefits. When you juice your fruits and vegetables, you are benefitting because just one juice can provide your entire recommended daily intake of fruit and veg. Fresh juices are packed full of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients which have been proven to nourish and energize the body. What’s more, there are natural fructose sugars which are quickly absorbed, which are then converted into energy. With juicing, the machine removes the fiber from the juice, so it is absorbed almost instantly. If you need a quick pick-me-up before you head to work, or to the gym, a fresh juice will work wonders, plus it will provide so many other health benefits that we simply wouldn’t have time to list them all.

Get more sleep

Ok, this is perhaps a little too obvious, so we won’t dwell on it too much. If you are going to bed late at night, and not getting enough sleep, naturally you are going to feel tired the next day. If possible, try to get to sleep an hour earlier and you will be amazed by just what a difference that extra hour of sleep makes.

Get more magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral that many people are deficient in. Magnesium is essential for our health and wellness because the mineral plays a key role in more than 300 physiological processes within our bodies. Many of these processes include the conversion of glucose into fuel for our bodies, making this mineral very important when it comes to our metabolisms. If your magnesium levels drop, so too do your energy levels. One reason why magnesium is so important for our energy levels is because magnesium deficiencies have been linked with increased heart rates. The higher the heart rate, the more oxygen the body requires to perform various tasks, so the harder the body works. A great way of ensuring you get more magnesium inside your body is to consume magnesium-rich foods such as: fish, whole grains, and nuts. There are also magnesium supplements so there really is no excuse not to get enough of this mineral.

Don’t skip meals

Skipping meals is a sure-fire way of ensuring you tire yourself out and feel drained and fatigued. Our metabolisms run on calories from the foods that we consume, and the more efficient the metabolism is, the more energy it produces for your body. By skipping meals, you are basically depriving your metabolism of the fuel it requires, so it produces less energy for you. Ideally you should be eating small and healthy meals every three hours or so, to help ensure your metabolism is firing on all cylinders.

Drink green tea

Whilst coffee is naturally high in caffeine, and a great pick-me-up for when you are feeling tired, as the caffeine content is so high, once it wears off it can leave you feeling the dreaded caffeine slump, in which you feel even more tired than you did previously. Green tea however, contains far less caffeine than coffee, but still enough to provide you with the energy that your body so desperately requires. What’s more, it is enriched with antioxidants, including Epigallocatechine Galate, or EGCG for short, which has been found to facilitate weight loss by boosting the metabolism. What’s more, if you do feel tired late in the afternoon, a cup of green tea will provide you with the energy you need, without causing you to feel too wired to struggle to sleep, which would potentially be the case with coffee.

Healthy fats

Healthy fats are now very much in fashion, and this isn’t just some faddy trend that will go away in a year’s time. Healthy fats not only lower your risk of heart disease and dementia, they also help to fire up your metabolism and increase your energy levels as a result. This is because fat is a preferred source of energy for the body, so when it is consumed, it is instantly used for fuel. Ideally you should keep fats and carbohydrates separate if you are looking to energize your body, as the body would use carbs for fuel instead of fats, because they are easier to process. Without carbs however, the body is free to make use of the fats, so rather than storing them as fuel for a later date, they are instead used within minutes. Healthy fats such as: coconut oil, olive oil, nut butters, oily fish, grass-fed butter, avocado, and whole eggs, all provide very impressive amounts of energy, plus they are very good for your body as well, so it really is a win-win.