The Energized Woman

Do you wake up in the morning already feeling tired? By the end of the day, are you so exhausted that it’s all you can do to sit on the couch and flip through channels? Do you feel like any “get up and go” that you used to have has got up and went? If you answered ‘yes’, you’re definitely not alone. The lifestyle that people lead these days is a prime setup for leaving them feeling drained and energy-depleted by the end of the day.

Just for a moment, I would like you to visualize your own internal energy gauge, similar to the fuel tank gauge in your car. At the end of a typical day, what does your energy gauge indicate? If the needle moved a bit, but you still ended up in the quarter or half tank range, then you probably have some good habits in place already. But if the vision that you saw was the gauge on empty, then perhaps it is time for you to consider a lifestyle makeover. Read on to see if you can identify with any of the following habits that can lead to these deficiencies.

1. Not enough sleep

Are you staying up late, night after night, to try to get more done on your to-do list? Has your body been signaling you that it needs more rest, but you continue to ignore it and push past the exhaustion? When you begin your day in an already fatigued state, it is very difficult to make up for this as the day progresses. Certainly losing some sleep occasionally is a fact of life, but if you are chronically sleep-deprived your energy will never reach its optimal levels.

Consider going to bed earlier whenever possible, as even an extra hour can do wonders. Also, where in your day can you build in some downtime or extra rest?

2. Skipping breakfast

Okay, so you’ve dragged yourself out of bed and once again you’re running late. You grab a cup of coffee and move forward in your day. You’re counting on the caffeine to kick in to give you enough of a boost to make it through your hectic morning. You can’t remember the last time you sat down at the table and had a healthy meal to start your day.

Here’s something to keep in mind: the word breakfast means to break the fast. You’ve gone without fuel for several hours while you sleep, and now it’s time to break that fast with some solid fuel. Your body needs food that it can convert to energy. You can’t expect your body to function, day after day, on low-quality fuel. We don’t expect our cars to run without the proper fuel, so why do we expect our bodies to?

3. Relying on caffeine

You start your day with coffee, and then as you go through your day and feel your energy dwindling you reach for a can of soda to once again give you a boost. The problem is, as you know, that quick energy boost never lasts quite long enough. And so you go through your day on what amounts to a roller-coaster ride of energy levels.

Your body needs to be well-hydrated throughout the day in order to decrease the opportunity for fatigue. Caffeine actually dehydrates you, which causes you to be even more thirsty and feeling rundown, and unfortunately leads you to reach for yet another caffeinated drink.

It’s also important to realize how much caffeine taxes your liver, causing it to work overtime in trying to process the caffeine and the other chemicals that have gone into your body. When energy is devoted to this task, less energy is left for you as you go through your day.

4. Multi-tasking

I live in the real world, so I certainly acknowledge that there are times when multi-tasking is necessary. However, when did it officially become the norm? When you spend the majority of your day focused on several tasks at a time, you may find yourself feeling scattered and having a harder time concentrating. Soon you will feel depleted and wiped out, even if you’ve been sitting most of the day. This happens because your brain is exhausted from all of these constant demands.

If you’re on the phone with a client, you’re checking your email, and you’re filling out some paperwork all at the same time, this starts to take a huge toll on your energy levels. Although a lot of you probably feel quite accomplished in the area of multi-tasking, we’re actually not designed as human beings to be in this state day in and day out.

5. Poor Eating Habits

Think about what you ate yesterday, or what you eat on a typical day. Would you consider your list to be an example of good, solid nutrition? I am betting that the answer is no. When you go through the day trying to function on heavily processed foods that add nothing to your body (except perhaps for some extra pounds), it’s no wonder that by the afternoon or early evening you feel like you’re running on fumes. A lot of us take more care in feeding our pets than we do ourselves.

It’s also important to keep in mind that how we eat affects us as well. If you’re always rushing through a meal, or eating in your car, or again eating while doing 2 or 3 other tasks, your digestive system can’t do its job. As a result, the food isn’t converted properly to fuel and more energy is tied up in trying to get the digestive process going.

Is low energy an issue for you? Is it keeping you from leading the life that you desire? Did you see yourself in any of the above? If so, what I encourage you to consider is which of these habits you are willing to change. If all 5 apply to you, don’t try to tackle them all at once. Instead, pick one or two to work on starting today. Like with any habits that we want to change, you will be more successful if you focus on replacing a negative habit with a new, more positive one. Just trying to stop something isn’t usually the best approach.

Your body really does want to be there for you, but in order for it to do that you need to provide it with what it needs to function at its best. Just like with the car analogy, if you never changed the oil in your car, kept the same tires for years, and kept driving even though the fuel gauge was on empty, you would never expect the car to continue to perform for you. Isn’t it time you stop expecting this from your body?

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Copyright 2010 – The Energized Woman – All Rights Reserved.

Amy E. Willard is passionate about helping women 35+ create healthy lifestyle changes that stick and more effectively manage their valuable, personal energy.  Her mission at The Energized Woman is to support these women in increasing their energy and taking charge of their health so that they can be their best selves and bring their gifts to the world. For more tips and resources, please visit http://www.TheEnergizedWoman.com.