Feeling tired? Feeling meh? You’re not alone. Roughly 20% of the world’s population reports feeling tired for at least 6 months and from personal experience, most people are NOT morning people. Safe to say, we are all in pursuit of feeling more energy. Feeling more alive. Feeling more productive, ambitious, motivated, interested, and engaged. But where does that leave us? Most of the time it leaves us…disappointed. It leaves us exhausted. It leaves us wondering what we’re doing wrong. The Energy category on my website will be dedicated to exploring the intricacies of energy. The reasons why it’s such a struggle to feel energized. I’ll be digging into energy supplements, chemicals, nutrition, sleep habits, daily decisions, and much more. Kicking off today’s deep dive into growing our energy intelligence quotient (Energy IQ), let’s take a look at a few basics.
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Stress and Margin
In a Harvard Health Publication, 14% of adults reported they did not have the energy they needed to get things done.
Harvard Health noted further that stress consumes a massive amount of energy.
I’ve witnessed this in my own life and maybe you have too?
Stress, which often manifests itself as fear, anxiety, or pressure, can be all consuming.
When I’m experiencing stress, I’m usually not prioritizing my own health.
Stress is like a laser beam between us and the situation we’re overwhelmed with.
So, instead of enjoying our hobbies, being in relaxing moments, making healthy meals, or getting to sleep on time, we are laser focused on the object of our stress. Whether we do it on purpose or not.
Stress is like acid rain that affects all areas of our life.
If we reduce stress, we improve the effects of our other positive actions.
It’s almost like stress is a negative exponent…for all you math peeps out there!
Margin goes hand in hand with stress. Margin is the amount of unstructured or unallocated time in our day.
Think of your day’s calendar. Pretend you wake up at 7am (I know, I know, some of you are like “That’s too early!) while the rest of you are like “That’s way too late!”)
If we are focused on getting kids ready for school from 6am until 7:30am, then working from 8am until 5pm, taking care of kids from 6pm until 8pm, and then sleep at 9pm, how much margin did our day have?
Correct…about zilch. Technically, 2 hours, but we all know commuting and who knows what else eats up that time pretty quickly.
Most of us do NOT build enough margin in our day.
We are overbooked.
Overcooked.
And our health is too often overlooked!
To have margin, we must intentionally create space.
We have to actively resist booking our day up.
Time must be made sacred to not only feel better and do better, but be able to accommodate unexpected events that take more time than we anticipated.
Having margin with our time, is similar to having margin with our finances.
If we are saving money and not spending every penny we make, then unexpected bills don’t hurt all that much.
We are able to weather financial storms easier and keep going.
Time margins work the same way. If we have unallocated time, we can lose a little bit unexpectedly and keep moving forward.
Sleep
Sleep has been humanity’s super power from the very beginning.
During sleep, our body heals itself, relaxes, grows, and even helps us process information.
WebMD found that even a powernap can reverse the effects of information overload and help the mind retain what we have learned.
All across the internet are studies and stories of a good night’s rest improving mood, function, performance, energy levels, and feelings of joy.
And yet, with all the wonderful effects of great sleep, it’s often de-prioritized.
It’s not hard to believe this Yahoo! life article reporting 25% of people go to sleep after midnight and many others go to sleep around midnight.
Yet, we all need to wake up early for work or school.
It’s like we are intentionally trying to ruin our day because we lack the discipline to say no to enjoyable things.
What would our life look like if we put down the screens and prioritized sleep by 10pm or even 9pm most nights?
I’m betting it would do wonders for our energy.
Nutrition and Hydration
What we eat and drink drastically effects our energy levels and many other aspects of life beyond the scope of this article.
The National Institute of Health provided a complex narrative that boils down to a simple point: what we eat and drink matters.
Not all foods and drinks are created equal.
We can exercise regularly, sleep a lot, and build massive time margins in our day, but if we aren’t fueling our body to perform successfully we will be left feeling defeated.
For the sake of this article, let’s keep it very simple.
Junk food not in moderation leads to junk energy – high highs and low lows. We’ll feel lazy, tired, unambitious, and often dissatisfied with our life, all because of what we are eating.
Incorporating healthier foods with nutrients, vitamins, and the appropriate amounts of the big 3 macros (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) we will be more efficienct, productive, and excited to take on life’s challenges.
In fact, success often begets success.
The better results we see in ourselves, the more likely we are to continue in healthy habits.
Hydration is even simpler than food.
The human body is almost 60% water by mass, meaning water takes up a substantial amount of what we are physically.
We need water to survive. In fact, our bodies can go longer without food than without water!
The typical adult should get between 11 and 15 cups of water a day while men often require slightly more than women.
Think about how much you drink…water that is.
Are you even close? Are you right in the sweet spot?
One of the easiest changes we can make is being properly hydrated which leads to optimal efficiency of our cells, muscles, organs, and more.
Is enhancing our energy IQ really that difficult?
All it really takes is being intentional about having a better day, one day at a time.
Reduce stress, create margin, prioritize sleep, eat more healthy food and less junk food, and stay hydrated. These are the basic building blocks of a high energy IQ person.
We will continue digging into the finer points of energy in later articles.
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