Give yourself an energy boost!

How are you feeling today? Full of beans? or less so? Many women I know are excessively busy, with hectic jobs, businesses to run, part time enterprises to keep going, children to care for and households to run. Even when we have partners who pull their weight with household tasks, kids etc, women seem to use up a lot of their metal energy trying to organise and control everything. And it’s exhausting.

Obviously it would be better if we all found a more balanced life and could get enough down time and me time that we felt more rested and had good energy levels throughout the day.

However, life isn’t always perfect and for some people that doesn’t seem achievable, certainly not immediately. Though I would love to get you further along that path!

When we are tired or emotionally low it’s all too easy to grab a false boost suck as a coffee, or a cake or a glass of wine. but the fact is that none of those will make you feel much better and the after effects will likely make you feel worse. That’s not to say cake, coffee and wine are off the menu but it’s a mistake to use them as an energy booster or mood changer. So what to do when we need to perk ourselves up?

Here’s my tip. Make a list of mood boosters and keep it somewhere you can access it quickly, in notes on your phone, in your journal or diary. Use the list to prompt to remind yourself when you start to feel either cranky cheesed off, tearful or just plain tired that there are ways that you can give yourself a little boost.

You can choose your own mood boosters as we all have different needs and likes but here are ten suggestions to kick you off

1. Put on some music – find some music that makes you feel uplifted, excited, crazy!or something that takes you back to a happy time in your life. I recently discovered that someone on Spotify has put together a playlist of music from Peter kay’s Car Share series, it’s full of awesome feel good songs and power ballads – give it a try! Remember to sing along!

2. Have a hug – if you’ve a loved one close by, grab them for a cuddle. And don’t let it be brief, research shows that you need to hug for 20 seconds for the endorphins to start to flow. We instigated the ’20 second huggle’ in our home a while back and trust me, it works!

3. Get out in nature – a walk in the park, or better still, the countryside, can really boost the spirits – and don’t forget woodlands for a little shinrin yoku

4. Watch or listen to some comedy – whatever makes you laugh

5. Change your clothes – sound a bit odd but if you’re feeling down or tired out, putting something more cheerful or colourful on can boost your mood. Or maybe something more comfortable if you’ve spent part of the day in heeled shoes and something that’s too tight. When I had to dress more corporately for work, I used to be desperate top get home and take off the heels, pencil skirt and underwires! I also find a quick hairbrush and lip gloss and a put of comedy pouting in front of the mirror works wonders!

6. Drink water – ok, not so fun as the other suggestions but often dehydration can affect our mood and energy levels so grab a big glass of water and get it down.

7. Dance – you need number one for this! I like to dance in my car seat – that’s probably not that advisable, it’s sort of gentle bobbing really – or throw some shapes in the kitchen – I love a good kitchen disco with my son Jake!

8. Find your happy scent – put some perfume on, use essential oils in a burner (orange oil is good energy booster as is peppermint) or light a scented candle. I have a little bottle of perfume on my work desk and I often have a little squirt during the day to perk me up.

9. Meditate – if you don’t meditate already, just try sitting somewhere quietly for 5 minutes, close your eyes and focus on your breathing, Count the breaths in and out from one until ten and then start again. When your mind wanders, just bring it back when you realise and start again. Set a timer and after 5 minutes you’ll feel cool, calm and rested. You could always download an app like Insight Timer to help you with this.

10. Give yourself a little massage – ok so you can’t give yourself a nice shoulder rub but what about your hands? Just spending a few minutes with some hand cream to make the movement easier, and firm attention to fingers and palms can really perk you up. It’s something similar to reflexology where you are stimulating acupressure points – the point between your thumb and index finger is a particular point to stimulate energy.

And don’t wait for a bad mood or an energy slump to strike, try to incorporate as many energy boosts like these into your day as you can and hopefully you might stave off the dreaded slumping feel that we all get from time to time.

Back to articles