Whether you’re sitting at a desk all day or on your feet, we all have those times during the day where we just can’t seem to be productive or pleasant anymore. For most office workers, this probably hits in the early or mid afternoon – around 2 or 3 PM. (I’m sure you’ve all seen those energy drink commercials with all the sleepy office workers in the afternoon).
But you don’t have to be like that! What follows are a few tips on how to keep your energy going whether you’re on your feet all day or not!
Skip the Quick Fix
Yup – you heard me right. If you want to have more energy, it’s actually a good idea to start cutting down on your caffeine intake. It may be counter-intuitive to some, but when you cut back on external sources of energy, you force your body to raise the baseline level of energy in your body.
If you tend to suck down the coffee all day, there will probably be some growing pains in the process, but in the end it will help increase your own energy. You’ll notice a different in the long run.
And if you’re just looking for something to drink – if that is the habit that you need to break when it comes to your caffeine intake, try black or green tea instead of that latte. Both green and black tea have been found to have ingredients and compounds and a whole lot of other fun stuff that helps your body in more ways than just energy levels and production. But the caveat here is that the tea has to be made fresh – if you grab bottled black or green tea with lunch, the benefits aren’t going to be there.
Eat A Proper Breakfast
…even if you aren’t feeling hungry. Research has been done on the effects of breakfast on cortisol levels – and found that those who eat breakfast have lower cortisol levels than those who do not. Plus, if you eat a protein-rich breakfast (rather than a carb heavy bagel or just a buttered English muffin) you will probably have more energy! Carbs, while they may give an initial burst of energy generally are energy vampires if you eat too much.
Sleep Right
Seriously, you may want to stay up all night and watch that new horror movie, or you just absolutely need to check your emails until 2:30AM – resist the urge. In order to be properly energized, your body needs to have the proper recovery time – and that means getting a restful night of about 7 hours.
And restful does not mean that you’re checking your email or surfing the web until the minute you slide under the covers – the backlit glare of your computer screen (and the fact that most of us sit so close to it) has been found to screw up our internal clocks to mimic mid-afternoon daylight, which stimulates our brain and activates functions that should be starting to wind down and go dormant.
Rather than staring at your computer in the hours before you go to bed, wind down watching a movie (on your TV, not your computer) or read a book. Don’t overestimate the power of a good nights rest to keep you energized the next day.
Get Outdoors
Another thing we underestimate the importance of – Vitamin D – the sun! When there is a specific kind of depression linked to a lack of sunlight – seasonal affective disorder – you would think that more people would pay attention to their exposure to sunlight! But that’s not often the case.
If your body is craving a nap in the afternoon, don’t give in to that. Instead of taking a nap, get outside and take a walk. Getting out in the sun should probably blunt any kind of energy dip you may be having in the afternoon, just as sunlight in the morning will help you wake up.
Ashley Dean tries to stay energized, both in body and mind, and finds that her Dansko shoes help keep that bounce in her step and getting outside to soak in the sun as often as she can really helps keep her energy up.