Le Mag: your Health and Beauty Blog.

Fed up feeling permanently drained and exhausted? Just a few small changes can make all the difference. Here i suggest a different strategy to try each day to healp you rediscover your vitality:

1. Start each day with a wholegrain cereal.

2. Take a hot and cold shower! Stand under a warm shower, then alternate a temperature between warm and cool, keeping your head out of the water stream. Repeat 5 or 6 times for best results - by the time you get out, you’ll be buzzing.

3. Increase you intake of iron. Found in meat, green vegetables, dried fruit, pulses and wholegrain cereals.

4. Get more omega-3 fish oils - in salmon, mackeral and sardines.

5. Drinking more water than you think you need reduces fatigue, counters stress and heightens stamina.

6. Stand tall. Slouching saps energy by making joints and muscles work harder and restricting your breathing.

7. Exercise to music. Listening to your favourite tunes while you work can relieve stress and fight fatigue.

8. Get outside - exposure to natural light causes a rise in levels of the feel-good brain chemical serotonin.

9. Take a power nap. A 30-minute nap keeps performance up to scratch throughout the day, while an hour’s nap actually improves it.

10. Restore your body’s acid/alkaline balance. Recharge energy levels by eating more alkaline foods such as green and salad vegetables, citrus fruit, lentils and beans.

11. Write down all the things that you’re grateful for, to remind yourself of all the good things in your life. Stopping to remind yourself what’s important gives you a much-needed boost and also keeps you energised and purposeful.

12. Wake up your skin, stimulate your circulation and lymphatic system with body brushing. Using a soft, natural bristle brush, brush your skin using circular movements, starting with the soles of your feet and moving upwards.

13. Eat regularly. Long gaps between meals cause dips in blood sugar, which means lower energy levels. Eat 3 meals with healthy energy-boosting snacks in between, such as nuts, seeds, bananas or low-fat yogurt.

14. Tight, tense muscles sap energy. To release tension in shoulders and arms, link the fingers of both hands together and reach forward with your arms at shoulder level, pushing your palms away from you. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 5-10 times.

15. For a breakfast energy fix, have a peanut butter smoothie! Blend 1/2 pint of skimmed milk, 150g carton fat-free Greet yogurt, 1 banana, 2 tsp of peanut butter and 1 tsp honey and sprinkle with pine kernels.

16. Shallow breathing can deplete energy levels. Practise taking three or four deep, slow, ‘belly’ breaths every hour, counting in and out, to open up lower airways and retrain your breathing.

17. Know you GI values. Low GI food such as pulses, oats, seeds, nuts, wholewheat pasta, fruit and vegetables, release sugar slowly, sustaining energy levels.

18. Get organised. If you’re overloaded in clutter, you won’t operate effieiently, and battling with chaos will wear you out.

19. Try this energising exercise: lie on your side, knees bent. Hold a can of beans in your top hand and slowly extend the arm up, then over to the other side of your body, and back again, keeping the elbow slightly bent. Repeat 6 times, then change sides.

20. Turn off your mobile. Leaving it switched on al the time means you’re available to everyone 24 hours a day. Have it on only when it’s essential.

21. Increase your pace. Power walk rather than stroll, run up the stairs instead of walking, or jog on the spot. Exercise boosts circulation, increasing the supply of energy-giving oxygen to your muscles and organs, and stimulates the release of endorphins to give you a natural high.

22. Ensure your workplace is a comfortable temperature. If the room is either too hot or too cold, it may leave you feeling tired and lethargic.

23. Check you magnesium intake - found in vegetables, unrefined cereals, nuts, raisins and wholemeal bread. It is needed for the formation if many enzymes that release energy from food.

24. Be realistic about what you can achieve and split up large tasks into manageable pieces. Nothing saps energy faster than being overwhelmed by a big project.

25. Co-enzyme Q10 is an anti-oxident produced by the body that plays an important role in converting food to energy. Good sources are broccoli, brown rice or pasta, mackeral, sardines, nuts, soya and wholemeal bread.

26. Too much caffeine and alcohol interfere with sleep and alcohol depletes levels of energising B vitamins. Stick to 1 or 2 glasses of wine a few times a week and cut down on the amount of tea and coffee you drink.

27. Give yourselfa break from the computer.

28. Take 20 minutes to practise thise rejuvenating visualisation:

Sit or lie in a warm, quiet place, close your eyes. Focus on your breathing, letting it become even and comfortable. Now imagine yourself sitting on some soft grass by a river. The sun is shining, birds are singing and you can hear the gentle rush of the water. Dangle your feet in the water and turn your your face to the sun. Feel the exhaustion ebb away downstream, while the sun fills you with energy. Breathe deeply, feeling life-giving energy course into you. When you are ready, gradually let your body become aware of where you eally are and then open your eyes.

Posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2006 | Energy
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