How to get more energy - 10 health habits for creating more energy

Do you crave having more energy in your day? Creating a new healthy habit or optimizing your daily goal may seem daunting or super exciting for you. It will depend on how many healthy habits you currently have in your life or you’d like to adopt into your daily routine.

As always, my best piece of advice if you’re starting out, start small, pick one habit and try it on for size this week. Then try a new one the next week. Never bite off more than you can chew!

If we’re going to talk about how to create more energy we have to first define it.

When I look at the dictionary definition of energy I pull out the words strength and vitality required.

So what physical or mental activity do you want more energy for?

Do you want to feel energized and uplifted throughout an entire workday?
Is your goal to get up in the morning and beast a morning workout?
Do you want enough energy to train for a new fitness goal?
Do your kid’s ask for enough energy to play with them in the evening?
Is your goal to start a new side hustle or take on your new entrepreneurial venue with vigor?

Whatever the end goal there are different places in our lives we can optimize our healthy habits to create more strength, more vitality, and a clear mind for going after these goals.

10 Health Habits for More Energy

1. Sleep

If you aren’t letting your body rest and recover sufficiently at night it will be hard for your body to produce enough cellular energy for your goals.

We can’t use what we don’t have… According to Harvard Medical School, we need to sleep to conserve our energy resources.

Research has shown that energy metabolism is significantly reduced during sleep (by as much as 10 percent in humans and even more in other species). For example, both body temperature and caloric demand decrease during sleep, as compared to wakefulness. Such evidence supports the proposition that one of the primary functions of sleep is to help organisms conserve their energy resources. Many scientists consider this theory to be related to, and part of, the inactivity theory.
Division of Sleep Medicine at
Harvard Medical School

So if we then dive into what happens in our bodies while we sleep…

During high-quality sleep, your body restores many functions it calls on during daily life, such as temperature regulation, a strong immune system, steady hormone levels, and good appetite.
National Sleep Foundation

We realize that creating a beautiful sleep habit increases our body’s ability to conserve energy, function while awake and be set up to create cellular energy during our waking hours. I’m so passionate about getting a quality 8 hours of sleep (that’s what works for me personally) that I’ve compiled my top 10 tips to get better sleep.

2. Hydration

How many times have you heard, drink more water when you feel hungry or tired? Could we be constantly functioning in a state of dehydration vs. just being tired?

Water consumption directly affects energy levels. Just a 5% drop in body fluids can cause a 30% reduction in energy.
Global healing center

So if you’re feeling sluggish throughout the day or want to see if this habit has an impact on energy, simply look at optimizing your water consumption throughout the day. Because other than getting adequate sleep it could be one of the easiest habits to add to your daily routine.

My favourite ways of ensuring I’m getting enough water are:

Bring a water filter jug to work, fill at the start of the day and keep on your desk so you can easily refill while busy.
If you work from home or want to lug enough water bottles to work you can fill enough stainless steel or glass water bottles in the morning. Then ensure you drink all of them throughout the day. This will help reduce having to keep track of how many bottles you’ve had.

3. Workout

Increased blood flow, happy hormones, increased oxygenation of cells… I say a workout is a perfect recipe for increased energy.

“For example, the more you exercise aerobically, the more mitochondria the body makes to produce more energy to meet your needs, which is one reason how — and why — regular cardiovascular exercise actually creates more available energy for your body,”
samantha heller

When you increase your cardiovascular health your heart is able to pump your blood more efficiently delivering nutrients and oxygen to your cells so you can thrive. Do you have a regular exercise routine? Or how about even a movement routine? How are you moving your body daily?

If you’re in the “I need a movement routine camp” your task if you choose to accept it is to go for a walk every day. You choose the length. Just get out and get moving.

If you’re in the “Oh I work out daily camp”, maybe take a look at the type of exercise you’re doing. Are you feeling energized or completely drained after your workouts. Sometimes too much can drain the body of energy.

4. Yoga

Do you have a yoga practice?

At the core of yoga, is the principle of coming back to our breath. If you think about increased oxygenation creating more energy in the body, the ability to regulate our breath and bring oxygen-rich blood around the body is a beautiful benefit of a yoga practice. Plus you get movement and de-stressing all wrapped up in one.

5. Nutritious Foods

You can eat food or you can eat fuel. Our bodies need the right nutrients to create cellular energy and we need the right amount of micronutrients to convert into usable fuel for the body. Is this an area you are thinking you may need to overhaul or simply optimize?

I would highly recommend working with a trained practitioner to figure out what’s best for you.

6. Reduce or Eliminate Sugar & Grain Consumption

However, the only prescriptive tip I will provide you in the nutrition department is to reduce or eliminate your sugar & grain consumption. Both which may leave you crashing or feeling lethargic. Why not start small with cutting out for a week, then maybe 10 days and notice what type of energetic differences you’re feeling?

7. Fresh Air

Feeling sluggish, get up from your desk, go outside, take a big huff of fresh air. You’re welcome. That wasn’t hard was it? 🙂

8. Supplements

Have you thought about working with a practioner to understand if your body is actually functioning with a micronutrient deficiency.

There are certain vitamins and minerals that have a direct correlation with cellular energy production. Reach out to your family physician or naturopath to look at your most recent blood tests to see if you could optimize by eating more foods rich in the vitamin you’re lacking or supplement with the specific deficiency.

Ask about B12, CoQ10, Iodine and more. Here’s an article by the Global Healing Center on the Top 10 Supplements to Boost Energy.

9. Diffuse Energizing Essential Oils

If you’ve been hanging out with me for a while you know I love how simple essential oils can be in our self-care toolkit.

I have some go-to essential oils that I’ll put in my morning diffuser blend or I’ll inhale mid-afternoon when I’m hitting a slump.

My favourite energizing essential oils are all of the citrus oils like Lemon, Tangerine, Wild Orange, Grapefruit or Green Mandarin. Around 3 pm, when I’m about to hit the proverbial “brick wall” I will also put a drop of Peppermint in my hands, rub them together, cup them over my nose (avoid the eyes) and take a deep inhale.

Want a little bit more science around this? When we inhale an essential oil, the volatile aromatic compounds, hit our olfactory cells in our nasal passageway. They bind to receptor sites that then send signals to the limbic system. This helps regulate many things including the release of happy hormones. Here’s a comprehensive article by Dr. Axe on the limbic system, how it’s made up and what it controls in our bodies if you’re curious to learn more.

Want more diffuser blend suggestions?

10. Laugh

Laughter really is the best medicine.

When you laugh, your body increases its oxygen intake and releases endorphins.
Jack Canfield

Ok I’m pretty sure you know what an endorphin is but just in case you forget… They are otherwise known as the happy hormones because they produce a feeling of euphoria in the body.