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Wishing you had more energy? We've all been there ... some of us daily. Fortunately, adding a little zip to your step doesn't require a complete lifestyle change. According to Madelyn Fernstrom, TODAY's health and diet editor, "True energy boosting comes from managing the three 'S's' of healthy living: sustenance, sleep, and stress." And management is a lot easier than you may think. The key? Recognizing which of the three areas need adjusting and making the adjustments a part of your routine.
The "Peas"
We all know that what we eat is central to how we feel. However, when so many of us are constantly on the go, healthy eating sometimes feels like an impossible feat to accomplish.
Not so, though. Even fast food restaurants have started adding more healthy options to their menus. So if you don't have the luxury of sitting down to three well-balanced meals a day, make good choices when you're ordering (or deciding what to grab from the fridge as you're rushing out the door). Yes, fries are tempting, but if you want to feel more energized, opt for a side of fruit or veggies.
Fernstrom also cautions against skipping meals, especially breakfast. Breaking the fast not only gives you energy to get you through your morning activities, it also lessens the likelihood that you will overeat at lunch. If you're not a morning eater, she recommends a hot or cold skim milk latte or a protein-rich alternative such as soy, pointing out that when a medium latte is made with regular or decaffeinated coffee, it "provides the protein of 2 eggs, plus abundant calcium and vitamin D." Fernstrom also adds that even mild dehydration can make you feel sluggish, so staying hydrated throughout the day by drinking water (or eating fruits and vegetables, which contain a lot of water) is a simple and natural way to boost your energy.
The "Zzzs"
Energy level is directly correlated with sleep quality and quantity, but with so many demands in our lives, it can be a challenge to fit everything that needs to get done into normal waking hours. Although how much sleep a person needs is unique to each individual, experts say that shooting for seven to eight hours of sleep each night is a good goal.
Of course, the number of hours you sleep each night is only one part of the equation; the other is the quality of your sleep. To increase your chances of getting a good night's sleep, here are a few simple strategies (taken from "5 Strategies to Ensure a Great Night's Sleep") that you should consider adding to your night time routine.
1. Make your bedroom a sleep-only zone.
- Avoid work, phone calls, television viewing, and computer use in your bedroom.
- If you keep your computer or smart phone in your bedroom (which you should avoid), turn them off at bedtime. Not only will the light from the screens make it harder to fall asleep, the visual cues of work or other popular computer-generated activities, such as social media sites, texts, and emails, may keep you intrigued and therefore awake.
2. Make your bedroom a sleep-friendly zone.
- Darkness enhances sleep. Light interferes with it. If you can't darken the room, use eye shades to block out as much light as possible.
- Turn off everything that makes noise. If noise can't be avoided, use ear plugs or white noise.
- A cool room temperature helps induce sleep.
- Invest in good sleep gear. If you're tossing and turning, can't get comfortable, or wake up stiff and sore, a new pillow, mattress, or mattress pad may be just what you need to get a better night's sleep.
- If you sleep with a snorer, try earplugs, white noise, or ask your partner to try breathing strips.
- Pets often bring about the same problems that partners or children bring: noises, squirming, etc. Try sleeping without pet(s) for a few nights and see if you feel better rested.
3. Make your bedroom a relaxation zone.
- Breathe slowly and deeply as you try to fall asleep.
- Concentrate on relaxing one muscle at a time.
- Mentally take yourself to a quiet, restful, relaxing place in your mind, or repeat a short, peaceful mantra until you fall asleep.
- Don't obsess about falling asleep. If you think too much about it, your brain may become too engaged in the process, which will make it harder for you to fall asleep.
- If you don't doze off after 15 or 20 minutes, the best thing to do is get out of bed and find something unstimulating to do, like reading or muscle relaxation. Avoid watching TV, working, or bright lights as these tend to keep you engaged and awake.
(For the two other strategies discussed in the article, click here.)
The "Queues"
Stress is the third energy zapper, and yes, I used "queues" because it worked for my title. But as it turns out, one of the biggest stress producers is queues. That's right. Waiting in lines is one of the most commonly experienced stressors in our day-to-day lives.
Alex Stone, in his NY Times article, "Why Waiting Is Torture," provides an excellent outline as to why waiting in queues is so distressing to most people. Stone reports that Americans spend approximately 37 billion hours a year waiting in line (no wonder we're so tired!). However, research has discovered that the stress associated with all of this waiting around has much more to do with our attitudes, perceptions, and expectations rather than with the actual wait time. (Stone reports that people, on average, overestimate the time they wait in a queue by about 36 percent.)
Here's a brief summary of just a few of the interesting discoveries that researchers have made about the psychology of queuing:
1. Having nothing to do increases stress.
- Research: when you have something to occupy your time, like talking on the phone or texting while you wait for a train to arrive, wait time is perceived as shorter than unoccupied wait time.
- Stress-reliever: Always have something handy, like a book or a game, to occupy your time when you get stuck in a line.
2. Uncertainty increases stress.
- Research: When people are given estimated wait times and reasons for delays, the wait is perceived as less upsetting and stressful than when no information is provided.
- Stress-reliever: Try to get answers from someone "in the know" when you're waiting.
3. "Fairness" impacts stress levels.
- Research: We experience less stress when the waiting "process" is perceived as "fair." For example, violations of the universally accepted standard of first come, first served, as exemplified by someone cutting a line, exacerbates stress (and anger). Fairness also plays a role in how long we are willing to wait in line in the sense that we experience less stress when we have to wait in line for something that we perceive as valuable.
- Stress-reliever: Try to put waiting in line into a proper perspective. Cutting into car line at school is certainly not a cool thing for someone to do, but don't let another person's rude behavior stress you out or ruin your mood (or worse, lead to a road rage incident). In the larger scheme of things, is one person's obnoxious sense of entitlement (or possibly their lack of awareness) worth an increase in blood pressure? Also, when you see a line, ask yourself: Is it "worth" the wait? In many cases, coming back at a different time will significantly change the wait time.
Finally, it's important to recognize that the stress-magnifiers and stress-decreasers I've just described don't only apply to waiting in line. They apply to life in general. Whether it's waiting in line or anything else we do in our lives, when we feel like we're being unproductive, when we face an unknown, and when we experience something that seems unfair, it adds to our stress level. The point is that life is stressful. Regardless of what we do, we're always going to have "queues" in our lives. But having a better understanding of the kind of things that increase and decrease our stress level can help us better cope with stress and even prepare for it.
© 2014 Sherrie Bourg Carter, All Rights Reserved
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Sherrie Bourg Carter is the author of High Octane Women: How Superachievers Can Avoid Burnout (Prometheus Books, 2011).
