5 Easy Ways to Raise Your Energy, Naturally

People are tired! Right here and right now, we as a culture are faced with an epidemic of exhaustion.

We are hearing complaints of low energy throughout the day, and many are feeling fatigued even after a full night’s rest. This is a truly vicious cycle that will continue giving you nothing in return.

It seems many not only feel sleepy in their bodies but in their mood, life, relationships, and professions…

The truth is that when you are faced with full-body fatigue, it becomes quite difficult to complete anything. You feel constantly stressed, and your aftereffect is lazy. You may not be able to think clearly, your inquisitiveness is gone, and you are the farthest away from your own genius and brilliance than you might ever be.

It is so hard to be creative and sharp when your brain is crashed.

The Mitochondria Connection

It is the mitochondria that are responsible for transforming the nutrients you eat into the energy you need for sustained life. Many of us are faced with mitochondrial issues these days. From medication use to high-stress lifestyles and chronic illness. We are surrounded by pathogens, heavy metals, and for some, even parasites. These are the mitochondria killers and energy crushers.

If your mitochondria are not working properly to produce ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), then your energy levels will be at an all-time low. You might also be faced with increased signs of aging, neurodegeneration, and even metabolic breakdown.

Keep reading for five super simple ways to reinforce your mitochondria and raise your energy without harsh drugs, caffeine, or other aggressive interventions.

Energy-Enhancing and Mitochondria-Supporting Foods

Healthy fats, especially coconut oil, due to their medium-chain triglycerides, can help support the membranes of your mitochondria. The medium-chain fatty acids have been shown to help your body burn fat for energy more effectively than the longer-chain fatty acids from avocado oil or olive oil do. That is because the medium-chain fatty acids take much fewer steps to convert into energy than the longer-chain ones. Making coconut oil a prime source of energy.

Foods with polyphenols like red cabbage, blueberries, and pomegranates can also strengthen the overall health of your mitochondria. These items not only may help to increase energy but will also improve brain health (they’re considered nootropic; things that amplify cognition, like memory and attention).

Chronic oxidative stress can lead to inflammation and cellular damage. This destroys energy and health. Incorporating foods high in antioxidants are helpful for lowering this oxidative stress. That is where berries, dark chocolate, and green tea come in handy. That, coupled with quality meats, nuts, and seeds, as a source of vitamin B. The nutrient that helps your body convert food into usable energy.

Including sulforaphane-rich cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, kale, and brussels sprouts) and foods that contain sulfur (onions, garlic, leeks, and shallots) in your diet will add key nutrients to support your mitochondrial function and energy production. These compounds are known for their antioxidant properties and anti-inflammatory action. Therefore, these are the foods you want to eat on a regular basis in order to lower oxidative stress and systemic inflammation (the source of many diseases).

Exercise Your Way to Increased Energy

Regular exercise and gentle movement are effective ways to boost your energy levels naturally while also supporting the health of your mitochondria. This daily routine can help balance your metabolism and enable the energy-boosting foods you integrate to work their magic, right down to your cells. Exercise also increases the hormones that optimize energy, as well as improves the circulation of your oxygen. A consistent exercise habit will help to protect the mitochondria you already have. It also safeguards the mitochondria you’d like to keep as well.

This exercise doesn’t have to be hard. The key is the pattern that develops with regularity and consistent practice. You may not see it immediately, but you will begin notice the effects over time.

You can go all in and start jazzercise, join a gym, or try a pilates class. You can also take it one day at a time and plan regular walks, do a little yoga, stretch your muscles, or simply add dance to your day. This is your call, your choice. Do what feels right to you. 

How Can Stress Management and Emotional Release Increase Your Energy?

You may not realize just how much energy it takes to be stressed. The level at which your spirit is drained when you hold onto trauma, emotional pain, and negative past experiences. This can feel exhausting in every part of your body. To top it off, you may not even know what is burdening you to begin with. Without a consciousness of the positive, you will fall back on the negative thoughts and all the things that hurt you. Oftentimes, that is the automatic response or default action.

This daily or ongoing stress anchors in that energy and is ultimately running the show behind the curtain. This is exactly what is taking up space and energy in your body and mind. And without that recognition and defense, it will slowly eat away at any energy reserves you may have. I think that is why stress can be considered a silent killer, because it can speak softly while creating a much more aggressive outcome.

Having a stress management routine or process you use to release intense emotions on a regular basis is important to overall health and wellness. I am not suggesting that you figure this out in the middle of a crisis. Having a practice already set in motion that meets your stress and emotional regulation where you are at is truly the secret of this success.

Are you aware of the stress your body is holding? Do you connect with the emotions you experience? These are helpful questions to ask yourself as you decipher where you personally fall on this continuum.

Your Stress and Emotional Support Tools

We are lucky to have many options to help us better deal with our stress and help us to release some emotional baggage.

Journaling about how you are feeling is an effective way to process stress or release intense emotions. You might find that as you let go of some of the stuff you are holding onto, you feel lighter or less burdened. You may also experience a sense of relief or even a slightly new outlook on life. This can happen by putting your feelings down on paper and getting them out of you! 

Sometimes, just naming the stress and giving it a more productive voice might keep it from screaming.

EFT tapping (AKA Emotional Freedom Techniques) can help one get on top of the emotions that are circulating within them. This technique regulates your nervous system. It encourages you to address trauma, lifestyle stress, and haunting negative events that you can’t seem to forget.

When your system is feeling more regulated and aligned, you are now consciously able to use your energy for good rather than being a slave to the low points.

Check out this EFT meditation for stress @ https://www.cecejames.com/tapping-for-stress-meditation/.

The Power of Breath

Breathing is a simple yet profound approach one can easily use for energy optimization. It is also extremely effective at reducing stress. Breathing helps with everything from pain to mood regulation. It can bring clarity and help to manage anxiety. 

There are many types of breathing techniques. Here are three easy ones to check out. 1. A simple and slow rhythmic breathing. 2. Box Breathing, where you breathe in for a certain length of time (like four or six seconds). You hold for that amount of time, breathe out for that time, and hold at the end for the same time. 3. Diaphragmatic Breathing or full belly breathing instructs your diaphragm to draw air directly into your lungs. This promotes a productive system-wide exchange of oxygen. 

Intentional breathing optimizes oxygen levels and directs that oxygenated blood to reach organs throughout your entire body. More oxygen circulation equals more energy!

Properly Hydrate for Energy

Drinking water is not just for fun. It is an absolute necessity to sustain life and limb. Nearly all bodily functions need water at a cellular level. When you are dehydrated, you slow down all these crucial systems. This can lead to cellular exhaustion. A deep fatigue you feel at the cellular level.

Energy production depends on your minerals properly absorbing all the way to your cells. Without sufficient hydration, this can be difficult, if not impossible, to promote.

You may be lacking energy due to the burden of environmental toxins trapped in the tissues of your body. When those toxins build up, it can lead to a whole-system fatigue. The detoxification of such products is mutually dependent on cellular hydration. In other words, drinking enough water to flush out all those toxins and waste.

Enhancing your energy is possible. Even if you feel too tired right now to think about ways you can do that. Let this sink in, and just start with one small thing at a time. Master that and reap the benefits. Once you increase your energy a little, your body will urge you to the next step, then the next. Before you know it, you might just start to feel more alive, active, and dynamic than you have for quite some time.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/does-exercise-really-boost-energy-levels

Oxidative Stress: Signaling Pathways, Biological Functions, and Disease – PMC

Inflammation: The Cause of All Diseases – PMC

Why to eat cruciferous vegetables – Mayo Clinic Health System

How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing – PMC

The Benefits of Deep Breathing and Why It Works | Psychology Today

Water Consumption: Effect on Energy Expenditure and Body Weight Management – PubMed