Last week I told you how you can become aware of your energy level. If you want even more insight into your energy level, it might be worthwhile to give each energy source a score separately.

The coming weeks I will give you more information about the different energy sources: your body, your connection, your passions, your thoughts and your heart.

The first energy source I want to look into, is your body. You were gifted one body and you’d better look after it! Now how to take better care of your body? Read on I’d say 🙂

Give it the necessary rest.

When the battery of your smartphone runs low, it automatically starts turning off settings it doesn’t necessarily need.

You should actually take an example to your smartphone and do exactly the same with your body when you run low on energy… 

Instead of doing that, you often go on and on, you keep rushing, you sleep too little, you say yes to everything and everyone,… Yip, you’re actually forcing your body to do things it isn’t capable off anymore.

Now what if you decide to listen to your body and give it that so much needed rest? You won’t be disappointed, I promise! Below I list a few benefits, but I bet you can even add lots more to that list!

Give it the correct nutrition.

As long as you don’t overdo it, a glass of wine, some crispy fries, a piece of cake,… can all be part of your weekly menu. But of course your body will work better when you give it healthy, nutritious food!

Benefits of good nutrition:

• Beneficial for your cholesterol.
• Increase of your energy level.
• Improvement of your well-being.
• You will recover better from illness/injuries.
• Good impact on your blood pressure.
• Healthy food will provide you with a healthy dose of energy.
• …

It will definitely be beneficial to consider what and how much you put in your mouth!

Make sure you have enough exercise.

I’m not exactly sporty spice myself, but I exercise regularly and I definitely notice the difference when, for some reason, I don’t exercise for a couple of weeks. Therefore I think it is important to incorporate some activities in your weekly routine!

On above picture you see yours truly stretching away after a little run. I was very sweaty, my hair hadn’t been washed or brushed yet, I wasn’t wearing any make-up, but I felt soooo good and proud that moment!

Find something you love doing, make some space in your diary and as a famous sports brand says… just do it 🙂 Your body will be thankful!

Benefits of exercising:

• It’s good for your figure… muscles do look better on you than fat you know!
• Exercising regularly has a positive effect on your overall health: it reduces risk of heart diseases, has a positive influence on your bloodpressure and cholesterol, it raises the oxygen levels in your body, it helps to manage your blood sugar, it strengthens your bones and muscles,…
• Besides the positive effect on your physical health, it also improves your mental health. You will be more relaxed, you’re more resilient and you can handle stress better.
• It will improve your sleep.
• You feel overall better in your skin and it gives your self-esteem a boost!
• You get so much energy out of excercising… more than you put into it, I promise!
• …

Provide it with sufficient oxygen.

Breathing is a human basic need we don’t usually think about. Breathing correctly though is very important for your overall health.

If you don’t breathe correctly, your brain will work slower, your heart can’t pump out blood as efficiently as it should, your muscles go stiff and get tired faster, your nervous system becomes unbalanced,…

What you should think about when breathing is to take deep breaths through your nose, let the air go all the way down your belly and breathe rhythmically.

You can practice deep breathing exercises. If you do this regularly, than it will become an automatism!

Benefits of deep breathing exercises/breathing properly:

• It helps to keep your heart pumping.
• It helps to remove the toxins from your body.
• It increases your energy level as you get more oxygen into your blood.
• Whilst you breathe, your body releases the feel good hormones (endorphins) and also a natural pain killer (now I understand the benefits from the Lamaze technique!!).
• It detoxifies the body.
• It improves your digestion system.
• It’s good for your mental health.
• It strengthens your immune system.
• …

I hope this blogpost has learned you how important it is to take good care of your body. I hope it’s been inspirational and moviational. Take one step at a time if you want change how you eat/live, that way you will have more chance of it becoming a succes!

In the next ‘Boost your energy’-post I will talk about another source of energy: your connection… Not sure what I mean with that? Then stay tuned!

Love, Kathleen