How Is Your Energy?

What a difference it makes in your everyday life to have plenty of pep! Your energy level can serve as an indicator of your current health condition, so it’s valuable to know what your body may be telling you.

Everyone has experienced a decrease of energy during an illness. When illness or injuries occur, the body contributes to healing by directing available energy in an effort to return to a state of health. You know when your body has done its job, because you feel your energy level return. But what about when you don’t seem to have the same spark you once did?

Many things can affect your energy level. For instance, digestion requires a lot of energy. When you eat certain foods or consume a large meal, it can make you feel tired. Those who get little physical exercise are more likely to have lower energy levels as well. 

Below are excerpts from the book Tired of Being Tired, by Dr. Michael A. Schmidt, addressing some of the more pertinent points regarding energy and health.

“We are not healthy one minute and sick the next ... The progression from optimal health to disease is a gradual descent that passes through phases. The descent can take many years and involve many stressors. Likewise, the road back to optimum health is a continuum that takes time.

“[I]t is important to consider that much illness arises out of imbalance rather than because of a specific thing. By restoring balance, many of the maladies that afflict modern humans can be remedied. This idea is based on research and borne out by clinical experience.

“I have seen a significant number of patients report near-miraculous recoveries by changing how they live, eat, behave, and view life—in essence, by restoring balance.

“Before you embark on a complicated trek to seek out the cause of your fatigue, you may want to try a series of basic strategies designed to help boost your energy...”

Dr. Schmidt’s areas of focus include:

• Exercise = Energy

• Eat food that optimizes your mood

• Stretch every day

• Practice deep breathing

• Evaluate your sleep needs

• Develop a positive attitude

• Eliminate refined sugar for two months

• Avoid caffeine, aspartame, and alcohol

• Laugh

• Reach out to others

• Build your muscles to generate energy

• Drink adequate amounts of pure water

• Breathe fresh air

• Get massage 

Dr. Schmidt states, “Therapeutic massage can be a valuable part of any effort to boost energy and restore balance. Massage can improve immunity, promote circulation, improve digestion, reduce muscle tension, reduce the stress response, stimulate the elimination of metabolic toxins that build up in body tissues, and stimulate the nervous system. It also satisfies a need for touch that is inherent in every human being.”

Give your energy a boost by including regular massage in your health plans!

© 2006 Massage Marketing. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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Some healthy sleep aids—

Block all noise. Listen to the silence.

Turn off the lights. Light blocks the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin.

Go to bed at the same time every night. Research shows that those who do get the best sleep.

Go to bed sober. A nightcap interferes with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is the refreshing part.

Eat early. Between 6 – 7 PM is good.

Source: AARP magazine Mar/Apr 2004

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Sleep Makes You Smarter

“When you’re working on a knotty problem, it actually does help to sleep on it. A German study found that our brains continue to work on baffling problems while we sleep, allowing us to wake up with new insights. Researchers at the University of Luebeck gave subjects math problems that involved transforming a string of eight numbers into a new string, according to two mathematical rules. A third rule—a shortcut to solving the problem—was hidden in the puzzle. After working on the problem for a while, some subjects slept for eight hours before resuming their efforts, while others stayed awake all night. A third group tackled the problem in the morning and then returned to it after an eight-hour break. The sleepers were almost three times more likely to figure out the shortcut than either of the two groups that hadn’t slept. The results suggest that the brain ‘restructures memories’ during sleep, researcher Jan Born tells Nature, so we wake up with a fresh perspective. The study, he says, underlines the importance of getting a good night’s rest.”             —The Week, Vol 4 Iss 143