5 Proven Ways To Boost Energy And Performance

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You can improve your concentration, feel more energized, and do more.

What is worth trying

1. Breathing techniques

For any work, and especially for mental work, concentration is needed. If you can't concentrate, you feel restless and depressed - take a break for diaphragmatic breathing.

With this type of breathing, the diaphragm contracts, the abdomen expands, and the inhalation and exhalation become deeper.

Diaphragmatic breathing calms the nervous system by lowering the stress hormone cortisol, increasing energy and self-confidence, and helping fight inflammation.

How to breathe correctly:

• Sit in a comfortable position, straighten your back, close your eyes. You can lie on your back and gently bend your knees to relieve the pressure on your lower back.
• Take a deep breath, filling not only your chest but also your belly with air. To feel this, place your palm on it: if it rises as you inhale, you are breathing correctly.
• Exhale the air completely to draw in your stomach. Do not pull it in on purpose.
• Set a timer and breathe this way for 5 to 15 minutes.
• While breathing, do not allow extraneous thoughts, focus on the process.

This is the basic diaphragmatic breathing that is used in almost any breathing practice. You can try different options:

• Delayed. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds.
• Through different nostrils. Close the right nostril with your thumb and inhale deeply through the left, then close the left nostril with your finger and exhale through the right. After several breaths, repeat the same in a different order: inhale through the right and exhale through the left.
• With lengthening of exhalation. Always inhale two counts, and each time lengthen the exhale by one count: inhale by 2 - exhale by 2, inhale by 2 - exhale by 3, inhale by 2 - exhale by 4, inhale by 2 - exhale by 5. Then start over, complete 2-3 cycles.

Try all the techniques and find out which works best for you. The main thing here is to concentrate on the breath, inhaling and exhaling deeply, using the stomach.

2. Adaptogenic herbs

Adaptogenic herbs contain substances that do not change the functioning of systems and organs, but help the body to function normally in difficult conditions. It is believed that these plants work as a molecular stress vaccine. They cause a little stress in the body, as a result of which the nervous system learns to better resist stress factors.

Here are some herbs that have been shown to have beneficial effects:

• Rhodiola rosea - increases energy and concentration, fights fatigue and burnout. Increases focus, speed and accuracy when working under stressful conditions.
• Eleutherococcus spiny - reduces mental and physical fatigue, helps fight stress, improves concentration and memory.
• Schisandra chinensis - fights against mental fatigue, weakness, increases the time of energetic work.
• Panax ginseng - relieves fatigue, improves cognitive abilities - thinking and learning.
• Ashwagandha (Indian ginseng) - relieves stress, has a positive effect on the central nervous system, improves immunity.
• Basil - relieves stress and fatigue, improves memory, normalizes sleep.

You can use these herbs in tinctures or tablets as directed. Basil can be added to food as a spice or eaten fresh.

3. Facial massage

Sometimes, in an effort to relax, you automatically rub your forehead or massage your temples. This reaction is not accidental. Facial massage helps relieve tension and anxiety, improve mood and relieve fatigue. Moreover, it has not only a calming effect, but also a refreshing and stimulating effect.

You can even massage your face in the workplace, and you don't need a specialist for that. Just follow our instructions.

4. Foods rich in iron

This advice is not suitable for everyone, but only for people with a lack of iron. But based on the fact that 30% of the entire population of the Earth suffers from this violation, it will be useful to many people.

If you don't have enough iron in your diet, your body lacks hemoglobin, the iron-containing protein responsible for carrying oxygen. The symptoms of iron deficiency anemia include:

• fatigue;
• weakness;
• pale skin;
• chest pain, fast heartbeat, short breathing;
• headaches or dizziness;
• cold extremities;
• brittle nails;
• inflammation of the tongue;
• restless legs syndrome.

Iron deficiency anemia can develop with various diseases associated with blood loss, as well as a lack of iron-rich foods in the diet.

According to the norms of Rospotrebnadzor, an adult man should consume at least 8-10 mg of iron per day, and a woman - 15-20 mg.

We mainly obtain iron from animal products: liver (9 mg per 100 g of product), turkey (4 mg per 100 g of product), chicken (3 mg per 100 g of product), beef (2.8 mg per 100 g of product)), mackerel (2, 3 mg per 100 g of product). In them, iron is in the heme form and is well absorbed by the body.

Iron is also found in plant products, for example, seaweed (16 mg per 100 g of product), buckwheat and rolled oats (7.8 mg per 100 g of product), peas (6.8 mg per 100 g of product), beans (5, 9 mg per 100 g of product), fresh mushrooms (5.2 mg per 100 g of product) peaches (4.1 mg per 100 g of product), pears, apples, plums, apricots (2, 3–2, 1 mg per 100 g of product). However, in plant sources, it is in a non-heme form and is much less digestible. For example, from beans the body can absorb only 2-3% of iron, while from the liver - 12-26%.

Also, the absorption of this microelement is hampered by the content of phytates and polyphenols in legumes and grains, calcium, whey protein and casein in dairy products.

To replenish iron deficiency, add more foods rich in this trace element and ascorbic acid to your diet. The latter eliminates the negative effects of phytates, polyphenols, calcium and milk protein on iron absorption. Therefore, even vegetarians can fully cover the need for this trace element if they add more vitamin C to the diet (the norm for an adult is 50–70 mg per day).

5. Work 90 minutes with a rest break

A person's sleep is divided into 90-minute cycles. During this time, we manage to reach deep sleep, and then enter the recovery REM phase, during which dreams occur. The wavy nature of sleep is due to the change in brain waves - the electrical frequencies at which our brains work.

Scientists have noticed that cyclic 90-minute changes in activity occur during wakefulness. Florida State University professor Anders Ericsson and colleagues have researched the activities of elite athletes, musicians, actors and chess players. It turned out that the sessions of the best specialists lasted no more than 1.5 hours. They started in the morning, had three 90-minute sessions with breaks in between, and rarely worked more than 4.5 hours a day. For the best results in any activity, Ericsson advises avoiding longer practice in order to be able to fully recover from it the next day.

The professor himself tried this technique to write a book. Unlike the previous piece, on which he worked 10 hours a day, Ericsson set aside three 90-minute chunks for the new book in the morning. Despite the fact that the book took much less time per day, he finished writing it twice as fast as the last one.

If your schedule is not free and you cannot afford to work only 4, 5 hours, try to break the work into 90-minute intervals with a rest of 10-20 minutes between them.

How to fit it all into your working day

Here's a specific plan of action:

1. Evaluate if you have enough high iron foods in your diet. The consumption rate of this trace element for men is 8-10 mg per day, for women - 15-20 mg per day. If iron is not enough, add more foods rich in this trace element: beef and chicken liver, beef, turkey. Check if you have enough vitamin C in your diet (50–70 mg per day). It aids in the absorption of iron from foods and is especially essential for vegetarians.
2. Try adaptogenic herbs: Rhodiola rosea, Eleutherococcus prickly, common ginseng, Chinese magnolia vine, ashwagandha, basil. Take tinctures or tablets as directed.
3. Divide your workday into 90-minute work intervals with 10-20 minutes of rest. If possible, do not do one thing for more than 4.5 hours a day.
4. Between work, practice diaphragmatic breathing (5-10 minutes), try different techniques and see what works for you.
5. Pay attention to the muscles in your face. If you feel that they are pinched, give a massage.