7 Ways To Gain More Energy (Without Needing More Sleep)
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Are you extremely tired and exhausted in your life? Do you feel like you are always lacking energy? Have you forgotten what it's like to be vibrant and energized in your life?
You're not alone! I remember when I first launched this podcast, I suggested going to bed one hour earlier at night to gain more energy and lots of you replied that going to bed earlier just wasn’t an option. Sound about right?
So how CAN you get more energy if getting more sleep isn’t an option? There are ways to do it and in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I’m going to share seven of them.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. I remember when I first launched this podcast, I suggested going to bed one hour earlier at night. I even made an Instagram post about it. And a lot of you guys replied and said, "Julie, going to bed earlier just is not an option with my schedule." So the question still remains, how can you get more energy without getting more sleep? If getting more sleep is not an option, there are many ways to do it. And in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I'm going to share seven of them. But before I do, I have to share the super-sweet review. It comes from FudgeLover. First off, love fudge. She says, "The best ever. Julie has truly changed my mindset. She changes the way that you think about yourself and she feels like the best friend that everyone needs. I'm forever thankful for her realness and honesty."
Thank you so much. We are best friends. Just wanted to put that out there. Every single one of my podcast listeners, we are BFFs and I hope to meet you in real life one day. So thank you in advance for every single one of your reviews. They truly do mean the absolute world to me, and they definitely help the growth of this podcast. So scooch over to Apple Podcasts. Every single Apple device has it, whether it's an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac computer, you can type in Apple Podcasts, then type in Embrace Your Real and you can first be sure to subscribe and second, leave a review.
So let's dive into how you can get more energy if getting more sleep is not an option. Number one, be selective with who you give your energy to. Many of us make time for people who we shouldn't actually make time for. And this takes energy that would be better used elsewhere. So I need you to take inventory of your friends, figure out which of them are actually supportive of your growth and focus on those people. So many of us waste our energy on people who wouldn't be in our lives a year from now or people who aren't contributing anything to our lives, or who play zero crucial roles in our life. So I need you to first stop giving them your energy ASAP.
Number two, be selective about what you give your energy to. We waste so much energy on things that don't actually matter. This is a twofold. First off, we waste energy by bending over backwards to do things that don't actually matter to us or don't need to be done by us. If you aren't passionate about something or if you can ask for help, outsource it or just drop it altogether right now. Remember, your life is too short to do things and waste your energy on things and people that are just not adding any value to your life. So I want to ask you, what are you wasting your energy on right now that you actually don't care about or doing things that you could easily ask someone else to do for you? Maybe that's at home or at work, either way it's going to save you so much energy.
And secondly, we waste our energy about stressing out about things that won't matter one month, one week or even one day from now. For example, if you make a mistake, it's already done. Move on, stop wasting energy stressing out about it. If someone you don't know has said something rude to you, either address it to them directly or move on. Don't waste your energy dwelling on something you're going to forget was said one week or one month from now. If it's not going to matter in one month, then it shouldn't matter to you now. So the next time you're wasting energy stressing about something, ask yourself if it truly matters. Is it worth taking up precious energy of yours? And most of the time the answer will be no.
Number three, be lazy. I know this sounds like an oxymoron because we are talking about gaining more energy, but I'm here to remind you that we don't let ourselves rest enough. I know on the weekends many of you might have house projects you need to get done or cleaning or cooking or grocery shopping or sports games to get to, all of the things. Even on your weekends, you're go, go, go. And when you do have a chance to relax and chill, you can't fully relax and chill because all you have on your mind are all the things you should be doing. I'm here to remind you sister, to just chill out. If you are relaxing, give yourself 100% permission to just relax. Don't waste your relaxing time by stressing out on all the things that you should be doing while you're relaxing. That just doesn't make sense. For me, relaxing means I put my phone away. I know that sounds scary for some of you, for other of you guys, you're like, "Yes, me too. The moment my phone is out of my hands I feel like this weight is lifted off my shoulders."
For me, I turn my phone off, I put it in the drawer and I allow myself, whether that's even 10 minutes or 15 minutes, you will be so surprised and so amazed at what intentional relaxation can actually do for your soul and your body. But oftentimes we relax with our phone in our hand and the TV on, and that's not actually allowing yourself to just chill. So maybe it's putting your phone down and going outside for a walk or a hike, or doing something that doesn't require you to constantly have your to-do list right in the palm of your hand, AKA your phone. So be lazy, put the phone down, put it away and allow yourself even that 10 to 15 minutes of pure relaxation. Try doing that once a day. I know that sounds scary. Maybe start with five minutes. Five minutes or 10 minutes phone free, put it away, turn it off, put it away and allow yourself that time and you will be incredibly amazed at what it can do for you.
Number four, move your body. I know this sounds again, like an oxymoron. Wouldn't moving your body make you more tired? But the truth is moving your body actually gives you more energy. It's real science sister. It's not just in your head. The more active you are, the more mitochondria your body produces and the more mitochondria that you have in your body, the more energy you have. Moving your body doesn't always have to be crushing huge workouts. Moving your body can be going for a walk, doing yoga, cleaning your house, literally anything to get your body moving. Even five minutes of movement has shown to greatly impact energy levels. Try it out. The next time you hit an afternoon slump, get up and do 20 jumping jacks or 20 pushups or even dancing to one song around your living room and you'll be amazed at how much more energized you feel just from actually being intentional with moving your body.
Number five, change your nutrition choices. Typically when I'm tired, the first thing I'll ask myself is if I've been nourishing my body with what it needs. Nourishing your body with what it needs not only helps you build the body that you want, but it also gives you the energy that you want for living your life to the fullest. Ask yourself, are you eating enough fiber? Are you eating enough nutrient dense foods? Are you eating more carbs than your body actually needs or not enough protein? Look at your daily intake of food and evaluate whether or not it's hurting or helping your energy levels.
Number six, drink more water. Did you know that dehydration is one of the main causes of daytime fatigue? When you hit the mid afternoon slump or you feel like you don't have the energy to work out, you don't oftentimes need to reach for that second coffee or energy drink. You may just need to drink some water. Believe it or not, staying hydrated is going to drastically help your energy levels throughout your entire day. So I encourage you to figure out how much you are drinking and how much your body needs. If you don't know how much your body needs in water, all you have to do is 0.67 times your estimated body weight in pounds, and that's how many ounces your body needs. So if you've never known that, there you go. It's a fun fact. And that will allow you to really evaluate if you're drinking enough water per day.
And number seven, drinking less alcohol. If you work a glass of wine or beer into your macros daily, that's cool. You're going to keep yourself on track for building the body that you want. But drinking alcohol regularly, even if it's just a glass a night or a few nights a week can greatly impact your energy levels. Alcohol can actually mess up our natural sleep cycle and it can even cause us to not get as deep of a sleep as we may otherwise. So possibly reevaluate and maybe if you're drinking maybe three or four times a week, try to back down to one or two and see how that can impact your energy levels. Remember, you have to give it time though. You can't just do one week and be like, "Oh, it's not working." So going back to three to four times a week. Again, nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. But if you are struggling with energy and you don't have the opportunity to add more sleep into your life, sometimes evaluating and reprioritizing things in our life is important. So try reducing the frequency of alcohol and see the effects that it might have on your energy levels.
So let me recap those seven ways. Number one, be selective about who you give your energy to. Number two, be selective about what you give your energy to. Number three, be lazy. Allow yourself to relax. Pure relaxation phone free. Number four, move your body. Number five, change your nutrition choices. Number six, drink more water. And number seven, drink less alcohol.
If you love this episode, I know you will also love seven things to set you up for an energized week. I will go link that in the show notes below so that you can easily go listen. I appreciate you so much. Remember, there are so many ways to change up things in our life if we're lacking with energy. Again, I'm going to encourage you to try to not change all of these things at once, because you're changing everything at one time, then you're not going to know which actually works. So maybe try focusing on one or two things for the next three to four weeks and see how that affects your energy levels. I am all about sustainable, lifelong habit changes, and that's how you're going to create sustainable habits is by allowing yourself the time to implement things and see how it can change. So try one or two things and stick with it for three to four weeks or longer, and then reevaluate. And then maybe if you want, you can add a few other things the next three to four weeks and see how drastically your energy levels will change.
Thank you so much for tuning in. If you have somebody in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I mean, let's be real. We probably have three people in our life who need more energy throughout their day. So I encourage you to copy this link. You can send it to them in a text message. You can post it up on your Instagram story or Facebook and say, "Hey, tune into this episode. I got a lot of value from it." I appreciate you guys, and the word of mouth spreading for this podcast is so incredibly valuable. I thank you so much in advance. I love you. And I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the Gram, be sure to do so, @juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.