Where to get energy: 15 ways to help you gain strength

Live the house

I'm lucky - I live in a house that my great-grandfather bought, and I reconstructed it the way I wanted. These two themes – “family nest” and “made for myself” – give strength every day. In addition, I have a couple of places in it where I go specifically to exercise myself and replenish my energy with various practices. In these places double recharging.

Even when I lived in a rented apartment, I settled in and made it my own as much as possible. In any space you can find a corner that will be yours and only yours, and it will give you energy: a table with a comfortable chair, a couch under a floor lamp, a shelf with an “altar” - just find it and designate it as your place of power.

Find a place of power

On a long trip to Malta, we found ourselves on a slope that overhung the sea, and on it grew a single tree. Nothing special, but it suddenly overwhelmed me there so much that I began to pray and give thanks. I asked the guide - it turned out that various magicians and psychics come here regularly. And two weeks ago I was on a dolmen - this is a stone structure dating back to 2000 years BC, which is also a special place for visitors, and where my batteries were seriously recharged. And let them say that these are just electromagnetic waves, or that those who want to, themselves endow a piece of stone with “magical” properties. I felt what I felt.

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And here’s a secret: it’s not necessary to go to a place of power every time you feel a loss of strength - in her lecture, neurolinguist Tatyana Chernigovskaya said that the brain doesn’t care whether what’s happening is real or just a memory of an event. That is, you can simply remember that tree or dolmen, or any place where you felt good, and the state will return. Shall we check?

Useful services and courses

In every article on psychology, I draw readers’ attention to the Wikium website. Go there right now, wander around, see what it has to offer.

On Wikium there are many free and paid simulators, courses from practicing psychologists that help you become more perfect, smarter, develop memory, thinking, find motivation, etc. The service is really cool.

In terms of restoring energy balance, I recommend these three courses to you. True, they are paid, but the price is modest, considering who teaches and what practical value the lessons provide.

Brain fitness - an innovative format for brain training

Description : This short course will teach you how to properly tune in to the right actions in any situation. You will learn how to overcome apathy at work, how not to get tired from a huge number of household chores, how to keep a smile on your face when it seems that life is full of problems and failures.

If you feel insecure, the teacher will tell you how Olympic champions gain confidence and are not afraid to perform, despite thousands of spectators around and cameras from all sides. You will follow their methods for gaining confidence.

In my opinion, anyone who lives in a state of stress or powerlessness, who finds it difficult to concentrate on their goals, needs to undergo training.

Vikium programmers have created special neurosimulators for the constant practice of each student. You will be able to practice on them under the supervision of a teacher, and devote as much time to your personal development as possible.

The information course comes complete with a neural interface - a device that reads and analyzes the biorhythms of your brain. You will receive it by mail and will use it even after completing your training.

Authors : developers of the Vikium service.

Cost : 18,990 rub. for the entire course and neural interface.

Find out more and sign up

Online course on attention

Description : This course is not directly related to energy, but it does help you concentrate on the work you are doing. In fact, every person needs attention: a car driver, a proofreader, a programmer, a musician.

If you sometimes feel tired, your attention wanders, and it’s difficult for you to force yourself to work on any one task, try studying this material. If during the first seven days you realize that it is not suitable for you, you have many other problems besides attention - the site administration will return the money in full.

The duration of classes is 15 days. In 2 weeks you will work on all the necessary concentration and energy saving skills. The course format is group. But each student works according to an individually developed plan. Other people from different professions will study with you, and together you will strive to improve.

Watch a video about the course from the teachers:

Author : Vikium specialists.

Cost : 1,490 rub.

Find out more and sign up

Course “Goal Setting”

Description : Lack of energy is often due to the fact that a person does not have a specific goal or strong motivation to achieve it. The course will teach you how to set goals correctly and, most importantly, how to understand what you really want to achieve in this life, what makes you a truly happy person.

The first materials can be obtained for free - enter your email address on the website, the administration will send them to you within 5 minutes. You will appreciate the quality and, if you like it, purchase the entire course.

The volume of classes is small - six video lessons from teachers. After each lesson you need to do your homework - several practical exercises. Teachers will check them, evaluate them, and give recommendations.

You can download additional lesson materials (diagrams and tables) and use them throughout your life so as not to get lost in it and always have strong motivation.

Authors : Vikium specialists.

Cost : 1,490 rubles.

Find out more and sign up

Brain Detoxification

Description : Why don't you have energy? Think about what thoughts wander through your head most often. Maybe you are going through situations that make you an unhappy person - when someone offends or humiliates you? Or are you jealous of your friends and acquaintances? If yes, apathy and depression are inevitable.

Brain detoxification is a course that helps get rid of negative thoughts in your head. You will learn to easily switch to the positive even in the most difficult periods of your life. How not to lose heart, how to push stress away from yourself, put people who are unpleasant to you in their place - teachers will tell you about all this and much more during 10 lessons.

When you complete the course, you will sleep peacefully at night, you will no longer be tormented by anxious thoughts, and your anxiety level will generally disappear. You will use all the accumulated energy to achieve your ambitious goals.

Author : Victor Shiryaev (specializes in problems of developmental psychology).

Cost : 1,490 rubles.

Find out more and sign up

Another interesting thing that is on Wikium is the neural interface. This is a special device that analyzes electromagnetic oscillations of the brain.

If you can, get one and see how your brain works when you're relaxed and when you're stressed. Transfer the data to the Wikium website - it will give you a list of recommendations. In my opinion, this is much better than pills and various medications.

Walk barefoot

Again, it’s easier for me in country life - from spring to autumn I walk barefoot on wooden floors, on gravel, and on the ground, and in winter I wear woolen socks around the house. You can’t walk around Moscow barefoot, but if the weather permits, then it’s worth finding time to grab yourself a piece of nature somewhere in the park and take off your shoes. Connection to the land is something the city lacks.

I also like to hang out in such a light meditation when you stand on the ground or a stone, there is water nearby, and you feel the sun and wind on your skin. You just need to freeze for a couple of minutes and allow all four elements to nourish you.

Take vitamin D

Last year, for the first time in many years, I spent 10 days of vacation just to swim and sunbathe. And I got into such excellent physical shape that this year I went there to recharge for two weeks. It’s the sea + sun twice a day, like going to work. If possible, it is optimal to do this in April-May and October-November, but once a year is also good.

The rest of the time - autumn, winter and spring - I took vitamin D. You can buy liquid at the pharmacy, but I ordered capsules on iherb. And here’s the truth – I survived all this six-month horror with the weather quite cheerfully. But it is still better to consult a doctor about taking vitamins and their dosage.

What to do when you are physically exhausted?

If you feel like you don't have enough energy every day, you might just be tired. This possibility exists even if you eat normally, don’t lift weights and sleep 8 hours a day, because it’s not so much the quantity of sleep and food that matters, but their quality.

Having fulfilled the daily calorie requirement with the help of sweets, a person will feel more exhausted than if he eats a balanced diet. Going to sleep with the help of sleeping pills is less beneficial than sleep resulting from fatigue from physical activity. However, in the absence of physical strength, it does not come to physical activity and sports. It turns out to be a vicious circle. However, there is a way out of it!

Top 10 ways to quickly replenish your physical strength:

1. Eat a piece of meat and, in principle, add protein foods to your daily diet, unless there are contraindications for health reasons (for example, kidney disease).
2. Partially replace sugar and sweets with dried fruits (for example, raisins, dried apricots, dates).
3. Find an opportunity to eat fresh vegetables and/or fruits every day, at least apples and carrots.
4. Don't overeat at night, at least for 3-4 days in a row.
5. Drink more clean water and less tea and coffee, also for at least 3-4 days.
6. Sign up for a massage if there are no health restrictions (for example, fever, inflammation in the body or exacerbation of a chronic disease).
7. Sign up for a special massage if you have diagnosed health problems (see a chiropractor to straighten your spine, lymphatic drainage massage if lymph flow is impaired, etc.)
8. Buy a vitamin-mineral complex at the pharmacy. Ideally, first consult with your doctor which complex is best based on your health condition.
9. Take a walk before bed and/or do light exercise, perhaps yoga asanas or simple stretching.
10. Go to bed early, preferably immediately after a walk and exercise. Repeat these steps as often as possible.

All of the above sounds quite banal, but it is more than effective. We do not call for immediate and drastic lifestyle changes. We suggest testing some changes when you suddenly feel a decline in physical strength.

If something doesn't help you, cross it off the list. If it helps, but seems tiring to use on a regular basis, then you will have an emergency self-help technique in stock in case of physical fatigue next time. By the way, if you are exhausted both morally and physically, restoring vitality should begin with restoring physical fitness and physical energy.

Get a blood test

General and biochemical, at a minimum, as well as hormones, vitamins and microelements - their deficiency and imbalance can cause chronic fatigue. I found the lab4u service, where you can order complex examinations online for various reasons, pay and come to the nearest laboratory to draw blood. Thanks to this system, the cost of tests is two times cheaper than in other places. I'm not advertising, it's just convenient for me.

It was like this for me - I woke up cheerful and active, but at 12-13 o'clock I was knocked into sleep so that I could only fall and fall asleep. I will not go into details of the research and methods of correcting the condition, I will only say that the health situation has leveled out, and living in a state of calm energy has become simply wonderful.

Sleep or switch during the day

Since I work remotely, when I’m at home, I always allow myself to sleep during the day - half an hour, and I’m back to overflowing with energy. Be quiet, sadness, the office workers will tell me. But there are ways here too. Ten years ago I worked in the editorial office of a weekly magazine: a crowd of colleagues, open space, strict deadlines. And this is what one of my friends did? During my lunch break, I went to the park to just sit silently under the trees. This kind of pulling herself out of the process allowed her to reboot.

Find yourself a bench on the street or some secret place in the building where you can sit for 10-15 minutes, turn off your phone, close your eyes and relax.

Stretch your body

I use several techniques from Eastern practices.

-Rub your palms vigorously until they become hot.

-Stretch your ears and lobes with your fingers.

-Rub the back of your fists on your lower back in the kidney area.

-Massage your feet and stretch the point, which is located on the inside of the ankles in the hole under the bone - it is responsible for energy in the body.

-Clap your palms all over your body - arms, chest, stomach, shoulders, back, buttocks, thighs, legs.

-Intensively clench your hands into a fist / unclench and straighten your fingers - 10 times.

-Rise on your toes and lower yourself, “knocking” your heels, 10 times.

Five minutes, and cheerfulness came.

Types of energy

Our life energy can be divided into four types: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. The ability to manage all four types is the basis of high productivity.

To be fully energized, we must be physically energized, emotionally engaged, mentally focused, and united in spirit to achieve goals that lie beyond our selfish interests. (Jim Lauer, Tony Schwartz "Life at Full Power")

Physical energy is basic. This includes everything related to the body and health. Main sources: food, sleep, movement and rest.

Emotional energy is feelings and character in general. If everything is in order at this level, the person is in a state of optimism, joy and lightness. Anxiety, irritation and apathy are indicators of low levels of emotional energy.

Emotional energy is closely related to physical energy. Emotions are hormones, chemical reactions in the body, so they affect our body. When a person is angry, his blood pressure rises. When he is sad, tears flow. At the same time, when you feel unwell or ill, your emotional background drops.

The next level is mental energy, or mental. This includes everything related to the power of the mind: knowledge, memory, creativity, discipline and the ability to concentrate. With a good level of mental energy, these indicators are high. If it is low, the person is impulsive, absent-minded and disorganized.

The top of the pyramid is spiritual energy. These are the values ​​that guide us in life and serve as a source of motivation. To increase spiritual energy, it is necessary to fill all other levels.

Give cardio exercise

I fell in love with swimming, and to my kilometer, which I have been swimming weekly for six months now, I added a second one per week. I go for a walk with my dog ​​every day, and began to slowly add light jogging to the regular 4-6 km walk. I kept taking care of my knees after the injury, but a respected doctor said that I needed cardio exercise and that I could run at least in place for 5 minutes a day. I started running at sea, and now I continued, and it works.

I feel fantastic after my swims and races, I feel how strength comes and how this energy accumulates in me.

Communication with others

It is very important to have only positive people around you who inspire you. Purposeful, sociable friends are able to share their energy with you, and you can respond to them in the same way. This way your relationship will be harmonious and healthy. But people who constantly complain about life, try to involve you in their apathy and shift problems will have a negative impact on your own mood. If you don’t know where to get strength and energy, start by communicating with active and ambitious interlocutors. Learn new things from your friends, get inspired and just enjoy the company, where there is no place for apathy and negativity.

Do a relaxation practice

I do this when I’m lying with a mask on my face - at home or at the cosmetologist. Sometimes I go to bed on purpose when I feel it’s time. It is necessary that no one touches you for 15-30 minutes, including on the phone.

Lower your attention to your toes and begin to relax them one by one, then your feet, legs, hips, and so rise higher throughout your body.

Slowly slide your attention and as if putting on an invisible tights, under which only silence and relaxation remain. Belly, chest, back, shoulders, arms, every finger on the hand.

Neck, head, jaw, tongue, eyebrows, forehead.

If your attention has not fled and you have completed the process, then a very pleasant moment comes - you are in the body, the body is full, and everything is fine.

Or you can go even deeper - and here is excellent advice from dance therapist Alexander Girshon: “If you want simplicity, go to the bones.” Well, that is, just remember that you have a skeleton, and stay in it - solid, reliable and solid - before returning to the bustle of the mind and the world.

How to spot burnout? Four stages of change

The easiest way to tell if you're burning out is to remember what kind of person you usually are. Write a list of statements: “I am a person who...” For example: “I am a person who loves Elsa’s Ocean.” And if you haven’t listened to “Elzy’s Ocean” for a long time, you haven’t had the time or energy - this is an alarming sign. Take the test.
A more accurate self-diagnosis tool is the Maslach Burnout Inventory test (MBI, $15). It is based on the theory of the same name, which is considered the gold standard in the study of burnout. A free analogue is an online test from MindTools. But its reliability and validity, unlike the Maslach Burnout Inventory questionnaire, alas, have not been confirmed by research.

Burnout, like illness, has its stages. And each stage has its own distinctive features. The MBI theory talks about three stages of burnout: exhaustion, loss of purpose and cynicism, disgust and depression. At Deva.School we like to add an earlier stage that precedes visible symptoms: idealism and excess.

Here's the main thing you need to know about this and other stages of burnout.

1. Idealism and excess.

   A time of enthusiasm, energy and initiative. You look like the ideal manager or employee: you want to do as much as possible and in the best possible way. To everything that is offered to you, you answer: “Yes, this is a cool task, I want to do it!” Everyone wonders where you get so much energy and love for your work. However, sometimes this is a normal mode of operation, and not the first stage of burnout. To distinguish them, take a closer look at how you relax. Weekends, eight hours of sleep and vacation in place? Do you manage to disconnect your thoughts from work in the evening? Do you have time and energy for family, friends, hobbies and reading a good novel? If work and personal life are balanced, everything is fine. If not, your idealism will inevitably lead to excessive energy consumption and the development of burnout.

2. Exhaustion.

   Your strength is diminishing, your enthusiasm is fading, but so far you cannot admit it even to yourself. You still appear to be a good performer, but you are less likely to come up with fresh ideas and less involved in the processes within the company. New projects are no longer so exciting: “Yes, this is a cool task, but I probably need more time for it.” Perhaps you don't meet deadlines that you set yourself, and you don't understand why this is happening. The reason is actually simple: you expect to work as productively as at the idealization stage, but you no longer have enough strength. Or do you turn to bad habits to achieve equally high results: excess caffeine, working in the evenings and nights, and so on.

3. Loss of purpose and cynicism.

   Resources are sorely lacking, and the brain is trying to save them. To do this, it devalues ​​the thing on which you spent the most energy - work. This is expressed in cynicism: if it works out, it’s good; if it doesn’t work out, that’s also okay. The tension inside is growing, you are becoming more and more irritated, and it is becoming more and more difficult to restrain your emotions. Cynicism can also manifest itself in the way you treat clients and members of your team: the principle of equality disappears, some become more important than others due to social status or personal sympathy. Interest disappears not only in work, but also in close people and important activities. You used to love to draw, listen to music and go to exhibitions with friends, but now you don’t. There is simply no desire. All this is not your choice, but a consequence of a lack of resources: the brain saves energy.

4. Disgust and depression.

   You can't bring yourself to open your laptop and use a variety of strategies to avoid work. Either you need to check if the door is closed, or you want to eat, or your attention naturally focuses on minor details of the project, and there is no time left for important tasks. The results are significantly lower than usual, even if you work all day. At the same time, you feel that you are sick of sitting at your desk. Sometimes you literally feel sick: the symptoms can also be physical. Or you might arrive at a meeting with colleagues and suddenly feel so sleepy that you can't stop yawning. A sign that is easier to notice from the outside is that you cannot clearly and correctly formulate tasks for other people. You seem to think that everyone should read your mind.

Turn off your smartphone

A lot of energy is wasted on distracting attention. And just because it seems like multitasking allows you to get a lot done, it takes a lot of energy. In order to get tired less, you need to regain yourself. Put down your smartphone when you have breakfast, chat with friends, play with children, do yoga, or drive a car. Put it on airplane mode when you come for a massage, or go to bed, or watch a movie. Spend an hour a day with your phone turned off to eventually understand that the world will not collapse if you are not in touch.

And if you can’t let go of your phone, hello, it’s an addiction.

Remember three axioms

Sorry, we promised new and unconventional methods, but first we have to remind you of something banal. You already know that you need to sleep well, eat well and exercise. We won’t decipher it, few people follow it anyway. Let's say a few words about introducing a healthy lifestyle into your daily routine.

How to recharge your energy through exercise

Work out during your lunch break or at least go for a walk. In 2004, researchers from Leeds City University found in John J. Ratey's Spark!: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain that workers who attend a company gym perform better and have an easier time working out. In addition, they enjoy their work more, experience less stress, and do not feel tired in the afternoon, despite the energy expenditure during training.

How to sleep more

Reset your alarm clock. Let it ring not in the morning, when it is time to get up, but in the evening, when it is time to go to bed.

As John Durant says in The Paleo Manifesto, setting an alarm for the evening is a very useful technique to remind yourself that it's time to go to bed. The signal should sound an hour before lights out. After the reminder, you need to complete all work, turn off the TV and excess lights, and gradually get ready for bed.

How to switch to a healthy diet

Ask yourself, “What would Batman eat?” This advice is given by How To Eat Healthy: 5 Easy New Tips From Research, Cornell University professor Brian Wansink.

When deciding whether or not to eat dessert, think about what your childhood idol would do. If it doesn't work the first time, ask yourself the question three times. It will be easier to make a healthy decision.

We've dealt with the boring and obvious. To obtain energy at the right time, there is no need to abuse your body. It's better to change the schedule.

Have a creative date

I liked this idea from the book “The Artist’s Way”: once a week you go to the theater, to an exhibition, to a park, to interesting guests, just walk the streets - alone (and with your phone turned off, haha) to find out, see something new and get impressions. So, during the cold season, I actively went to exhibitions, bought myself good tickets to the Bolshoi Theater, and looked into flower festivals in the Apothecary Garden.

And after each such creative meeting - a lot of energy and a desire to develop further.

Go from the opposite

In recent years, I have not needed a lot of communication and noisy companies, and that is why rare visits to good guests and meeting new people give an incredible surge of energy. And vice versa - when I was an active girl, I needed to recuperate at home in solitude, silence and, preferably, darkness.

Singles should go out in public once a week or two to feed off others. Business extroverts should organize a day outside of society in the same way, so that a thousand little bear cubs, who are being torn apart by society, have time to gather back into a whole person.

Listen to your inner voice if you are tired

Research results say “Food for thought? Trust your unconscious when energy is low”, Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, Vol 5(2), May 2012, 124–130: when energy is high, you need to listen to the voice of reason. And when your head is a mess from fatigue, rely on your intuition.

Executive functioning depends on the amount of energy provided by glucose. And many cognitive processes are impaired when energy is scarce. When making decisions when blood glucose levels are low, you need to trust the unconscious more, although when glucose levels rise, you should return to conscious thinking about decisions.

So you're already making progress. Congratulations. But what is the best way to spend your vacation to accumulate energy for tomorrow?