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By Faye Hall
Master your energy and expect to feel fantastic.
Waking up and feeling refreshed and feeling energised throughout the day is a totally acceptable expectation during midlife or any part of your life. But why are so many people tired all the time? Why do we too often settle for chronic symptoms and a feeling of low energy when ENERGY and feeling well is everything?
At WIM we talk often about being a healthy human and we understand that the production and distribution of energy fundamentally underpins the process of restoring and maintaining robust health for us all. When you master your energy, your can master your health.
We work with a process we call MBEE coaching (MIND-BODY-EMOTION-ENVIRONMENT). When it comes to the question of how can I have more energy this model comes into its own, read on to learn more….
How To Master Your Energy & Get Into Your Power?
At 46 years old I wake up naturally and gently most days without an alarm and generally feel excited to get up and move forward with my day. But it hasn’t always been like that, it has taken some work mastering emotions, biology and getting really clear on what I want for my life and how I want to live it. My energy levels have increased as I have got older. While my chronological age is increasing in the normal way year on year my biological age, I believe, is not following the same trajectory!
Around 6 years ago the piercing sound of the alarm woke me up in the morning, the noise triggered a horrible feeling of distress, I felt heavy, depressed, as the knot in my stomach started to form at the thought of the day ahead. In those first hazy moments, I would notice my thoughts, the internal chatter seemed to start on autopilot with repetitive negative premonitions for the day ahead. Often, I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to stand up and move, such was the pull to let everything go and fall back into a deep endless sleep. The term ‘dragging yourself out of bed’ was made for me, at that time in my life I wondered what I had done wrong, why I could not be “normal” and get on with my day like everyone else.
It went on for several months maybe even a year, culminating in a period of months where I was literally non functioning. I could only manage to think and apply myself to work for a short time fuelled by copious amounts of coffee and guilt. But it was pretty futile; my brain just had no energy. I regularly fell asleep during the day, it was like my whole being had just gone into hibernation.
The worst part, nobody really understood what was happening, my partner just got frustrated, my family didn’t really understand how much I was struggling to get through the days. My work was suffering and my social life was non-existent, if I went out to a dinner party I would need several days to recover from the late night so I just stopped seeing friends.
What had happened?
How I Mastered My Energy Back and Gained Even More
If feeling tired all the time has become something that’s normal for you, just how you are, then we really encourage you to STOP, rethink and believe that there are simple solutions and steps you can take to master your energy and power.
My full recovery story is too long for this blog (however, it’s very much related to what we teach as part of our Weight Loss – Health Gains course). If you are interested in waking up and feeling wonderful, here are some fundamentals for you to explore and consider.
Do any of these relate to you?
B – The Systems Biology Of Energy & Energy Distrbution
In terms of biology and physiology the keys to unlocking abundant energy in midlife and beyond could lie in any one or more of these areas for you:
- Thyroid Health. The thyroid gives permission for us to use our energy. Energy metabolism is one of the most recognised targets of thyroid hormone action. How is your thyroid?
- Nutrient Status. Are you deficient in any of the key nutrients for energy production such as iron, magnesium or nutrients or for thyroid health such as protein selenium and iodine or vitamin C for stress hormones? Are there any major nutritional imbalances such as low protein or a high sugar diet going on?
- Stress Physiology is key. If you spend too much time in the (sympathetic) stress response, without proper resolution you can experience “chronic” stress. This eventually will exhaust your energy. The introduction of “Healthy stressors”, adequate resolvents balanced with periods of time, in rest, digest (para-sympathetic) response , is a recipe for epic energy levels.
- Circadian Rhythm. The heart of good health and energy levels, is living in rhythm. If you do not respect your body’s natural rhythm, energy will eventually evade you. Sometimes good rest is essential. The times you sleep, eat, move and the routine you create for your day is fundamental to feeling energised
- Mitochondrial Health. These multifunctional cell organelles produce the majority of cellular ATP (energy), they also regulate cellular processes, including immune responses. Looking after your mitochondria is a key factor in experiencing great energy levels as well as slowing down biological ageing. Mitochondrial health protocols….in our opinion, is a midlife must do!
- ENERGY DISTRIBUTION is key, it’s all about how we use the available energy. Biologically life is fueled by energy (ATP) and we have a finite amount. If you feel tired all the time the most important question might not be How do I get more energy? but Where is my energy going? This way of thinking is critical to solving any energy crisis. The body distributes energy in the best interests of our survival. That’s why when you have the flu you feel tired, depressed and want to stay home. That’s a healthy distribution of energy. Energy has to go to the immune system to solve the crisis and ensure our survival. But what if you have an immune system that is not just active when you have the flu? What if modern life has made it active all the time?
In my own recovery experience, I addressed all these areas. Remember if you are thinking but how what? … then you will find the answers in the lessons we cover in our Weight Loss – Health Gains course and 1-2-1 programs.
Let us help you learn how to redistribute energy for health, and find your healthy balance of stress. Let us help you get started with one key area right now – your Rhythm. A healthy 24hr cycle underpins all of the above. Download our free Finding Your Rhythm Handout.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are experiencing extreme unexplained fatigue, we strongly recommend that you visit your GP or medical doctor to investigate any underlying conditions.
(In my own recovery experience, after visiting my GP on several occasions describing extreme fatigue like so many people no underlying condition was identified).
M – Mind: The Biology of Our Beliefs
So I have talked about the body, but the mind and body are one integrated system. Thinking patterns have a fundamental role to play in the resolution of fatigue and resurrection of your life force. Your psychology and your biology are not just connected they operate as one whole system that is you and your being.
Our thoughts have a fundamental impact on our behaviour and biology and vice versa. Learning to manage and choose specific words, feelings and being selective about what you think and believe about your situation is fundamental to energy creation.
When I was at my worst I started researching chronic fatigue. Whilst I understood all of the above biology was going to be necessary, there was still the questions of how do I influence all those things? Where do I find the energy to do it? I had to radically review my mindset:
- I learnt to transform my internal dialogue so the words in my head were encouraging, kind and motivational.
- I learnt that belief alone had the power to influence physiology, I needed to literally convince my body that it was safe, I no longer needed to hang onto stress mode for survival all the time.
- I had to learn to accept, process and express my emotions better so that I could find a more resourceful state of being.
- I needed to take new perspectives on my life situation so I could find more choices and options about how to live in a way that would enable me to feel good.
Using tools like NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), and applying Clinical PsychoNeuroimmunology principles to my situation were key to my recovery. This experience was also the inspiration for our flagship course Think Your Way to Health.
E – Emotions & Environment
This is probably the most profound work I did. This work was enabled by all of the above changes to my thinking and biology.
My energy levels dropped after many years of back to back challenging events and pushing myself, there was no doubt I was actually long term tired and literally needed a rest and my body spoke and gave it to me by basically throwing the towel in for a while.
But there was more….. Even after a period of rest I did not see a return to energy or peace, I felt tired deep in my soul.
I will never know what aspects of my environment had the most impact but there were several conflicts in my life. And the changes I made were BIG (brave) changes that I wasn’t even sure I had the energy for but did them anyway!
When these things changed the return of the feeling of power, energy and life force was transformational.
- I moved house. I had not been happy in the location of the home I was living in. I felt isolated and had no community or connection around me. My house was also on a main road with one of the highest road pollution recordings in the UK.
- My children were independent and I missed them a lot I was feeling an empty nest. I decided to switch from mourning and moping to celebration at their transitions into adult life. I realised it was an opportunity to start to re-create my own life again (mindset).
- An unhappy and challenging relationship ended. I learnt how to be on my own and enjoy it. Then I focused back on what I had always wanted, to meet a person I could really trust and feel safe with. A relationship based on respect, commitment, mutual support and encouragement.
- I also reviewed all my friendships and emotional connections. I surrounded myself with what I would describe as “good” people for me. I had been lucky enough to develop authentic friendships, people who I wanted to connect with and support. AND I let go of a load of others! Liberating!
- I changed my work focus and began very slowly but surely to do what I had always wanted and fully commit to starting my own business focused on my simple purpose and mission to feel good, enjoy life and help others do the same. I found the perfect business partner to do this with so work could become a supportive place for personal and professional growth.
Diverting even the low level of physical, emotional and mental energy that I had back then, into people and projects that felt safe and enjoyable ultimately gave me energy motivation and inspiration.
Where Energy Flows – So Does Health
Now I wake up every morning and I do the work everyday to stay in great shape biologically with food, nutrition, sleep, movement, supplements, etc. I know how to process emotions and choose my responses to whatever life throws. Where I can, I choose a healthy environment for me, where I can’t, I do the best I can.
I know how to choose to feel good. Not every day is perfect of course there are fluctuations in energy for good reasons. YET, the key is I know how to regain my energy if I lose it. I know how to focus where my energy is going so I can feel good most of the time.
And you can too.
Master Your Energy – Now
So while the energy puzzle may be wide and expansive, and you may be questioning where to get started, or what solutions may work for you, in our midlife health newsletter we give you 4 key resources you can use to get started. Those tools are:
- Thyroid Health Check
- Nutrient Deficiency Health Check
- Energy Audit
- Instant Energy Creators
If energy is a concern for you right now, and you find that you’re dragging yourself through the day, book a friendly 15 mins to talk about how you can reassess where your energy is going and what your first step to creating abundance and health is.
**The information and other content provided in this blog, or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice.
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