Maximising your energy: DOs and DON'Ts

Building on the basics of human energy, we are now turning our gaze toward the practices and behaviours that sabotage and optimise it. How will your life improve when you give up what drains your energy and cultivate what enhances it?

Energy saboteurs
 
The following lifestyle habits and behaviours seriously compromise our ability to generate and use energy. It is our choice to discontinue them and realise our well-being potential.
 
Intoxication – Formally classified intoxicants are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various ways in which toxicity in the body is created. The following practices are some of the major sources of intoxication: eating foods that we are not biologically and anatomically evolved to handle; eating cooked foods – cooking is a process of destruction and derangement of nutrients resulting in significant proportion of toxic debris; ingestion of taste bud irritants such as salt, sugar, herbs, seasoning, spices, flavourings, etc; ingestion of toxic products such as drugs (recreational and pharmaceutical), alcohol, nicotine, caffeinated and sweetened beverages, etc. 

Overeating – Overeating is a huge burden for the body and a massive energy-drainer. Firstly, the body’s energies are sapped immediately as it has to process the excess by digesting it and storing it as body fat. Secondly, subsequently, the body needs to expend more energy as it carries a heavier weight around due to the increase in body fat. The paradox of obese people is that they are quite literally drowning in the energy of their own body fat but unable to utilise it due to significantly damaged metabolism. 

Failure to put sufficient demands – A favourite saying among Hygienists is “faculties not used are abused”. The more familiar “use it or lose it” carries the same meaning. Abundant energy is expressed through activity. The body is highly prudent and only creates and uses energy on-demand. Without regularly engaging in sufficiently stimulating physical and/or mental activities, you will never develop your energy creation/utilisation capacity to its fullest. 

Stress – Bankruptcy is a major predictor of declining health. Many people’s ‘hearts are broken’ when they lose a loved one. Shouldering more responsibilities than one can handle leads to neck and upper back pain. Stress is toxic to the body, enervating, and life-shortening… If it is interpreted in negative terms – as something harmful and detrimental. The reality is that the situations that life presents to us are what they are. The meaning that we assign to them determines whether we perceive them as good or bad. By letting go of negative interpretations and embracing resourceful, can-do, ‘I can learn and grow from this’ attitudes, we ensure that the inevitable challenges life brings do not become energy-draining ‘catastrophes’. 

To you, the adrenaline junkie, ‘look how busy I am’, full of self-importance, ‘what’s the next thing’, ‘the world depends on me’, ‘I need another cup of coffee’ person, I plea – take it easy… Life will go on, even if you were not.
 
Obtaining high energy
 
Vigorous living marked by high energy and strength manifests naturally when we discontinue the impeding aforementioned practices. What needs to be done is rather simple and intuitive. We just need to live in accord with our natural requirements.
 
Rest and sleep – During rest and sleep, energy expenditure on vital processes is minimised. Sleep and, to some extent rest, are the only conditions under which energy generation exceeds energy consumption. This enables the built up of a reserve to be utilised on the next day. Lack of sleep and rest exhausts our nervous energy making the conscious and unconscious processes of the brain and the nervous system slow and inefficient. As a result, chemical processes are compromised making the metabolism sluggish. Mechanical or kinetic energy will also be in low supply, making it difficult if not impossible to perform physically on our desired level.  

Briefly, when it comes to sleep, it is ideal to go to bed in the evening when tired and get up in the morning when you wake up naturally. A person of exceptional health and exemplary lifestyle habits may require as little as 2 to 4 hours a night. An enervated person, dealing with chronic fatigue may need 14 to 16 hours of sleep every day for months. Sufficient darkness, quietness, and supply of fresh air are essential. All technologies should be switched off or put in their least intrusive mode of operation.
 
Periods of rest throughout the day are essential as well. Lying down is preferred, the semi-supine position is second best, sitting down is third. Closing the eyes saves a lot of nerve energy by eliminating the need for processing visual inputs. Directing one’s attention to the breath brings natural calm, and when extended with continuity, brings feelings of peace, clarity and well-being. Even a few minutes, a couple of times a day, can significantly increase one’s ability to express energy.
 
Best cellular fuel – Sufficient rest and sleep assure we have the required nerve energy to orchestrate the creation and use of chemical and kinetic energy with efficiency and precision. The caloric fuel that our activities run on comes from the foods we eat, which are first digested and then oxidised as usable energy. Nowadays, for many, glucose has become the body’s preferred fuel source. It is far too readily available in the form of simple and processed sugars. The most natural, bioavailable and healthy source of simple sugars is fruit but this does not make it our optimal fuel choice. 

In fact, under most resting and moving (exercise) metabolic conditions fat is the preferred fuel for muscle cells. Evolutionary speaking, entire civilisations have existed for centuries if not millennia on practically zero-carb diets. Human nutrition does not recognise such thing as 'essential' dietary carbohydrates. This means that a person can easily thrive after weaning on a diet devoid of any dietary carbohydrates. On a separate note, many animal tissues do contain trace amounts of carbohydrates. Furthermore, a normally functioning human body is more than capable of manufacturing any glucose (sugar, a form of carb) it needs from the fats and proteins consumed. 

Exercise – Sleep and rest assure an abundance of nerve energy. Exceptional materials supplied by a diet consisting primarily if not exclusively of raw meat and fish easily provides the required fuel. Regular physical and mental exercise develops the infrastructure – the capacity to utilise fuel and produce energy effectively and efficiently. Just like an Olympic athlete trains regularly in preparation for the games, so does the healthy and successful person train their physical and mental faculties with regular exercise that stretches them beyond their current limits. Vigorous exercise, like high-intensity training and challenging mental feats like a game of chess or go, or a brain training application are excellent ways of developing physical and cognitive strength. 

Attitude – Last, but not least one’s attitude towards life, in the broadest sense, influences one’s ability to enjoy and put to use vast amounts of energy. Seeing life as an opportunity to express one’s creative potential for the betterment and welfare of humanity and planet Earth as a whole gives a sense of purpose and direction. Such a noble aspiration supplies the internal drive to develop oneself into a powerhouse for expressing one’s innate divine impulse for meaningful creation.

Keeping the ego in check by accepting life’s challenges and rejections as valuable lessons is also important. Good results will come from good intention but our role is only a part of the divine order of the universe. So, keep in mind that whatever and whenever happens, it is always the right thing at the right time even if it did not turn out the way you want it. Cultivate the tireless patience, vigorous perseverance, and mindfulness required to make the most of your every moment on Earth. Life is precious, and we revere it by realising the full potential of our physical, mental and spiritual inheritance.  

​Summary
 
Energy is an enabling factor for realising all our goals and aspirations in life. It is natural, inherent and abundant when we live in accord with the laws of nature. By eliminating destructive habits, indulging in healthful practices, supplying the best raw materials, and exercising our faculties, we are able to develop our capacity to create and express energy to the fullest. Thus, we are able to live a happy, healthy and meaningful life by channelling our creative energy into meaningful activities and pursuits. 

Further reading:
Your energy: significance, types, sources
Raw Energy Course (e-book)