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On-The-Go Energy Boosters
Manage your energy when you're on the road or short on time
Welcome to Stretch, your guide to experimenting with your mental, emotional, and physical performance. Guaranteed to teach you something new about your mind and body.
⏪ Last edition, we spoke about what I’ve learned from Harvard psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer about paying attention and having an abundant mindset. Catch up on that here.
⏩ Today, we’re talking about a few quick, easy and natural energy boosters for when you’re on the road or short on time.
On-The-Go Energy Boosters
I work at Write of Passage, an online writing school. We’re a fully remote company, with the team distributed across the US, Canada, Brazil, UK, and me in Portugal.
Remote work isn’t for everyone, but it fits my lifestyle and goals—freedom of time and movement—perfectly.
And here’s the biggest perk: We meet 3 times per year in person. Since I’m one of the only ones on this side of the world, that means I get to make a big trip every time—from the beaches in Floridian Anna Maria Island to cottage life in Toronto. Woop woop!
But don’t be mistaken.
These team retreats are not a holiday. The idea is to be together in-person to strategize for the upcoming months. There are group discussions and small-group brainstorms. We analyze every single detail of the student experience. All in all, we try to squeeze as much value out of our limited time together as we can. (That includes playing Codenames at night—great game to get an insight into how someone else’s brain works!)
There’s only one downside…
These hours-long sessions means there’s a lot of sitting. After a couple of hours, I typically sink further and further down into my chair and struggle staying engaged.
At previous retreats, I’d stay seated because that’s what everyone else is doing. Down another coffee. Be quietly annoyed at myself for feeling brain foggy (Why does everyone else seem to have endless energy and I don’t?)
During our last retreat last month, I decided to do things differently.
I was going to manage my energy. I’ve now learned enough about my brain and body to know that it’s normal to have energy dips throughout the day, and that rhythm is different for everyone. There’s no point in comparing. The best thing to do is to listen to my body (remember interoception?) and rely on simple tools to give myself little energy boosts.
So maybe you have a job that requires lots of sitting for calls and meetings, or you don’t have much flexibility in your schedule to take proper breaks.
Here are some ideas that will help you manage your energy.
Stand up and move
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, as much as possible: stand up and move your body.
A team of researchers at Columbia University Medical Center together with more than 20,000 people found that regular movement breaks are optimal. The findings show that fatigue was reduced by 25%. Feelings of positive emotions increased, and feelings of negative emotions decreased.
How regular? Five minutes out of every thirty! I know, that’s a lot and almost impossible to do for many of us. But it just shows us how important it is to be extremely intentional and move as often as we possibly can.
I tried to remember this at the retreat. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Your body doesn’t care what you do, as long as you’re moving. I’d stand behind my chair and stretch my body. I’d walk around the room as I’m thinking. Yep, it feels a bit weird to do when the others are sitting down but hey, what can you do.
Use your breath
We forget about the breath because it’s automatic and seemingly so simple. But it’s one of the most powerful tools we have.
Instead of reaching for a coffee, I’d get up and do a cyclic hyperventilation breathing exercise in the bathroom:
Deep inhale through the nose
Passive exhale through the mouth
Repeat 10-15 times
Breathe in and fill your lungs, hold for 20-30 seconds
Breathe out and fill your lungs, hold for 15 seconds
Release
Repeat sequence 2-3 times
Here’s a quick video where I demonstrate the exercise:
@chargrysolle Stop relying on coffee to deal with your afternoon energy slump. Instead, use your body's in-built natural activation system = your breath... See more
If you try it, you’ll notice your body heat up slightly. You might even feel some tingling and agitation. That’s normal.
Repeated quick inhales followed by exhales is hyperventilation. This kicks off a release of adrenaline in the brain and body and so increases alertness and focus. The short breath holds are a mild and controlled stressor for your body, making you feel alert and activated.
Do start slow and easy. See how your body reacts. If this makes you feel anxious or dizzy, this might not be a good exercise for you. Also don’t try this if you’re pregnant or prone to high anxiety. (Also recommended to never do this near or in any body of water but I’d say a toilet is safe enough.)
My next challenge is to do this in front of other people instead of hiding in the toilet. There’s still some embarrassment there (even around feeling low energy) and I actually think we need to normalize this kind of stuff!
Jolt your system with a bit of cold
Cold showers and cold baths are all the hype right now, and for good reason. When I’m at home, I’ll often take a cold shower in the middle of the day and it feels great.
Obviously at the retreat, I couldn’t do that. (I’m all for normalizing but that’s probably pushing it!)
But here’s something we can all do every time:
Run cold water on our hands and wrists
Drink a glass of ice cold water
I couldn’t find much scientific research around this but from my own experience, doing these things would give me a very refreshing and energizing boost.
There you go! As you can see, these are super small things but they made a massive difference for me.
So whether you’re on the road, in back-to-back meetings or are just short on time: can you try these techniques to give yourself a little energy boost?
It’s all about getting to know your body, understanding its rhythm and having simple on-the-go energy boosters like these that you know you can rely on in the moment.
The team (not sitting!)
What else I’m up to…
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