Education

We’re being teased by spring here in Vancouver. One day, it’s beautiful and sunny and you feel like you’re on top of the world. The next, it feels cold and grey and like winter is never coming to an end.

Personally, I’ve found my energy levels to be waning over the past few months. The time change seems to have had a bigger impact on me, and waking up early just hasn’t been in the cards.

I need at least 7 hours of sleep to be rested, and for the most part I sleep well, but I know that I’m lucky for it. Many people have trouble getting the rest that they need, whether it’s due to a lack of sleep because of a busy lifestyle, insomnia or the quality of their sleep is poor. Sleep plays a big part in managing stress and preventing disease.

Here are some tips to help improve the quality of your sleep and increase your energy levels.

• Having a relaxing salt bath with a few drops of lavender oil in the evening before bed time. Epsom salts help to produce serotonin levels which improves sleep function while lavender helps to induce sleep and relax the nervous system. The key is to not make your bath too hot, otherwise it becomes stimulating rather than relaxing.
• Give yourself a foot massage. I can attest to the benefits of this! By giving yourself a foot massage, you’re triggering reflex points that relate to the entire body. This can help you to have a much deeper sleep.
• Get plenty of exercise. Although exercise requires energy, it ultimately improves your energy levels and reduces stress and tension in the body.
• Infrared Sauna. A 25 minute session in the infrared sauna helps to deeply relax your muscles and tissues by dramatically increasing circulation and excretion of toxins. While you’ll initially feel quite relaxed post sauna session- you’ll get a burst of energy within a few hours. The infrared sauna has been shown to speed up metabolic rates within the session.
• Massage Therapy and Acupuncture. By releasing built up tension and pain in the muscles, massage therapy and acupuncture can relieve strains that can be draining you of your energy. We all know how much pain and discomfort can take the wind out of our sales. Regular treatments to maintain optimal health is a great way to restore energy or simply prevent burnout and fatigue.
• Thinking too much? Try journaling. If you’ve got a lot on your mind and you can’t stop the chatter in your head, get it out on paper. I think a good rule is to make yourself write three full pages of whatever is on your mind. If you commit to the full three pages, you may find yourself wanting for things to write about, but I find this commitment ensures that you get everything out, and often that last page can lead to some insight that was being suffocated by other thoughts that were simply repeating themselves in your head.
• Supplements. Are you getting your all the nutrients you need from your diet? Most likely, you aren’t. It can be extremely challenging to make sure that we’re getting optimal amounts of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids every day from our diet. These elements are key to feeling energized and boosting your bodies immunity and ability to heal from free-radical assaults. A favorite of mine is the GliSODin Advanced Daily Formula which contains superoxide dismutase. It’s a big word- for a very big and powerful anti-oxidant enzyme. This ingredient is like a terminator for free radicals in our system- it just keeps going and going!

Those are just some tidbits for things that I like to do to help with energy and sleep. Do you have any tips to share about improving your energy or quality of sleep?

It seems as though as the days get shorter, I have more that I need to fit into them! The winter months can spell added work and life stresses that compound to cause low energy levels, headaches and muscular tension, insomnia and a weakened immune system.   

Did you know that regular massage therapy has been shown to alleviate the aforementioned ailments? 

Massage therapy does not replace regular exercise and eating well, but there is nothing that can deliver the same level of relaxation that massage therapy can.  For instance, in a yoga class, you are undoubtedly doing something good for your body by stretching your muscles, gaining strength and bringing circulation and tension relief to the muscles and connective tissue of the body. That being said, you’re actively engaging in this process; massage therapy allows you to shut off both mentally and physically. Not only are you enjoying the physiological benefits to releasing muscles tension and correcting postural alignments- massage therapy maintains your optimal energy and health.

Regular massage treatments boost your immune system through increasing the activity level of natural killer cells- which fend off viruses and abnormal cells. When your immune system is working well, you’re not dragged down by fatigue and better able to cope with daily stresses.

Those natural killer cells- yes, that is an actual scientific term- can sure come in handy these days with all the colds and flus flying around.  And with the limited daylight- I still want to feel energized and ready to take on the day, even if the sun isn’t joining me at the usual hour. So with that said, if I MUST make the time for massage, I think that I could be persuaded…

How do you manage fatigue and stress? Post your comments here…

Related Links:

RMT Massage 

Geo Thermal Stone Therapy