The Vale Practice top 10 Tips to boost mental energy!
Suffering from post-Christmas slump? Can’t drag yourself out of bed in the morning? Or do you face each work assignment with a feeling of dread? Long, dark nights and cold, windy days can drain the joie de vivre from the most robust of souls. But work your way through the following remedies and those rays of inner sunshine will soon return.
1. Bach Flower Remedies are fantastic at boosting mental energy or gently helping our minds through the challenges we face. Hornbeam is great at helping that heavy head, Monday morning feeling, when you are disinclined to face another “grey” day. Hornbeam seems to reach the parts that a strong cup of coffee cannot reach. Olive is also a very good essence for great tiredness which develops after periods of prolonged mental strain. When the daily grind seems to require an overwhelming effort, Olive brings renewed cheerfulness and vitality.
2. Water. We all know we need to drink 1.5-2 litres of water a day to keep healthy but few of us do so. The brain needs water to function, so when you feel like you are heading for mental fatigue and can’t make it through the rest of the day drink a glass of water. Half the time that is all your body needs!
3. Avoid sugar swings by cutting out refined carbohydrates- even if it is just for a month or a couple of weeks. A diet that relies on refined (white bread, sugar) or processd foods lacks many necessary nutrients and without these your blood sugar levels become scrambled and leave you feeling tired and drained. Eat foods rich in vitamin B, C and E, iron and magnesium. Also foods rich in fibre (wholegrains, fresh fruit and green veg) help you to sustain blood sugar levels throughout the day.
4. Caffeine can give you a great mental boost at the first swig, but this is an illusion. It often brings your energy levels much further down than before you had the caffeine. Caffeine before you go to bed can lead to unrestful sleep – which is like a vicious circle as you then wake up more tired and need caffeine to keep you going. Cut out harsh caffeinated products such as redbull, tea and coffee and try to substitute elderflower or limeflower which act like energising tonics. Also if you leave the tea bag in chamomile tea until it is darker than usual this acts as a natural stimulant. If you really need a kick, other natural stimulants to keep you going are green tea, peppermint tea or any tea containing guarana.
5. Feed your brain with a good supply of essential fatty acids in whatever form you prefer. You can add lots of seeds and nuts to salads, grind them up and sprinkle them into pancake batter, or on porridge or cereals; try having a tablespoon of hemp or flax oil; and boost your intake of oily fish. Cod liver oil is ok too but with the shortage of cod in the sea using a hemp/flax oil instead is more environmentally friendly.
6. This is the best time of year to start a new exercise regime as exercise boosts your mood and your brain. Our bodies can become stagnant and toxic as we spend more time inside to escape the cold. We feel better in summer as we have sunlight and spend more time outside moving around. Once you’ve got your circulation going, oxygen will then start flowing to your brain and perking you up! If the weather’s too nasty, you don’t have to go out at all: ance around the house when no-one’s in! But it’s a great time of year to start some good habits: walk or cycle instead of jumping in the car. It isn’t always easy to get started, but take it slowly and build it up. Once you start to feel the benefits you won’t want to stop!
7. If your body feels sluggish your mind will often feel the same. Festive food, excessive alcohol, sugar and all those ‘treats’ we like at Christmas, can leave you feeling bloated and stressed. Bea Erler, Vale Practice Aromatherapist recommends Basil essential oil massaged (diluted in a carrier oil) on the stomach to ease digestion. However, Basil has lots of uplifting properties, and a couple of drops placed in a burner can clear and stimulate the mind, at home or in the workplace!
8. Rosemary oil is a natural brain stimulant with a historical reputation for improving memory as it stimulates the central nerve system. Bea tells her patients to inhale a few drops of this oil when they need a quick boost of mental clarity. On those days you feel tired when you wake up – sprinkle a few drops of rosemary in your wet hair to wake you up, or carry a few drops on a tissue, for the odd, mood-lifting sniff! Rosemary is also a tonic for the heart, liver and gallbladder and is said to help lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Just what we need after the rich Christmas dinners! Eucalyptus is also very stimulating: use an inhalant or in an oil burner.
9. In Chinese medicine our mental strength is very closely related to our digestion. The organs of the spleen/pancreas relate to our strength of mind, our ability to concentrate and to think - our intelligence. These organs belong to the concept of earth: the earth we walk on, the food we harvest from this earth and what we eat all sustain us. The part of our bodies resonating with earth is the middle, the stomach, the belly. Which is probably still stressed from the festive season! Acupuncture treatment improves the quality of the spleen/pancreas organs, rebalances the digestion and helps free up any congestion in the middle of our bodies to improve the working of our mind and brain.
10. Last and by no means least there is a miracle supplement which research has shown boosts brain power! Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) is a natural component of the brain and studies have shown that ALC slows or prevents age related decline in mental function. ALC helps synthesize acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for memory and learning and can even help patients with fatigue from cancer treatments. As a derivative of an amino acid ALC transports long fatty chain acids into the cellular mitochondria (energy producing structures found in our cells). For more specific supplementation visit your nutritionist or naturopath.
The Vale Practice has over 27 therapists to call on. Therapies include: Osteopathy, Remedial and Deep Tissue Massage, Reflexology, Reiki, Swedish Massage, Eco Beauty, Chinese Herbal medicine, Nutrition, Naturopathy, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy, Tui Na Massage, Shiatsu, Allergy Testing, Aromatherapy, Sports Injury Massage, Indian Head Massage, Counseling, Cranial Osteopathy, Group Therapy, Life and Work coaching, Chiropody, Medicinal Herbalism,Bio Energiser and Child Art and Psychotherapy
