Energy is at the heart of everything we do; every activity we undertake and everything our body’s cells are doing for us in the background. It’s a complex process that works at different levels and can easily misfire with our modern diet and lifestyle. When it does, not only do we feel tired and unable to work or play, but it can also affect our emotional wellbeing and wider health, for example causing hormone imbalances or low immunity.
Energy Challenges
So, we really need our energy ‘system’ to work well. We get energy from the food we eat, yet so often that doesn’t mean we feel energetic. In fact, we may eat too much, especially high carbohydrate and sugar diets, and still feel tired, and may use the excess energy to make us overweight. The stress of modern life can interrupt our sleep and periods of rest, even causing insomnia, meaning we don’t recover our energy naturally. We can rely on stimulants like caffeine to boost energy, or alcohol to help us relax. How can we optimise our energy levels so we can be naturally healthy and productive, yet rested and recuperated? How can vitamins, plant extracts and other nutrients in supplements help?
Creating energy is a complex process too. It has to be because it’s so important and must adapt to different situations.
Firstly, we have to balance the levels of glucose in our blood, often the main ‘fuel’ for cells. Excess blood glucose is a huge problem as it damages the body, while not enough ‘fuel’ may make you feel tired. Next, the mitochondria in our cells, the energy production ‘engines’, have to create energy from the fuel provided. All of this is regulated by the thyroid gland which makes thyroid hormone or thyroxine to increase or decrease how fast we make energy. And we need our built-in stress response, governed by the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland (the HPA axis), to give us an energy boost when we need it, although if it becomes too much, we may feel unnecessarily wired and overstressed.
Energy Solutions
We might have issues at one or many of these levels that are contributing to how energetic we feel. It’s really all a case of balance and supporting our body in the best way possible. So, we’ve created a range of different supplements, and identified some key lifestyle tips, to support all these areas and help you optimise your energy.