Short on time? Here are six quick and easy energy booster exercises.
What if you could wake up each morning energized and feeling ready to take on the day? How would your life be different if your default mood was calm and positive, instead of stressed and exhausted? What could you accomplish if you could count on feeling good – mentally and physically – each and every day?
If that sounds like a dream, we have good news. There’s a simple way to boost your energy and improve your mood naturally, without harmful stimulants or prescription medication: exercise!
Don’t worry – you don’t have to open an expensive gym membership or spend hours a day to reap these benefits of exercise. Improving your energy and mood levels with movement can be done by anyone, anywhere, in just a few minutes per day.
Read on to find out why exercise has such a positive impact on your mood and how you can incorporate simple practices into your daily life.
Exercise for Energy and Mood: What’s the Link?
As you know, exercise is an essential part of living a healthy life. Exercise helps you stay trim and avoid chronic health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. But exercise also has some serious benefits for your everyday life. Most notably, exercise helps you feel naturally energized while boosting your mood and helping your body manage stress in a healthy way. Here are just a few of the ways exercise has been proven to enhance your energy and mood balance naturally.
Exercise turns stored glucose into energy.
It might sound counterintuitive that spending energy through exercise can help you increase your energy. However, moderate exercise is a proven way to feel more energized throughout the day.
When you exercise, your heart rate pumps more blood and oxygen through your tissues. As this oxygen reaches your muscles, the muscles convert glucose (blood sugar) into ATP, or energy. It also stimulates your cells’ mitochondria to produce more energy. This energy surge fuels your workout and helps you power through the rest of your day.
Exercise helps your body save energy by working more efficiently.
When you are inactive, the body has to work harder to do basic tasks, like breathing and circulating blood. This is why you can feel tired even if you are sitting at your desk or couch all day.
The cardiovascular system is strengthened through exercise, just like your skeletal muscles. A stronger, more efficient cardiovascular system means you’ll have more energy to spare. This extra energy can be used to improve the function of your other systems (like your immunity or digestion). Or, it can give you the fuel you need to take on more tasks with ease.
Exercise improves your sleep.
Want more energy? Start at the root, with better sleep. Not only does exercise help you feel more energized throughout the day, but it also improves how your body recovers and creates more energy at night.
Moderate exercise has been shown to increase sleep quality, by making it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep during the night. This allows your brain to cycle through the various stages of sleep (including deep sleep) a few times each night, giving you the optimal conditions for rest, recovery, and regeneration.
Because exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight, it indirectly improves sleep conditions like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Sleep apnea robs your body of oxygen during the night and is one of the leading causes of daytime sleepiness and general fatigue. According to research, people with sleep apnea who start an exercise program show “reduced OSA severity, reduced daytime sleepiness, increased sleep efficiency, and increased VO2peak, independently of weight loss.” In simple terms, exercise helps you rest more productively, so you have more energy to spare during your waking hours.
Exercise reduces excessive weight gain.
Studies show that carrying excess weight is linked with higher energy expenditure levels. This means that it costs your body more energy to complete basic functions (like pumping blood, digesting food, and repairing tissues). When you spend more energy on basic functions, you have less energy to use throughout the day.
Weight gain also impacts thyroid function, which can reduce your energy and increase your risk of mood disorders like depression and anxiety.
If you want to shed the extra pounds and improve your energy, mood, and overall health, exercise is essential! Exercise significantly improves your metabolism and burns fat so you can reach a healthier weight and enjoy the benefits of more energy and better moods. Need a jumpstart on your weight loss journey? AlignLife Chiropractors can help with our signature weight management program.
Exercise acts as a natural antidepressant.
Whether you struggle with a diagnosed mood disorder or you simply want a better way to manage stress and improve your mood, exercise can help. Studies show that exercise works as well as pharmaceutical antidepressants, due to the fact that physical activity releases β-endorphins. These feel-good endorphins instantly reduce stress and lift your mood. Over time, regular exercise lessens the weight of daily stressors and helps you stay more calm, positive, and content.
6 Energy-Boosting Exercises You Can Do Anywhere (in 5-minutes or Less!)
You get it – exercise is great for your physical and mental wellbeing. But what do you do when there just isn’t enough time in the day to work in a full workout?
Thankfully, you don’t have to sweat for hours at the gym to get a mood and energy boost from exercise. In fact, you can feel the benefits instantly with just a few minutes of simple exercises that you can do from anywhere.
Need to refocus or refresh your energy? Downward-facing dog is a simple yoga pose that sends blood flow and oxygen to the brain. It also strengthens your shoulders, arms, core and legs. Hold this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then rest and repeat 5 times.
2) Dance Break
Feeling irritable? Can’t focus? Cranky kids? Take a dance break. Dancing improves your cardiovascular function while also stimulating your balance and flexibility. Put on an upbeat song (3-5 minutes in length) and dance it out! You’ll feel an instant mood lift and get a helpful dose of energy to continue on with your day.
5-Minute Energy Boosters for the Office
3) Hopping
When you’re at the office, you don’t always have the room (or the privacy) to strike your favorite yoga poses. Instead, try hopping – a simple exercise that can be done standing at your desk, the break room, outside, or even in a bathroom stall. Hopping is a quick way to get blood and oxygen coursing throughout your body. Try hopping in place. For a real mood boost, get a few coworkers to hop with you. You won’t be able to keep yourself from laughing!
4) Roof Raises
Sitting at a desk all day can drain your energy. Give yourself a break with 3-5 minutes of “roof raises” throughout the workday. To do a roof raise, stand up straight behind your desk, take a deep breath, and start marching in place. Then, raise your arms upwards from your shoulders towards the ceiling with your palms facing the roof. Marching stimulates blood flow throughout the body with the arm raises help to loosen and relax the muscles of your upper body. Want to get an even better workout break? Grasp onto two full water bottles for extra weight resilience.
5-Minute Energy Boosters When You’re On the Go
5) Calf Pumps
Time spent standing in line is never wasted if you use it as a quick energy-boosting exercise break! While waiting in line, slowly push up onto your tip-toes, maintaining your balance and flexing your calves. Hold the raised position for 5 seconds (or as long as you can) and then slowly drop back down to the floor. Repeat for 3-5 minutes or as long as you’re waiting in line. This exercise pumps blood through the lower body and improves your balance. It also helps reduce the stress of waiting by focusing your attention on your body.
6) Take the Road Less Traveled
You can make any errand an opportunity for extra exercise if you commit to taking the “road less traveled.” What does that mean? Park at the back of the parking lot. Walk or bike when possible. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. The benefits of these small actions add up over time and make daily life more active and enjoyable.
More Ways to Boost Your Energy & Mood with Exercise and Chiropractic Care
You can use exercise to boost your energy and mood from anywhere. If you still struggle with fatigue or mood imbalances despite incorporating exercise into your daily routine, however, you could need a more targeted approach.
At AlignLife, our team of chiropractors helps you get to the root of fatigue or pain that keeps you from living an active life. Through strategic spinal alignments, nutritional counseling, and other whole-body approaches to wellness, you can soon be on the path to a more energized, balanced lifestyle. Schedule a visit at an AlignLife chiropractor near you to start today!
All content provided on alignlife.com is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional medical advice or replace the advice given by your healthcare provider. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, lifestyle, or medical treatment plan.
