Keeping Your Energy During the Day

With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, senioritis starts to set it. Even if you aren't a senior in high school, minutes seem to drag on for hours. Sometimes, you can't help but doze off in class, only to have an embarrassing situation with your teacher waking you up. Not cool.
It gets more and more difficult to get up early in the morning for school, and to keep your energy up for the whole day. Believe it or not, there are a lot of things that you can do to keep your energy up - and I don't mean drinking coffee all day long.

Take mental breaks every 15-30 minutes.
Taking breaks is important for storing information into the memory system in the brain. If you do not give yourself a break every 15 to 30 minutes, studying is not as productive.

Organize yourself.
Create a plan organizing what exams and projects are coming due. Keeping a system to prepare yourself for up and coming projects and exams is vital for survival. Trying to cram all the information into the 3 days before the exam is not effective for storing information into long term memory. If you take a little time each night, you can absorb the information and make it easier to retrieve for the exam. Trust me, it never fails that exams end up being either on the same day or rather close together into one week.

Get some sun.
Sunlight increases the production of serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone that comes from the brain that helps with our mood. It makes us feel better and helps lessen anxiety, bad moods, and improves sleep. Make sure you are not burning, and UV solar tanning beds are totally out. 10-15 minutes of natural sunlight should perk you right up and give you a generalized feeling of well-being to give you the energy you need to get through school.

Exercise.
Exercise has been proven to enhance over all well being. It also increases metabolic rate, which basically is the way your body burns energy and improves the body's efficiency. It also is known to improves mental processing to get important information in, creates good moods, and is a great way to manage stress. Exercise such as fast walking continuously, jogging or other aerobic activities should be performed for 30 minutes, five times a day. You want to be working so your target heart rate is (220 - your age) x 65%. Monitor your pulse on the outside of your wrist, beneath your hand on the thumb side. Count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply by 4. This is your radial pulse.

Meditate.
Meditating and using relaxation strategies helps reduce stress. Deep breathing exercises coming mostly from yoga tradition focus the mind to relax and in turn relax the body. These exercises are based on breathing in prana, which is the yoga name for Chi (or life energy) in Chinese. Breathing exercises are good and can have a profound effect on the ability to cope with stress. Closing your eyes and focusing on one word with deep controlled breathing is a great way to relax your muscles and get mentally prepared for an exam or relaxed enough for a restful night's sleep.

Drink more water.
Not staying properly hydrated can make you feel sluggish, tired, give you a headache and make you want to just sleep. A few glasses of water can perk you up just like a flower.

Eat healthy snacks.
Make sure you eat healthy snacks and many times throughout the day. It will keep the energy level high and eliminate the crash created from large meals. Six meals a day keeps the energy consistent whereas 3 big meals causes peaks in energy and big drops in blood sugar. Stay away from fatty, greasy foods that just sit in your stomach. They don't digest well into quick energy.

Use natural, energy-boosting supplements.
Vitamin B and C are antioxidants that help your body fight against free radicals caused by stress, which can lower your immune system. To stay healthy and energized there are some water soluble vitamins found in orange juice, other citrus fruits, bananas, and some nuts. Ginseng is an herbal supplement that can improve physical and mental resistance to environmental stress, while increasing endurance. Ginseng is found in some types of iced tea.

Don't stay up all night.
If you don't get enough sleep, you won't make it through the day and not fall asleep. Don't wait to the last minute for assignments, it will create more stress and cause physical and mental fatigue.

Don't eat a lot of sugary snacks.
Sure, sugar can boost your energy temporarily. But, it will create a backlash of fatigue with crazy highs and lows of energy.

Don't drink caffeine.
Stay away from heavily caffeinated beverages such as energy drinks and coffee beverages. You get an instant rush that leads to a crash in an hour.