How to boost your cognitive energy Dr Jenny Brockis
Fuel Up Take regular pit stops during the day. Skipping any meal has been shown to diminish energy over the course of the day. Breaking our night fast with a great breakfast fuels up the brain to perform well first up. Adding some protein at breakfast time helps to power us through the morning - so have eggs and add some milk to your coffee or tea.
Drink enough water. Thirst can fool us into thinking we’re hungry or tired. Even a minimal level of dehydration causes energy to sag. Having a glass of water with and between meals and especially after exercise helps to keep water and energy levels in balance.
Cut down on the alcohol. Alcohol helps us to relax but consumed before bedtime interferes with sleep quality especially the amount of REM and deep sleep we get - which is essential for memory consolidation and brain maintenance. Waking tired from insufficient quality sleep is a bad way to start the day.
Minimise added sugar. Glucose is the brain’s primary energy source and comes from the breakdown of carbohydrates. Refined sugar provides empty calories which if not burnt off can transformed into fat! While sugar will provide a quick energy spike, it triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas gland to restore blood sugar levels back to normal. This can lead to an overcorrection leading to the ‘crash and burn’ we experience after eating a sugary snack, so we feel even more tired than before.
Stay complex. Eating foods that take the body longer to break down such as whole grains and complex carbohydrates helps maintain a steady blood sugar. This provides a slow and steady release of energy, great for maintaining energy across the day. Plus whole grains increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Lo-carb diets are still around and are very unbrain friendly - they make us cranky and tired and less able to think well.
Chocolate. A ‘leetle’ bit of chocolate is great for cognition. The flavonoids in top quality dark chocolate have been shown to boost cognition and mood. If we feel good, energy levels naturally perk up. How much is a ‘leetle’? Yes, you guessed, not very much, just a couple of small squares.
Power snack. These include a handful of nuts, a tub of yogurt with berries, cheese or peanut butter with a couple of crackers. Nuts satisfy hunger and the fats and protein are very brain healthy. Keeping a supply of power snacks at work or in a your bag for easy access means that running out of mental fuel won’t be a problem.
Magnesium. If you are always tired despite a healthy balanced diet, it could be a low magnesium level. Magnesium is required for a remarkable 300 plus biochemical processes in the body including the breakdown of glucose (the brain’s primary energy source) The daily recommended intake is 300 milligrams for women, 350 milligrams for men. It’s really easy to add additional magnesium to your diet in the form of a small handful of nuts almonds, cashew or hazelnuts, add some extra whole grain cereals and eat more fish. There are magnesium supplements as well. Talk to you health store provider to determine which product provides a good source.
Al desko is verboten. So is mixing three languages in one sentence. Eating at our desks to save time is not only a health hazard (the bacterial count on those keyboards is akin to eating in the toilet) it denies us the time to get out and stretch, interact with our colleagues and have time away from the computer screen. We get more energy by eating out of the office.
Move it
Exercise primes the brain for better performance and increases energy. You’ve probably noticed how the more inactive you are the less energy you have. A brisk 10-minute walk boosts energy levels for around two hours. Making this a daily habit helps to maintain energy (and mood) If you are feeling sluggish during the day, get out for a quick walk or hit the gym. That boost in productivity will more than pay off the time spent away from your desk. Can’t get out? A few yoga poses, (try the downward dog or sun salute) and other stretches are a great way to stretch and reinvigorate out mental muscle. Or take some slow deep breaths to get your heart pumping and flush the brain with extra oxygen and nutrients.
Take a stand. Sitting disease is the consequence of our sedentary lifestyle. Moving more by standing to take a phone call, when called to a meeting or walking to an appointment keeps cognitive energy levels up by pumping more blood and oxygen to the brain. Sitting too long has also been shown to increase anxiety levels and reduce self- confidence. Think of it as sitting being an energy slumper.
Include cognitive refreshment
Getting enough shuteye 7-8 hours every night of good quality uninterrupted sleep helps to maintain energy. As does a power nap - just 10 - 20 minutes will revive cognitive energy for 2-3 hours. Long enough to power you through that boring mid-afternoon meeting...
Stress less
Worry or anxiety is mentally exhausting. Including some regular relaxing activities during the day can help - try listening to music, chatting to a colleague or working out. Go green. Hug a tree if you feel so inclined, but just being outside for 20 minutes is a great natural energy boost. As with getting out into the great outdoors, bringing green inside helps alleviates stress too. Why not hang a picture of a natural (green) landscape or have a pot plant on your desk. Working in natural light or close to a window has been shown to impact mood and productivity - it boosts our level of alertness. So claim your workspace with light.
Have a laugh. It’s not about being the office clown, rather about staying positive using a smile, sharing a joke and a laugh to help lift spirits and energy. The boss may not approve of time wasting on You Tube watching cat videos, but research has shown that, that activity is actually good for morale and productivity!
Check out regularly. Brains aren’t designed for long term focus so taking time out for a brief brain break every 60 -90 minutes, helps restore and reinvigorate cognitive energy. It means we end up working with our brain’s natural rhythm.
Be human. This is about connection. We are hard wired to be social. Engaging in face-to-face interaction stimulates our thinking and energy (the caveat here being about interactions with energy sucking office vampires that need to be avoided at all cost). When we have human interaction we feel happy and our levels of energy and productivity rise.