Optimal energy for modern living

Modern living at times can feel exhausting! Ever found yourself feeling busy, stressed and wishing you had more hours in the day? This can leave you lacking energy and suffering from general fatigue. Continued fatigue and low energy levels can be a sign of an underlying health condition and if you have concerns you should visit your GP or doctor to have some routine tests.

For many of us though, our energy levels and fatigue can be clearly linked to modern living; working long hours, not getting enough sleep and operating with higher levels of stress. It can sometimes feel like even our ‘downtime’ activities add to the pressures of modern life.

So what is the solution for everyday fatigue and lack of energy? How do you boost your energy levels so you feel ready to face the day ahead?

A lot of us turn to stimulants for an instant hit when we lack energy. Whether that is the morning cup of coffee (or three), a mid afternoon energy drink or a sugar boost like a chocolate bar. There are two problems with this solution; firstly, stimulants are just a temporary solution and often leave you feeling worse after the effects have worn off and secondly, they purely mask the underlying causes of tiredness and fatigue, rather than dealing with them head on.

Arianna Huffington, in her bestselling book The Sleep Revolution, looks at how we are in the middle of a sleep deprivation crisis. She talks about how a lack of sleep can have an effect on not just your energy levels but everything from your performance at work to your mental well-being and physical health. Huffington offers a number of solutions, including preparing for sleep and ensuring you are getting the number of hours you need.

Sleep hygiene is a growing science - that is the idea that you can adopt habits and practices that can improve not just how long you sleep but also the quality of your sleep. The National Sleep Foundation https://www.sleepfoundation.or... offers a number of practical tips. These include:

• Establishing a regular routine - it can be easy when life is busy to burn the candle at both ends and lose out on sleep regularly. By committing to a routine with set times to go to bed and wake, this can help your body to get better quality sleep. There are lots of apps that help to monitor your sleep quality.

• Getting the environment right - everything from what you sleep on - your mattress and pillow - to the temperature of the room you sleep in, can affect your sleep. A cheap blackout blind or eye mask and even ear plugs can help you to sleep better.

• Getting ready for bed - this is more than just brushing your teeth and reaching for your PJs! What you eat and drink in the lead up to going to bed can have a big impact on how well you sleep. Avoiding caffeine and consuming a heavy meal before bedtime can also be helpful.

Many of us are on our phones, tablets or laptops right up to the moment we go to bed. For some of us, the first thing we check in the morning is our phones. Why is that a potential problem when it comes to tiredness and fatigue? There are a number of reasons:

• Devices can mess with your body clock - the artificial blue light that is emitted from devices like your phone or tablet can trick your brain into thinking it is seeing daylight. This can confuse your internal body clock, making it harder to sleep.

• Noises and lights in the night can disturb your sleep - if you sleep with your phone on the nightstand it’s likely that notifications buzzing, beeping or lighting up the room from your phone will have an impact on your sleep.

• Checking your phone first thing can be stressful - your body naturally wakes up slowly. By stimulating your brain with work emails or other important messages first thing you can disrupt your sleep pattern and start the day stressed. Take some time to wake up well.

Why not try a buffer zone of 30 minutes before bed and when you wake up before you reach for those electronic devices. See how it affects your sleep and stress levels in a positive way!

As we get our energy from the food we eat, it makes absolute sense that to improve our fatigue and tiredness we should focus on eating better. Following a plant-based diet can be tricky when it comes to eating healthy snacks and getting energy on the go, without reaching for vegan junk food. The key is to plan ahead - make sure you carry healthy snacks that are full of energy boosting goodness. The Vegan Society has many tips and ideas for getting the right balance of protein and carbohydrates to keep your body going through your busy day.

We have already looked at how stimulants like caffeine and sugar can give short energy boosts but aren’t a solution for dealing with fatigue and tiredness as they soon wear off and can leave you in a slump afterwards.

What’s the difference with energy supplements? Well, the answer is in what they contain. An energy supplement that is packed full of vitamins and minerals that have long lasting energy-giving properties can help to maintain and boost your energy levels. The most common vitamin for this is Vitamin B12. The problem is that this isn’t found in plants. That’s why energy supplements for vegans are a great way to get the boost you need.

Here at Vegetology we offer two energy boosting supplements.

The first is a combination of vitamins and minerals specifically designed to boost your energy levels. Active Energy combines vitamins and nutrients from Western chemistry, if you like, that are known for boosting energy and boosting performance in metabolism - Vitamin C, coenzyme Q10, the B Vitamins and Iron - with two herbs from traditional Chinese medicine - Rhodiola and Schizandra, which are also known as adaptogens. They are the things that actually make this supplement pretty special and unique. An adaptogen means that if you take the product in the morning, your body knows it needs to be awake and be aware, so they will work with your body to help fight fatigue. But if you take it in the evening, they will help your body to relax. So they are known as adaptogens because they adapt to the time of the day and the needs of your body. This energy supplement is a great choice not just for those following a plant-based diet but for anyone who wants to naturally boost their energy levels.

Vegetology's Active Energy

Vitamin B12 is essential to bodily processes - it is linked to your metabolism and speeds up reactions in the body. Most of us however, particularly vegans and vegetarians are deficient in B12. As well as being linked to some serious health issues, such as anaemia and problems with the immune system and the nervous system, a lack of B12 can also cause tiredness and fatigue. Our formulas are suitable for everybody but has been specifically designed with vegans and vegetarians in mind because you cannot get the Vitamin B12 you need from a plant-based diet as it’s not present in plants. We offer 2 different Vit B12 supplements, a sustained release formula and a sublingual formula.

Our Vit B12 supplements are also great news for fatigue and energy levels throughout the day. Vitamin B12 is a water based vitamin, which means that as you consume it, your body basically grabs what it needs and the rest passes straight through your system. So you can give the body one big hit of a really high dose of B12 but your body will just take a little bit and the rest will be wasted.

Our high strength sustained release Vit B12 means that the tablet will break down a little bit at a time throughout the day, and over a period of between six to eight hours, you will get a sustained release of B12. This gives your metabolism lots of little boosts which can help to combat fatigue and tiredness and is ideal for people with Vitamin B12 deficiency.

Our sublingual Vit B12 offers fast-acting performance and benefits by combining three different forms of water-soluble Vitamin B12, methylcobalamin, cyanocobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. It boosts energy for up to 8 hours and is produced without harming any animals. This sublingual tablet is a medium strength tablet that is designed to dissolve under the tongue and deliver B12 straight to the bloodstream, bypassing the stomach. It offers a good daily maintenance dose of Vitamin B12 for everyone.

Combining changes to your lifestyle and sleep pattern, with a change in diet and considering supplements can help to boost your energy levels without needing to resort to short term fixes like stimulants. It’s about finding out what works for you and sticking to the changes you make. In the long term this will be beneficial in your work and social life, and can have a positive impact on your overall health and wellbeing.

We are offering a brilliant value Veganuary Starter Bundle full of vitamins and minerals to support a vegan diet. You can find out more by clicking the button below.

Vegetology's Daily Essentials Bundle