Jonny Bowden - The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy

Refuel your body

Energize your mind

Make you sleep better

And give you vitality from dawn to bedtime

The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About Using Nutrition,
Exercise, Supplements, Stress Relief, and Personal
Empowerment to Stay Energized All Day

Jonny Bowden Ph.D., C.N.S.

Text 2009 Jonny Bowden

First published in the USA in 2009 by Fair Winds Press, a member of Quayside Publishing Group

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5

ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-341-7

ISBN-10: 1-59233-341-9

Digital edition: 9-781-61673-439-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

Cover design: Dutton and Sherman

Book design: Rachel Fitzgibbon

Printed and bound in Singapore

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health-care provider before beginning any new health program.

To Anja

who makes me see whats possible

and then helps make it happen

Im tired all the time.

I cant seem to get going.

Do these refrains sound familiar? They sure do to me. It seems hardly a day goes by when I dont hear from people asking about the best food they can eat for energy, the best supplements they can take for energy, and the best exercise they can do for energy. People all over are genuinely searching for anything to improve their rapidly diminishing stores of energy.

We all want that get-up-and-go we remember havingor seem to remember havingat one time in our lives. That motivation. That drive. That mental alertness and aliveness. That sense of excitement and power and optimism.

Where did it go? How did we lose it? And more important, how do we get it back?

In more ways than one were in an energy crisis in this country. Were burned out, fatigued, overstressed, not sleeping, overstimulated, and just plain tired. And Im talking about otherwise healthy people, or at least people who dont have any real pressing medical conditions. Im talking soccer moms, NASCAR dads, executives of both sexes. Im talking teenagers falling asleep at their desks. Im talking average folks nodding off in front of the 6:00 p.m. news because they dont have the energy to stay awake. Not only are we tired, but were also tired of being tired!

If energy is a concern to youand I suspect you wouldnt have picked up this book if you didnt want more of ityouve come to the right place. This book is about energy. About that feeling of being alive, being awake, ready to take on the world.

Throughout these pages, youll find strategies to promote optimal energy and particulars on how to fuel your body, nourish your mind, and power your spirit. Ill help you recognize the situations, relationships, thoughts, and habits that deplete your energy. Ill also help you incorporate the energizing power of the sun, and discover how to use simple organizational tips to free up energy that gets wasted and depleted when youre multitasking. And Ill help you remove (or at least reduce) one of the biggest energy depleters on the planet: stress.

Once you let go of the negative blocks, youll be open to accept positive energy.

Im known as a high-energy kind of person. Im sixty-two years old as of this writing (2008), I wake up every morning without an alarm clock at around 6:00 a.m., and I cant wait to get started with my day. I take no medications or drugs, am in virtually perfect health, and approach the vast majority of my days with optimism and spirit and enthusiasm. Not all the time, of course, but most of the time, and Ive been that way for quite a while.

But it wasnt always that way for me. I know what its like to have energy, to lose energy, and to get it back. And I understand this both as a health professional and as a person struggling with the same issues that everyone else struggles with, issues that sap energy for everyone. And the first thing I know is this: We all want to find a quick fix to the problem of energy.

Lets face it. Its deep within our national character to want solutions, and to want them fastdoubly so if we happen to be male. We look at a problem, figure it out quickly, find a fast and easy solution, and move on. Late night infomercials make a fortune selling programs that promise a quick fix to your financial problems. (Make a fortune in real estateheres how!) They dont do so badly in the diet industry, either. All across the country, garages are packed with rusting gym equipment that promised instant abs in just minutes a week.

So is there an easy and quick solution to our energy crisis?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, in that there are absolutely certain strategies that you can put into effect right now that are relatively easy and that will make a huge difference to your well-being and overall sense of energy and vitality. Youll find many of them in the course of this book. The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy offers powerful approaches that you can start using today. But it also offers some long-term strategies that can really add to the quality of your life and ultimately add up to a huge difference in your well-being and overall sense of energy. Youll find those in every chapter.

But there is a but. Energy is not something you get from a pill or a food alone. Sure, the right foods can helpand they do!and so can the right supplements and the right exercise. (Well talk about all of these in great detail in the coming chapters.) Remember, though, the causes of energy loss can be a lot more complicated than just the absence of a single nutrient or the presence of a single bad habit.

Im hoping youll be so excited about the changes that can be produced in your life with some of the easy, right now strategies were going to talk about that youll want to continue on the journey that will ultimately result in your removing all the barriers to the fabulous energy and glowing good health that can be yours on a daily basis for the rest of your (hopefully long) life.

So, to start, lets talk about removing those energy-blocking barriers!

Conducting Your Own Energy

Years ago, the world-famous conductor Herbert von Karajan allowed himself to be studied by the neurologist Antonio Damasio. In an ingenious demonstration that he later discussed in his book, Descartes Error, Damasio hooked von Karajan up to all sorts of fancy instruments and measured what was going on in his body at different times of the day and during different activities (such as conducting or studying a score).

Damasio found that von Karajans heart beat just as wildly and quickly when he was listening to music as when he was conducting it! Just hearing a piece of musicimagining himself conducting it, feeling the emotions and passions that stirred in himchanged von Karajans heart rate, his blood pressure, and his entire physiology.