Boost Your Energy Naturally: A Guide to Beating Exhaustion for Busy Professionals
Do you feel constantly exhausted, even after a full night’s sleep?
Many busy professionals feel this way, and while good sleep is crucial for a productive day, it’s not just about how much sleep they get. Stress is an energy-intense physiological process and has a major impact on energy levels. This is why what, how and when you eat can make all the difference between an exhausting or a successful day.
Stress Depletes Nutrients
Stress, a busy professional’s constant companion, depletes essential nutrients that keep our bodies and minds functioning well. This is because stress is a physiological response designed to keep us alive during acute danger. Therefore, our bodies scramble together all available resources to literally “keep us alive” when our managers demand another crazy deadline. When we’re always under the pump, our bodies use up key energy nutrients like magnesium, B vitamins, and vitamin C at a much faster rate.
Here’s how these nutrients support your energy and why a deficiency might be leaving you drained:
Magnesium supports your nervous system and can help you be more resilient, it relaxes muscles, and is essential for a good night’s sleep. Our adrenal glands need a lot of magnesium to function properly. So we essentially burn through magnesium faster, which can leave us feeling tense, irritable, exhausted, and unable to sleep.
B Vitamins are needed to convert carbs, fat and protein into energy. They support a healthy brain, and can assist with stabilising mood. For instance, we need vitamin B6 for serotonin production to keep us happy. Under stress, your metabolism ramps up which means that you need need more B vitamins than usual. This is especially true if if you’re relying on caffeine to keep going, which can further deplete B vitamins.
Vitamin C gets all the attention for it’s immune supporting properties. But it also helps our adrenal glands, to balance the right amount of stress hormones. High stress without enough vitamin C can keep your cortisol levels high, creating a constant feeling of wired, but tired.
An often overlooked fact is that stress can also cause digestive problems, which interferes with nutrient absorption. So, even if you’re eating a balanced diet, your body might struggle to absorb all the nutrients it needs when you’re suffering from a “stress belly”.
Meal Prep and Desk Drawer Essentials
Taking a little time to prep nutrient-rich meals and stock your workspace with healthy snacks can make all the difference in your energy levels. Here’s how you can stay fuelled during a busy workday without spending all of Sunday in the kitchen:
Meal Prep Tips
Batch-Cook the Basics: Prep grains like quinoa, buckwheat or brown rice, roast vegetables, and cook some lean proteins (chicken, tofu, or chickpeas) in bulk. This way, you have healthy options ready to assemble during the week.
Cook and Freeze: When you cook, double up on the ingredients and freeze leftovers. That way you have a quick and nutritious meal ready for those days where you get home too tired to cook (and won’t have to eat the same thing day after day).
Overnight Oats: Prep a few jars of overnight oats for breakfast. Oats are high in B vitamins and fibre, which support energy and digestion, while adding nuts or seeds boosts magnesium and a handful of berries adds a pop of colour and good dose of vitamin C.
Desk Drawer Essentials
Nuts and Seeds: Grab some raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, or walnuts and always keep some in your desk drawer. They are packed with magnesium, protein, and healthy fats to keep you feeling full and focused.
Fruit: Keep easy-to-eat fruit like apples, bananas, or berries on hand for a quick boost of vitamins and antioxidants.
Dark Chocolate: A small square of dark chocolate (70% cocoa or higher) can give you a gentle energy lift without the crash, and it’s high in magnesium and antioxidants.
Ready to Reclaim Your Energy?
If you’re ready to take control of your energy and feel less fatigued, consider working with Embrace Nutrition. As someone who has worked in the corporate grind for over a decade, I understand the demands of your professional life. Through my personalised nutrition coaching programs, we’ll create a realistic plan tailored to your needs—one that supports your energy, reduces stress, and helps you thrive while still being able to enjoy delicious food.
