Take A Breather
Deep breaths raise your body’s blood oxygen levels, which can help increase your energy and alertness by lowering blood pressure and slowing your heart rate. The idea is to breathe deeply into your belly, not your chest. While sitting upright, inhale slowly through your nose and feel your abdomen push out, then exhale slowly through your mouth. Alternatively, a method used for quick energy in yoga calls for quick inhaling and exhaling through your nose while your mouth is closed. It is recommended to take 3 of these rapid breaths within a second, and repeat up to 15 seconds.

Move Around
If you have an office job like so many Americans, try getting a little exercise either on your lunch hour or if you get a shorter break throughout the day. A study from California State University, Long Beach suggested that the participants had a longer time of increased energy after taking a 10 minute walk than they did if they ate a candy bar or other sugary quick fix. The reason that a little brisk exercise works better than a store bought solution is that walking pumps oxygen through your veins and muscles.

Drink More Water
Your brain is made of 83% water, so it just makes sense that if you’re dehydrated it’s not going to function as well as it could or should. Fatigue isn’t the only symptom of dehydration of course, it can also cause depression, confusion, aggravation, constipation, and headaches. Make sure you drink plenty of water, or eat foods that have high water content like fruits and vegetables. Excess caffeine can cause dehydration, so be sure to balance it carefully.

Between driving, watching TV, and working at desks, Americans spend half their waking hours sitting down. The problem with this is that our bodies are designed to move, and when we spend so much time sitting our health suffers in many ways.

Sitting causes the central nervous system to slow down, which can lead to fatigue. One study suggested that fatigue could be reduced by up to 65% within 6 weeks by adding low intensity exercise like walking three times a week. Sitting can also weaken the muscles that support posture and are used to walk. This can stiffen joints, and lead to hunched posture and increase the risk for back and joint pain. Sitting for a few hours can cause enzymes in your body that break down fats in your bloodstream to start switching off. Prolonged sitting can cut their activity by up to 50%.

It’s no secret that the biggest traps at home are the TV and computer, so a little careful planning can add some activity to those non-active pastimes. Try placing exercise equipment like a treadmill or stationary bike near your TV and use it for at least a half hour a day. Some people choose to put their computers on an elevated shelf or stand so that they can stand while using it. Video games are just as sedentary activity as watching TV in most cases, but there are options like some of the games on the Nintendo Wii that allow you to mimic motions in sports such as tennis or baseball.  While certainly not a replacement for a workout, but still much better than the alternative.

At the office, try standing up when you answer the phone, or scheduling “walking meetings” when there aren’t a lot of notes to be taken. Another good practice is the 10 minute rule, which is to get up and stretch or walk around for 10 minutes out of every hour. Try parking your car farther away from the office, and take the stairs instead of the elevator when/if you can.