Shifting States Of Mind and Energy with Exercise
What if the secret to mental clarity and sustained energy isn't found in a cup of coffee or a sugary snack, but in the simple act of moving your body? Exercise is more than just a tool for physical fitness - it’s a powerful way to shift your mental state and recharge your energy levels.
Whether you work from home or an office, have a flexible, or more structured schedule, or manage multiple roles like entrepreneurship, academia, or parenthood, exercise can help.
For people who don’t have a typical 9 to 5 structure imposed on them, exercise can offer the type of structure that human beings react well to. It can break up your day in a way that allows you to be more effective during the time you are sitting at a desk or trying to focus on anything else that you choose. Exercise can also help navigate a 9 to 5, or even times of transition without a job, or life upheaval.
The key is knowing how to use and structure exercise effectively for the purpose of improving mental focus and energy.
While taking a walk, doing yoga, or lifting weights at home can help, there are more effective ways to use exercise to navigate the fluctuating energy and focus levels we experience daily.
What’s more, even the way we work a 9 to 5 job could be optimized if companies had a better understanding of how human metabolism works, and knew how to implement the use of exercise in the middle of the day.
Energy
In one episode of the science fiction show Star Trek, the Starship Enterprise encounters a being that First Officer Mr. Spock defines as “pure energy.”
Low Energy
And when you stop to think about it, energy is a currency that often has great impact on our lives and yet we fail to think about it all that much until something goes wrong.
If you've ever been sick and found that just getting out of bed or taking a shower is a momentous task, you know what it's like to be without energy.
And if you pay attention, you'll notice that day-to-day, your levels of energy shift and change
Other cultures have many different ways of describing different states of consciousness and mind, for example the times we feel dull or lethargic. And of course all of us are familiar with different mind and energy states, such as: excitement, frazzled, serene, peaceful, hungry, and in pain.
Feeling states
Often there's a relationship between the amount and quality of energy we have and our state of mind.
One of the most interesting things about exercise is its ability to rapidly shift states of energy. I used to take a yoga class where the teacher would sometimes say that one of the properties of yoga was it would help you to empty your cup and then fill it back up again with fresh, clean energy.
And while it was a metaphor, it described a distinct experience that is not uncommon when exercising in certain ways. Even very brief bouts of exercise, used correctly, can shift human physiology in powerful ways.
I've had many experiences of doing heavy weightlifting or high intensity interval training
where the spike of my heart rate has instantly and immediately shifted both my state of mind and my level and quality of energy.
And when you stop and think about it, many spiritual and religious practices are aimed at shifting human beings state of mind and state of energy, often by using movement, breathing, sound, connection with others and other techniques to energize a person.
Everything from fervent gospel prayer, to indigenous practices of putting the body through extreme temperature or pain, including the practices of yoga, asceticism, and other similar practices work this way.
As do many of the rhythmic movements, fasting, and deep contemplation and prayer of many different styles and types of religious and spiritual practice.
In scientific terms, energy is thought to be produced in your mitochondria, the organelle inside the cells which have a key role in metabolic function and the conversion of various macronutrients into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).
The health of your body, the quality of your food, and the function of your cells is thought to determine your level and type of energy.
Although this begs the question of what is going on in someone who has good physical health, quality nutrient intake and a healthy metabolism but still feels low on energy.
Another interesting property of energy. Is that human beings have the peculiar ability to, for lack of a better word, feel each other's energy, to sense the mood and emotions in other people. Even animals, like dogs, can do this to some degree.
More importantly and more practically, energy is what lets us get things done.
It's what allows us. to focus our minds and attention on things that are important to us, whether they're day to day errands and tasks, big projects at work, significant physical achievements or sports, or even taking care of children or pets.
Fun fact: In modern times chess masters often train like athletes, running on treadmills and doing exercise to improve their physical strength and endurance, in order to be able to sit for long periods of time and focus.
One of the reasons they do this is because of the metabolic demands of their profession. Believe it or not, sitting in a chair and looking at a chess board during a competition can cause them to lose tremendous amount of weight.
Say what?
This is because the largest use of your metabolic fuel comes not from exercise, but from the processes that are going on all the time that keep you alive. That is to say, you are drawing on your energy reserves heavily, from a biological perspective, even if you aren’t exerting yourself all that much.
One of the biggest consumers of glucose (the sugar that drives your body) is your brain (although if you ever dive more deeply into the topic you’ll find that, in general, your body prefers to use fat as fuel in some instances, and carbohydrate in others).
We all recognize, our energy is limited. Most of us (who don’t have insomnia) realize at the end of the day, we feel tired, or at least not as fresh as when the day started - sometimes not even at the end of the day.
And when robbed of energy by illness, or other circumstances, it can be extremely challenging to get anything done.
It’s important to also note that there are some limited situations and medical conditions that may make exercise unhelfpful. For example, some people with chronic fatigue struggle with exercise and may need to consult their health practitioners about its use. And of course people with serious illness that impacts their heart or breathing may also need medical input before engaging in exercise.
But even for those of us who are relatively healthy, there's probably little doubt that the demands of our physical body do limit what we can do, the amount, quantity and duration of our energy.
We could speculate that a being like the one encountered by Spock and the Star Trek crew might not have these limitations.
The downside of having a human body is your charge only goes so long.
Often, in fitness and wellness, we think about and investigate the deeper physiological mechanisms of the body in order to understand physical outcomes and results. However, we focus on the impact of exercise on states and levels of energy and mental focus far less.
In healing practices, such as yoga, breathwork, meditation, and others it’s more common for states of consciousness and subtle qualities of mind to be investigated. As one gains experience in these modalities, it's interesting to speculate if perhaps some of the more dull depressed and low energy states might, at times, be connected to being cut off from a connection to a more alive feeling.
Certainly when one's heart is pumping endorphins are flowing, it's easier to feel a sense of excitement and feeling fully alive.
Similarly in ecstatic or altered states of consciousness.
But there's also something more subtle, which is that in certain types of practices, it's easier to come back to, for lack of a better word, one's sense of authentic humanity, perhaps even love and wisdom. And from that place life sometimes feels more settled and better. Exercise can produce this effect as well.
Many of our modern approaches take an intellectual and mechanical approach, which while very helpful for certain kinds of problem solving is limited. Not every type of problem can be solved with a hammer.
Perhaps the ubiquitous nature of practices that impact states and levels of energy suggests that human beings have known for thousands of years that an important facet of navigating a human life is to be able to surf the many changes of energy that occur in human beings as they go about the stuff of life.
Exercise remains a free, cheap and easily available means for both giving structure to life as well as being a readily available tool to shift out of low states of energy.
And while we may not be beings of pure energy, we're certainly beings that are able to navigate and steer our energy as we live our lives.
While the best way to learn to use exercise effectively is to take a time limited period of training on the topic, below are three ways you can experiment with exercise, assuming that there is not a reason you shouldn’t exercise.
Please keep in mind that if you have not exercised in a long time (over 6 months) that you must gradually build up the intensity of what you’re doing. Start slow. If you aren’t sure where to begin you can also consult a personal trainer.
Tips from the Trainer
Practical Tips for Using Exercise to Boost Energy
Desk Exercises: Keep a set of dumbbells near your desk. When your focus starts to wane, take a break to do a few bicep curls or shoulder presses until your heart rate increases and you feel more focused.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): If you have no serious health risks, try incorporating some HIIT into your routine. It’s quick, effective, and doesn’t require much time.
Energy Slump Solution: When you notice your energy dropping, consider going for a quick run. The change of pace and movement can help reset your energy levels and improve your focus