January 9, 2023, 10:06 am | Read time: 12 minutes

Do we really have no time in a 24-hour day to do something good for our bodies? Everyone knows that healthy and balanced nutrition is important, and that exercise promotes our mental and physical health and well-being. Yet many find it difficult to implement. Why is that? And what role does our brain play in this? Neurocentric training expert Luise Walther explains how our own energy affects whether it’s harder or easier to exercise–and spoiler alert: Time is almost never the limiting factor.

What Does Time Management Mean?

Time management involves estimating the time required for different tasks and prioritizing and organizing them accordingly. Dividing time is the crucial factor. It can be helpful to break down large tasks and projects into smaller tasks that can be completed sequentially. When many tasks arise, they should be sorted by importance and urgency to gain an overview and then proceed with the work steps accordingly. It’s about directly assigning to-dos to specific times and time slots.

Since time is defined and measurable, it can be easily structured and decided upon. It’s different with energy management.

Also interesting: 8 Tips to Outsmart Your Inner Sloth

What Does Energy Management Mean?

Energy management cannot be clearly defined or measured. Energy is individual and, above all, variable. Depending on external and internal influences, energy levels can fluctuate significantly. Therefore, the challenge in energy management is to use one’s energy as efficiently as possible. The best schedule won’t help if you don’t have enough energy at the planned time to tackle the task. If you repeatedly plan to go to the gym after work but are already very exhausted from the workday, you won’t be able to stick to the schedule because you simply lack the necessary energy.

Managing your own energy means generating energy, renewing it when needed, and distributing it accordingly. Energy is not a fixed constant like time but is available in varying amounts depending on different factors. While we cannot influence time (a day has 24 hours and a week has 7 days), we can influence our own energy. Depending on one’s own chronology, some people have more energy in the morning (larks) and others in the evening (owls). According to this factor, it makes sense to consider whether to tackle challenging tasks in the morning or evening. For larks, challenges should be addressed in the morning when they are full of energy. Owls can focus on challenges in the afternoon and evening and handle routines in the morning.

Why the Body Sometimes Operates on Energy-Saving Mode

Everything you do, think, and feel is controlled by the nervous system. For the nervous system to function properly, it needs two things. These two things are essential for survival: fuel and activation.

Fuel in the form of food and breathing to obtain energy for all vital processes. Activation keeps the nervous system going through movement. Movement not only involves body parts, such as moving arms or legs, but also engages the three movement-controlling systems: eyes, balance, and body awareness. That’s why versatile movement is so important. It automatically involves and engages all areas. For example, those who only focus on machine training may only cover a fraction of possible movement patterns.

Only when the body is supplied with enough fuel and activation can you reach your full potential. It’s not about self-optimization but about providing the body with the right amount of energy and movement. If there isn’t enough energy, you literally run in energy-saving mode. Then no successes can be achieved–and you can’t concentrate. While time is a limiting factor, in the end, it’s about the necessary provision of energy and regeneration.

Also interesting: Breathe Right to Boost Sports Performance

Basics of Energy Management

Energy Production

To achieve a goal, we need endurance, and for that, we need energy. For example, to enable the energy supply of muscles at the cellular level, a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is needed. Through a chemical reaction, it is broken down into two smaller molecules, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and phosphate (P). This breakdown releases energy that can be used by the cells. However, our muscles store only a small amount of ATP, so we must be able to produce more ATP to sustain muscle activity for more than a few seconds. On a very basic level, the food we eat is directly broken down into ATP or into sugars, fats, and proteins that are stored to be converted into ATP later. This recycling and creation of ATP is the first part of a two-part equation for our total energy production:

Energy Production + Energy Utilization = Total Energy Capacity

Energy Utilization

In the human body, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the currency of energy. It is the molecule that is spent or used to provide energy, for example, for movement. Energy utilization indicates how efficiently ATP produced in the body can be used. Energy production and energy utilization are closely linked. A change in one will cause a corresponding adjustment in the other.

In energy production, we focus on how quickly energy can be produced and how long energy production can last. Depending on the requirements, it may be important to produce energy quickly or to produce energy over a longer period.
When we turn to energy utilization, there are numerous recognized concepts that show how energy is used in the body. These range from enzyme quantity and quality to glycogen storage capacity to motor control and coordination and many others.

Also interesting: Exhausted Men Have Higher Heart Attack Risk, Study Says

The Three Systems of Energy Production

There are three systems of energy production:

Alactic Energy Production

The alactic system for producing ATP is the fastest of the three systems but also burns out the quickest. The chemical reaction does not use oxygen, fats, or carbohydrates.

Glycolytic Energy Production

The second system we’ll discuss is the glycolytic system, also known as the lactic system for producing lactate. This system is based on the breakdown of glucose (blood sugar) or glycogen (stored sugar) to produce ATP. There are two parts to this system: fast glycolysis (also called anaerobic lactic) and slow glycolysis (also called aerobic lactic).

Aerobic Energy Production

The aerobic system is generally the most well-known energy system. It uses fats and oxygen to produce most of the ATP our body uses daily.

The aerobic system is also the most efficient system because fats can produce much more energy per unit than sugars (in the glycolytic system). However, the rate and performance of the aerobic system cannot even come close to those of the alactic or glycolytic systems. This is because it relies on breathing to drive oxygen exchange in the cells and involves many more steps in the chemical conversions that produce ATP in this system. You must ingest the food, distribute the fat into the body’s muscle systems, and then pass it through the Krebs cycle (at the cellular level) to produce your ATP molecules.

The Role of Breathing in Energy Management

Based on the energy systems, it becomes clear that breathing activity is an important component of all systems. Shortness of breath is recognized by the brain as a primary stress signal. You know typical situations like climbing stairs quickly or running after a bus. As soon as you can’t get enough air, you can’t climb stairs anymore or have to stop a few meters before the bus because nothing works anymore.

And this happens on a lower level when you need energy to start exercising. If the body doesn’t have enough energy at that moment, ambition, diligence, and discipline won’t be enough. Because with intense physical exertion, the brain switches to energy-saving mode in time, and you can’t do another repetition. If you want to start with physical exertion, you also need energy to plan and implement it.

What You Can Implement Directly

To use your energy well, it helps to first consider the health-relevant basics. There is no one rule that applies to everyone, as every body is individual. Nevertheless, there are general factors that can positively influence well-being and even pain. Here are my personal top 5 tips that I always share with my clients:

1. Move Versatilely and Often

Movement and variety are important. It doesn’t matter whether you like to run, work out on machines at the gym, exhaust yourself in a team at a club, walk the dog, challenge the neighbors at table tennis, or play with the kids on the playground. The sport–whether martial arts, ball sports, dancing, or strength training–doesn’t matter. The main thing is that it’s fun and allows you to mentally unwind. And yes, climbing stairs is part of it too. These daily little things are often underestimated, but they add up to something big.

Also interesting: How to Navigate the Gym Class Schedule

2. Get Enough Sleep

An aspect I used to laugh at for years: how important sufficient sleep is. My previous opinion was that four to six hours of sleep were enough for me. But: Even if this is the subjective feeling, we need enough sleep to regenerate. Typically, that’s seven to nine hours per night. Anything else is self-destructive, especially for the brain. Studies increasingly point to the direct connection between sleep deprivation and degenerative processes in the brain.¹

Also interesting: Doctor Explains What to Do If You Can’t Fall Asleep

3. Eat Balanced and Regularly

Healthy nutrition is the foundation of health. Our body builds every cell from what we consume. Simplified, every thought, decision, hair, skin, gut, eye, or muscle cell is composed of the energy we take in. Since I have anchored this visually for myself, many decisions have become easier. Also, the nice old farmer’s wisdom: Eat only what your grandparents would have recognized as food. This automatically excludes highly processed ready meals and the like. Choosing seasonal and regional foods certainly can’t hurt.

4. Find Your Dynamic Balance

The body, and especially the nervous system, is designed for the dynamic balance of tension and relaxation. Your “tension system,” also called the sympathetic nervous system, is balanced by the “relaxation system,” the parasympathetic nervous system. They behave like a scale–when one goes up, the other regulates down. The exciting part: We can only actively influence the sympathetic nervous system. If we are under constant stress, our rest and regeneration mode cannot work properly. Targeted and conscious breaks and regeneration times are important for this. It doesn’t have to be lazy couch time. I prefer active breaks, ideally in the fresh air, in nature. Sometimes, just a conscious deep breath at an open window is enough. Find the balance that you and your body need.

5. Maintain Social Contacts

Humans are social beings and need social interaction to be in harmony with themselves and the environment. This doesn’t mean you have to drag yourself from one event to the next constantly. It’s important to maintain targeted and selected contacts that are good for you rather than draining your energy. You might know this: After a meeting or phone call with someone, you feel drained. I call them energy vampires. It’s better to cut them out of your life and invest in people who encourage, offer new perspectives, challenge, and support you. If you have a grin on your face after a conversation, it’s a good sign to integrate that person more into your daily life.

More on the topic

Box Breathing Reduce Stress Instantly With Box Breathing: Here’s How the Technique Works

With Video Exercises for Relaxation and Unwinding

Benefits of Breathing Training

• Reduced Metabolic Reflex
• Increased Comfort with Postural Difficulties
• Reduced Perception of Effort
• Reduced Risk of Rib Fractures
• Improved Core and Spinal Stability
• Improved Isometric Strength Development
• Optimized Posture and Balance
• Improved Breathing Patterns
• Lower Risk of Side Stitches
• Increased Power Generation through Core Stability
• Increased Breathing/Movement Synchronization

Breathing Exercises (in Video)

Conscious Breathing

• Sit, stand, or lie down upright.
• Breathe in and out through your nose and pay attention to how the breathing feels.
• Do you notice the breathing more in the abdomen, rib cage, or chest? Do you notice a difference between the right and left sides of the body? How deeply can you inhale and exhale?

Become aware of your body and try to let the breathing flow relaxed. The exercise improves body awareness and optimizes breathing capacity.

Extended Exhalation

• Sit, stand, or lie down upright.
• Breathe in and out through your nose and pay attention to how the breathing feels.
• Now focus on making the exhalation longer than the inhalation. Count how long you inhale and then try to make the exhalation at least one to two seconds longer than the inhalation with each breath.

The long-term goal should be to exhale twice as long as you inhale. This improves the body’s oxygen supply and optimizes energy supply.

Box Breathing

• Sit, stand, or lie down upright.
• Breathe in and out through your nose and pay attention to how the breathing feels.
• Imagine a box with four equal sides. Each breath consists of inhalation, holding the breath, exhalation, and holding the breath.
• Breathe as follows:
  
  • Inhale for two to four seconds
  • Hold your breath for two to four seconds
  • Exhale for two to four seconds
  • Hold your breath for two to four seconds

Then start over. You can increase the seconds and adjust them to your individual level. Imagining a box and tracing the sides of the box calms and focuses perception.

Source

• 1. Brooks, S.J., Katz, E.S., Stamoulis, C. (2021). Shorter Duration and Lower Quality Sleep Have Widespread Detrimental Effects on Developing Functional Brain Networks in Early Adolescence. Cerebral Cortex Communications.