How to Boost Energy Naturally: The Ultimate Guide for Women

Healthy ways for women to boost energy levels without tons of caffeine or dangerous stimulants

As women, we all have thousands of tasks we need to get done in a day. We are the ultimate multi-taskers. All these responsibilities can drain on our energy reserves, especially as we get older. We find ourselves turning to our third cup of coffee to get by, or worse, energy drinks. We wonder how to boost energy naturally but fail to find the answers.

If you’re like me, being tired all day just isn’t an option. Since you’re here, I’ll share the best ways that you can start feeling more energetic naturally without putting dangerous amounts of stimulants in your body. Doing that puts your heart at risk. Don’t believe me? This article shows exactly what kind of danger these drinks pose to your health.

Now that we know what not to do let’s get to the helpful part…what you should be doing to start feeling your energy reserves fill back up.

When a woman lacks energy, there is usually not just one culprit but a handful of things that are causing this problem. As we like to do here at HNF, it’s important to take a holistic approach to battle this.

When implementing women’s holistic health, you have to look at the entire person. This list of energy boosters will cover every aspect of a woman’s life that could potentially zap her energy.

How to Boost Energy Levels Without Caffeine

First, I must say that there is nothing wrong with having a cup of coffee. I love coffee. And one energy drink isn’t going to kill you, but you’ll soon find that one just doesn’t cut it.

Instead, follow these top tips to boost your energy naturally:

1. Track Your Water Intake

Water is a pure source of energy for your body. Considering that your body is over 50% water, it makes sense that we need to keep replenishing this source. Water reserves in our bodies are used throughout the day to keep our bodies healthy, and when that reserve starts to get low, our body naturally begins to slow down.

Then the dreaded dehydration begins to creep in, and we start feeling sluggish.

To combat this, it’s smart to start tracking how much water you drink daily. It is recommended that adult females get about 2.5 quarts of water per day. Some of this can come from the foods we eat, so let’s round this number down to an even 2 quarts. That’s about four water bottles per day.

But plastic water bottles are icky for our environment. Do the earth some good and invest in your own personal water bottle.

I know what you are thinking, “water tastes so bland.” There are so many ways to spruce up your water.

Try some of these water bottle add-in ideas:

• Add a couple of slices of apple and a cinnamon stick
• Add some cucumber slices and mint sprigs
• The tried and true lemon wedge
• Let a cold brew green tea bag steep for a few minutes
• Muddle some berries into your water

You can use any of these tips, just don’t add sugar or sugar substitutes, as these can wreak havoc on your energy levels.

Some of us can struggle with remembering to drink enough water, not because we don’t like the taste, but because we just get distracted and busy. Do you relate? In this instance, the best thing to do is to create accountability.

You can use apps like Hydro Coach to help you reach your daily water intake goals. If apps aren’t your thing, what I do is buy a water bottle that holds 64 ounces and make sure that I drink it all before the day is over.

I’m loving this water bottle that glows to remind you to drink up!

Do whatever works for you, but don’t underestimate the importance of hydration for natural energy.

2. Eat for Energy

How you eat can be a very big factor in how much energy you have throughout the day. I’m sure this is no revelation here, ladies. We all know that fatty, sugary foods can sap us of energy and healthy foods provide energy, but it is never that simple, right?

Eating a healthy diet is one of the biggest challenges that women face.  To keep this as simple as possible, I’m going to focus on two categories that foods should meet to help boost your energy levels.

The first is that they come from as natural of a source as possible. Foods that grow in the ground and foods that eat what grow in the ground are the best foods for you. Then, think about how these foods are cared for.

So many processes in the farming industry rob us of the nutrition our foods should possess. Look for organic produce, grass-fed and pasture-raised livestock, and wild-caught seafood.

Secondly, focus on filling your body with foods with a low-glycemic index. Because these foods are digested slowly, they provide your body with a steady stream of energy. Unlike foods with a high-glycemic index, which spike your blood sugars super fast, resulting in a crash soon thereafter.

A few foods that meet these criteria include:

• green veggies
• kidney beans
• avocado
• lentils
• blueberries
• wild rice
• almonds

There is a long list of low-glycemic index foods that you can include in your diet. Don’t expect to eat ONLY low-glycemic foods, but make them the bulk of your diet. Follow this link to find a free printable list of foods grouped by their glycemic index.

3. Objects in Motion…

This one is a toughy, I agree, but it is vital nonetheless. We need to be active if we expect to have any energy. But the obvious question is how to have energy for the gym when you don’t have the energy to get your daily to-do list done.

You won’t like the answer, but…you just gotta push. Not too hard! Just enough to see progress.

Every day, find ways to fit in more physical activity in your life. Just starting out, there’s no need for a full-scale fitness program, but that’s the end goal.

If you are struggling to find the energy to work out, don’t give up. Start small and build your way up.

Do you have stairs in your house? Why not make this week’s goal to go up and down those stairs five times a day? Next week you can add in a morning walk three times a week. Then, because muscles give us the strength we need for energy, add in some quick 5-minute strength workouts.

Whatever you do, whether it be following along with a video or dancing with your kids, make it a priority to fit fitness into your life. Above all else, to see results from your fitness program, consistency beats intensity any day of the week. Just…keep…going.

4. Practice Self-Care

Stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, especially as women. Our lives can get hectic and then some. Pressures can come at us from all sides and make us feel like we’re under attack. As unsexy as it is, stress is inevitable…and it can rob us of our energy.

How we deal with stress can help us to take some of it back. We need to prioritize self-care for our physical and mental health. Unmanaged stress is dangerous. It can manifest itself in so many different ways, from headaches to overeating to muscle pain to full-on depression.

You’d be surprised at how many people don’t really know what self-care looks like. Mostly because self-care is as unique as the people who practice it, and some practice multiple forms of self-care. 

Basically, do whatever you feel like doing that will release the pressure of everyday life, safely, of course. There are some not-so-great ways that people try to practice self-care, but they are actually self-harm. We’ll discuss those further under heading #7.

Self-care can look like a bubble bath with aromatherapy candles and soft music…or it can be screaming to your favorite rock song and head banging.

Have you seen this new eye massager? You’ve gotta try it. Our eyes get tired and stressed, and this massager makes your eyes feel so relaxed.

For some women, they need to have some alone time, for others, they need to spend more time with their friends and family.

IT IS NOT SELFISH to take some time to care for yourself, even when you have many others that you care for. If you want to continue to have the energy to care for others, you must take care of yourself.

Learn how to practice self-care from a holistic approach by reading my article here.

5. Supplement Wisely

If you have any kind of deficiency in your body, you’ll definitely be feeling the effects, usually through fatigue. Getting all your body needs through diet is hard. That’s where supplements can really help.

I’m no doctor, so I can’t tell you which supplements you should take and which you should stay away from. I encourage you to do your research, and I’ll do my best to share as much information as I can on NHF. My goal is to arm women with as much knowledge about available supplements and how they can use them to their benefit.

I can tell you that I personally take Ashwagandha, Vitamin B12, and Rhodiola to help keep my energy levels up. I also take Citrulline before a workout to help me give it the ole college effort.

Different supplements work for different people, but finding one that benefits you is like finding a hidden treasure.

6. Learn to Say “No”

This may be a touchy subject, but I’ll just come right out and admit it. I have a hard time saying no. I’m a people pleaser. But I also need to know when I’ve taken on too much and just say no, even if it’s to myself.

Sometimes we have low energy because we expect too much of ourselves. This isn’t a lack of energy, this is just an overload to your system.

We have to be realistic as to what we can handle. We can still be superwomen without handling everything for everyone. Period.

7. Nip Bad Habits in the Bud

Ok, I said we were going to talk about this and here goes…do you have some bad habits that need to be worked on? If you’re sitting there complaining about having low energy levels while you suck on a cigarette or vape, I don’t know what to tell you.

In order to boost your energy levels, you need to prioritize your health. You can’t prioritize your health while you are engaging in unhealthy habits.

I’m just going to list some habits here that can rob you of your energy. If you relate to one or some of these habits, you know what you need to do:

1. Smoking
2. Recreation drugs
3. Drinking too much
4. Relying on caffeine to get through the day
5. Binge watching tv instead of sleeping 8 hours a night
6. Putting other people’s expectations on yourself
7. Self-criticizing
8. Emotional eating
9. Spending hours on social media
10. Constantly worrying
11. Toxic relationships

8. Sleep Like a Baby

Lack of sleep, or the inability to relax and fall asleep, is an epidemic in this country, one that doctors are trying to fix with prescription sleep meds.

You know how I feel about slapping a band-aid on it. Let’s look at sleep holistically, which is getting to the root cause.

If you have trouble sleeping, chances are that something in your lifestyle or habits has caused this. Remember when you were a child and woke up with energy every day? You had this energy because you slept so well. You can pick up a baby when it is sleeping, and it probably won’t wake up.

If someone tries to pick me up when I’m sleeping, you best be knowin’ I’ll probably start swinging. I’m definitely not going to sleep through it.

As adults, our sleeping habits change, and that’s to be expected, but we should still be able to get a solid 6-8 hours of sleep each night.

There are two natural ways to get better sleep; one is through sleep hygiene, and the other is through CBT-I. One Medical has a great two-part series on these methods. Read part one and part two for a full explanation.

Some people find that white noise helps them to fall asleep. This speaker delivers great sound quality to help relax your mind.

Others would benefit from a weighted blanket, like the Hug Sleep blanket.

9. Get Checked

Some women suffer from an illness or disease that will make everyday life seem like an impossible battle. Our hearts go out to these women, and we would never want to diminish the reason they lack energy.

If you have tried everything and you still suffer from chronic fatigue, it may be something bigger. There are many diseases that can cause this. It’s time to get checked.