7 things I actually do for all-day energy ðŸ§
How to have more energy, every single day
Thank you for the warm response last week. I'd shared something that felt a little vulnerable - that in the past year I'd stripped myself out of my own newsletter, thinking it was the right thing to do. It wasn't, and it needed to change. If Second Brain feels a little different in tone lately, that's why. The survey results are already shaping what's coming - if there's something you've been wanting me to dig into, drop it in the comments, I’d love to hear it.
I’ve also recorded an audio walkthrough of this newsletter, in your inbox (just over 8 minutes).
With Fibre Power out three weeks ago, it’s been a bit of a chaotic whirlwind. Wonderful, and I’m so grateful, but also exhausting - less sleep, meals at odd times, three talks last week, and a book festival in Scotland this weekend.
So these are my tried and true go-tos, what I actually do to look after my energy on a day-to-day basis, and especially during the times when life gets a bit frantic.
What we’ll cover today:
Three things to fix for a great night’s sleep
Natural light and your body clock
Caffeine timing - and the midday cut-off
What to eat for sustained energy through the day
For paid subscribers: a surprising chewing trick for a mental boost, nutrient deficiency that shows up as fatigue more often than people realise, and the energy tip that has nothing to do with food, sleep, or exercise
If you can’t sleep more, sleep better
When energy is low, sleep is almost always where to start. But we tend to fixate on hours, when quality matters just as much.
Poor sleep leaves you sluggish and fatigued, but there's a secondary effect too - it changes how and what you eat. It disrupts your hunger and fullness hormones, raising ghrelin (hunger hormone) and lowering leptin (fullness hormone), making you genuinely feel hungrier.
It also dials down the rational decision-making part of your brain around food and, at the same time, amplifies the part that flags high-calorie foods as urgent and hard to resist.
This isn’t a willpower problem, it’s biology in action.
Wake up at a consistent time. Waking up at odd times through the week can disrupt your circadian rhythm, even when your total sleep hours are the same.
Limit alcohol close to bed. You might find you fall asleep fine after a drink, but it can impact the quality and depth of your sleep, and how rested you feel. This effect gets stronger with age.
Keep your bedroom cool. Your body needs to lose heat to help you drift off. This matters more as you get older, as the body becomes less able to regulate temperature during sleep. That could be opening a window at night, or swapping to a lighter duvet. Too cold also has its downsides. One study in older adults found the sweet spot to be around 20–25°C, but there seems to be genuine personal variation within this - so stick with the temperature that works best for you.
Can’t get more sleep? Try more light instead
If getting more or better sleep feels like a far-flung dream, then get outside into natural light, and specifically, let it reach your eyes.
Your master body clock receives light signals through photosensitive cells in your eyes, which send messages to the part of your brain that sets your internal body clock.
Getting enough natural light in the morning helps anchor your body clock to the right time of day, keeping you alert and focused - with a knock-on effect on sleep quality at night too.
If you hit an afternoon slump, getting outside can help, though morning is where light has the most powerful effect on your body clock.
Caffeine timing
Caffeine helps us feel more alert, but it can backfire if you drink it too late in the day.
Caffeine blocks adenosine, the neurotransmitter that builds up to make you feel sleepy. During the day that's great, keeping you alert and focused. But at night, you want that adenosine to accumulate so you drift off naturally, and caffeine can get in the way of that. Research shows caffeine taken even six hours before bed can reduce total sleep time by over an hour (but worth noting, the dose was equivalent to 3-5 cups of coffee!).
Caffeine has a long half-life, hanging around in your bloodstream for 3 to 5 hours, sometimes longer. It disrupts not just how long you sleep but how deeply - you might fall asleep fine, but wake up feeling groggy rather than rested.
A good cut-off time is midday. Enjoy your caffeinated coffee before lunch, then switch to decaf. Though how strict you need to be can depend on how sensitive you are to caffeine, everyone is different. I love my morning coffee, but I'm pretty strict about stopping at midday, because I really notice it in my sleep when I don't.
Kickstart the day with a high fibre and protein breakfast
Protein and fibre slow the release of sugar into your bloodstream, helping to steady your energy levels. It may also improve your memory in a small way - with any benefits likely to show up later in the morning, from 2 hours later. So if you’ve got a meeting or anything that needs your full attention mid-morning, what you eat first could matter more than you think.
Try these:
Greek yoghurt with berries, mixed nuts and seeds, and a handful of granola or oats
Parmesan scrambled eggs on rye bread with spinach and avocado
Overnight oats with grated carrot, apple, raisins and nut butter
