I find many people today complain of feeling tired and low on energy. People then reach for a stimulant to boost their energy like caffeine or they find themselves with sugar cravings and reach for something sweet. In Traditional Chinese Medicine identifying whether a patients’ health condition is one of excess or deficiency is key to providing treatment. Many people who often feel tired are not deficient but are actually overwhelmed and are more correctly diagnosed in an excess state.

Instead of looking for an excessive therapy to artificially stimulate and energize the body, the better choice would be to optimize and promote balance in health. Learning practices in prevention to optimize health is a great place to start. Sleep, digestive health, managing stress and proper forms of activity or exercise is the foundation. If you’re not sleeping well your body’s ability to healing and function will be diminished. If you’re diet is not based on real whole foods (natural/rich in nutrients) and instead more on processed foods (unnatural / lacking in nutrients) your body won’t have the raw material to build blood, energy, hormones and more to function optimally. If you’re stressed out more often then you are relaxed this generally means your body is in a state of breaking down more than a state of repairing and rejuvenating. If you don’t use your body with appropriate amounts of activity or through exercise you could lose strengthen and mobility and also feel tired and low on energy.

Some of my patients with complaints of feeling tired ask for a tonic to increase their energy. Some may ask for the commonly known tonic ginseng but often after a proper diagnosis I find they need to detox. Clearing out the pathways optimizes body function with less obstruction. This detoxing can come in the form of whole food supplements or a detox program like the 21 purification program I offer or even through acupuncture sessions which can help stimulate natural body function. If you never changed the oil filter on your car the function and efficiency of the engine would increasingly worsen over time. So quite often many people are experiencing an excess condition that is blocking or inhibiting the flow of their natural energy production. The energy produced through such natural means provides a higher quality with a deeper sense of vitality verses the jittery, empty, nervous type of energy a stimulant like coffee provides.

So next time you find yourself feeling tired consider more natural methods of optimizing your energy.