How to Boost Energy Naturally Without Drowning Yourself in Caffeine

Getting through your days feels like trudging through mud.

You’re exhausted by mid-day, and when that daily wrap-up meeting finally rolls around, you’re fighting tooth and nail just to stay awake as your colleagues drone on in the background.

Caffeine? Well, it’s a trusty, time-tested stimulant. But as things are, there’s already too much coursing through your veins; you’re toeing the fine line between alertness and … snapping at the next Starbucks barista who gets your name wrong.

So, if you don’t want your caffeine-supercharged self captured in a viral video, you’ll have to find ways to boost energy naturally. Here are 5.

#1: Prioritize complex carbohydrates

Your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, the primary energy source for your cells, tissues, and organs.

Different carbohydrates “release” their glucose content at different speeds:

Simple carbohydrates: Because of their short sugar molecule chains, mono- and disaccharides (FYI, “mono” means 1, and “di” means 2) are readily broken down into simple sugars and converted into glucose. This means they cause your blood sugar levels to resemble that of a seismogram during an earthquake, full of dramatic ups and downs.
Complex carbohydrates: These comprise 3 or more sugar molecules bonded together. As your body takes longer to break them down, complex carbs cause a gentler increase (and resulting decrease) in your blood sugar levels than simple carbs.

In general, your energy levels tend to mirror your blood glucose levels — the more unstable the latter, the more listless you’ll feel. In other words, an easy way to boost energy naturally would be to have most of your carb intake consist of complex carbs.

To make it super easy to add more to your plate, here are some examples of nutritious complex carbs to refer to the next time you’re in the grocery store:

Whole grains (e.g., quinoa, oats, and brown rice)
Pulses (e.g., lentils, chickpeas, and pinto beans)
Starchy vegetables (e.g., sweet potatoes, beets, and parsnips)
Fruits (e.g., apples, oranges, and mangoes)

In the same vein, you’ll ideally want to limit your intake of ultra-processed foods, such as mass-produced bread, sweetened breakfast cereals, and store-bought cookies, which are often laden with simple carbohydrates and “empty” calories.

#2: Get enough good-quality sleep nightly

How’s your sleep?

If you answered with anything less than “excellent”, there’s your key to how you can boost energy naturally. Sleep more. Or, if you’re already hitting the recommended hours of sleep nightly for your age, then sleep better.

But before we discuss how you can improve your nightly ZZZs, let’s first understand the role sleep plays in your energy levels.

Very briefly, there are 2 chemicals you need to know:

Brain glycogen: Just like the rest of your body, your brain relies on glucose for its energy needs and stores it in the form of glycogen.
Adenosine: A neurotransmitter that promotes your sleep drive.

For the uninitiated, the brain is one of the most energy-consuming organs in the body.

The longer you stay awake, the more your body taps on brain glycogen (its energy reserve) to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the “energy currency” for your cells. Your body must “break apart” ATP to “free” its energy, releasing adenosine as a byproduct.

Meaning? The more waking hours you rake up, the lower your brain glycogen levels and the higher your adenosine levels — giving you low energy levels and massive sleepy vibes.

OK, so how does your body re-establish the optimal brain glycogen and adenosine levels?

You must have seen the answer coming from a mile away, but, yes: sleep. During sleep, your body replenishes energy-giving brain glycogen levels and clears away all the excess sleep-inducing adenosine molecules.

Here are a few tips that’ll help you sleep better and, in turn, boost energy naturally:

Stick to a consistent sleep-wake schedule (go to bed and wake up at about the same time daily)
Limit screen use before bed; the blue light has the same effect on your brain as sunlight, which means it wakes you up when you want to be drifting off
Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and comfortable
Don’t eat meals close to bedtime; if your body’s busy digesting a big meal, it won’t be well-rested in the morning

#3: Keep an eye on your magnesium intake levels

Magnesium is a necessary nutrient involved in over 300 essential metabolic reactions, including energy production. And yet, nearly half of Americans get less than the recommended magnesium levels from their diets.

So, take a hard, honest look at your diet. Does it include enough magnesium-rich foods?

For reference, the table below provides a list of magnesium-rich foods, along with their magnesium content.

	Serving size	Magnesium content per serving size/mg
Nuts and seeds
Almonds	1 oz	80
Cashews		72
Peanuts		49
Legumes
Black beans	½ cup	60
Edamame		50
Lima beans		40
Greens
Spinach	½ cup	78
Swiss chard		75
Collard greens		25

Diet aside, your magnesium levels may also be depleted by alcohol, smoking, stress, tea and coffee, certain medications, exercise (specifically endurance sports, where you sweat loads), and blood loss (e.g., during menstruation).

Suspect your magnesium levels may not be where they should be?

A food-first approach is best to address that and reap a natural boost in energy levels.

The key is to focus on a well-balanced, nutritious diet with a variety of nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, and leafy vegetables. Also, limit stress, caffeine, and alcohol consumption. As mentioned earlier, these will “drain” your magnesium stores.

“Food-first” — what’s second, then? Well, in certain cases, you may also wish to consider magnesium supplements.

But as with all supplements, it’s best to check in with your doctor before starting a new magnesium supplement.

#4: Stay well-hydrated

Water is essential for carrying nutrients to your body’s cells (e.g., oxygen and glucose, crucial “ingredients” for ATP production) and taking away waste products.

So, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that your hydration status and energy levels are closely intertwined; the more well-hydrated you are, the peppier you can expect to be. Alright, so, to boost your energy naturally, all you need is 8 glasses of water?

Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t an exact number of glasses you need to drink.

Every person has different water needs, depending on factors like size, health status, and physical activity levels. To make things even more complicated, your water needs may also vary from day to day, depending on your diet and environment.

Good news? There are some simple steps you can take to stay hydrated and support optimal energy levels by:

Checking your urine color: Take a peek the next time you go to the toilet. You're likely drinking enough water if your urine is colorless or pale yellow. But if it is darker than pale yellow, you need to drink more.
Drinking before you’re thirsty: By the time you feel parched, you’re already slightly dehydrated. If you always forget to drink water, try setting a reminder on your phone every hour or so. PSA: it’s possible to drink too much water, so don’t get overenthusiastic during your hydration quest.

#5: Molecular hydrogen

Now, what if you wanted to support your hydration further? Well … there’s hydrogen water.

Hydrogen water delivers molecular hydrogen — that’s hydrogen gas — to your bloodstream. And why would you want that?

Because hydrogen is the smallest molecule to exist; in fact, it’s so small that it’s able to diffuse into subcellular organelles, including your mitochondria, which are responsible for generating most of the energy your body needs to keep going.

Translation: by supporting optimal mitochondrial function, molecular hydrogen could boost your energy levels naturally.

How can you get hydrogen water? That’s easy: with Nutrionic™ H₂Energizer tablets, one of the best hydrogen tablets for water available on the market.

We’re not just proclaiming “best” to toot our own horns, either. Our hydrogen tablets are truly a cut above the rest based on the following quantifiable characteristics:

Concentration: Up to 10 ppm of molecular hydrogen per cup, so you get just the right amount needed to realize hydrogen water’s benefits.
Up to 80 mg of unbound, bioavailable magnesium ions: Dropping our hydrogen tablets in water kickstarts an elegant series of chemical reactions that’ll ultimately yield molecular H2 (of course) and magnesium malate. In your stomach, your digestive juices free the precious Mg2+ ions, helping you meet the magnesium intake needed for optimal energy levels.