by J Meredith Siebens

Created on: September 19, 2008

The best and safest natural energy boosters won't be found on a health food store shelf, or a truck stop checkout counter. Using them won't cause abnormal heart palpitations or insomnia, and they can often be had for pocket change, or better yet, free.

When late nights leave you dragging in the morning, or a slow moving meeting threatens to put you to sleep, grab a bottle of water and start drinking. Dehydration will make you feel sluggish and sleepy; Drinking water hydrates your cells and flushes toxins from the body. Water is a far better wakeup drink than your morning coffee. The caffeine in coffee is a diuretic, flushing valuable fluids from your body, creating a temporary buzz that can cause jitters and shakiness, with the inevitable crash afterwards. Water will cause you to feel alert, and energized, without the jitters or the crash.

Once you're hydrated, start moving! Even minimal exercise is a great natural energizer! Instead of flipping through magazines on your 15 minute break, take a lap around the block or up and down the stairs a few times. Just five minutes of brisk walking will get your heart pumping, and oxygen rich blood flowing to your brain. If you don't have five minutes, slip into a bathroom stall and wave your arms above your head for 60 seconds. Just that simple movement will raise your heart rate. Make sure you're breathing slowly and deeply when you're sitting at your desk: It will stretch the muscles around your ribs and help you feel more alert and rested.

The best natural energizer is laughter! Get a joke book and share the good ones with everyone you know! If you have a choice to laugh or cry over something, laugh! A wise man once said, "A merry heart maketh good medicine." Modern science has proved him right. Multiple studies have been done on the healing effects of laughter on the body. Laughter will exercise your abdominal muscles, fill your lungs with oxygen, and send mood stabilizing messages into your brain.

So, when you're feeling that afternoon slump sneaking up on you, skip the energy drink and the caffeine pills. Drink a glass of water, walk around the block, and find something funny in your day! Those three simple steps will boost your energy without draining your pocket book. Best of all, they are readily available to almost everyone. You have nothing to lose and nothing but healthy, natural, free energy to gain.

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