How to Feel Refreshed

Making Your Body Feel Refreshed

Start an exercise routine. If you’re looking to feel energized and refreshed on a regular basis, exercise is a big part of the equation. One way exercise works to make you feel refreshed is it reduces stress and helps you expend anxious energy. Try to work a 30-minute exercise session into your schedule 5 or 6 days out of each week. Start small by taking two 15-minute walking breaks at work every day. Regular physical activity also helps maintain good blood pressure and decreases cholesterol levels. Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which is a hormone in the body that promotes feelings of well-being, even relieving pain.

Do enjoyable physical activity. Not only can building consistent exercise into your routine help you stay refreshed, but choosing a physical activity that makes you feel happy—without necessarily any set schedule—can help you feel refreshed for an afternoon. Grab a pickup game of basketball or soccer with some buddies to reap this benefit from exercise. Fun outdoor activities can also include taking a weekend hike, going for a family bike ride, playing softball one Sunday after church, going swimming with the kids, and many more. Try to work this unstructured physical activity in once a week.

Go to the doctor. Do your part to keep from getting sick by keeping your yearly physical, dental, and eye exams. Sick people do not feel refreshed. Make appointments with your doctors now and keep them every year. The recommended frequency of doctor visits is different for each gender and age group, but most things are standard for everyone. For example, everyone ages 18-39 should get their blood pressure checked every two years and go to the dentist once or twice a year.

Get enough sleep. Sleep is a major part of feeling refreshed. Lack of sleep affects everything—your ability to focus, your energy level, your emotional well-being, even your productivity. Take measures to ensure that you get good sleep and for long enough. Adults 18 and older need 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Keep a sleep diary that records how you feel at the end of each day, as well as how much sleep you get each night. You should also record if it's hard for you to fall asleep, if you wake up during the night, and if you have trouble waking up in the morning. Looking back in this diary can show you where you need to make changes.

Practice good hygiene. Something as simple as taking a shower can help you feel refreshed for hours. Keep up with your physical hygiene even when you can’t get in the shower to help you feel refreshed. The feeling of oily skin before it has been washed, or teeth that have not been brushed, can weigh on you without you realizing it. Try changing into clean clothes after you get off work to create a feeling of being refreshed. Taking a relaxing warm bath with scented soap and bubble bath can both relax and refresh you. You could also add Epsom salts to help soothe your muscles.

Keeping Your Mind Refreshed

Think positively. Thinking positive thoughts is a direct way to restore your mind. To help yourself have the ability think positively, do things like accepting your own limitations, letting go of guilt, and telling yourself that you are doing a good job. If you find your thoughts constantly turning negative, start putting up sticky notes in your office or around your house as reminders. Put inspiring notes on them, such as this quote by Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women: “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” Remove negative influences from your surroundings, like bad news on TV or music that repeats offensive messages. If you have friends that are negative or pull you down, then you may want to step back from that relationship or set boundaries to protect yourself.

Perform activities that bring you joy. If you have a stressful job and feel weary after a long day, jumping into an activity you see as a pleasure can help you feel refreshed. Do something like read a book, go see a movie, or listen to music to change your mindset and have fun. You can also pick up a new hobby like sewing, drawing or painting, making something with your hands like jewelry—the possibilities are nearly limitless.

Make sure you laugh. Laughing is good for you, no matter how you look at it. It has a positive effect on your heart, activates muscles, ups your oxygen, and promotes relaxation. If you are feeling harried, find a good comedy video on your smartphone or make a date with a friend who makes you laugh. Laughing also takes away stress hormones and increases the release of endorphins (which make you feel good). If you know of a funny movie that is out on video, rent it to take home so you can laugh with your family.

Go somewhere fun. Get out of your routine now and then by going on an outing to a place you know is fun, or try a new place that sounds fun. Nothing makes you feel more refreshed than a new pleasure experience. Feeling refreshed means that your strength is restored, and the new perspective that comes from visiting a new place does just that. Try visiting a local eatery you’ve been wanting to test out, or go to the nearest amusement park. Other destination ideas include local events like the farmers’ market or local festivals, wandering around a local park, taking in a play, and many more.

Avoid isolating yourself. Staying in contact with the outside world is important for your mental health as well as a key to feeling refreshed. In fact, studies show that people in chronic isolation have higher blood pressure and a greater aptitude for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Talking to other people about their issues rather than your own is a good way to forget your worries and get strength. Friends can encourage you, which is part of the definition of refreshment—feeling your strength restored.

Perform an act of service. Getting outside of your comfort zone can remind you that others are not as fortunate as you, which changes your routine and breaths refreshment into your routine. You can offer to help a friend with a difficult task, or you can serve up food at the local soup kitchen.

Reduce stress. Treat yourself for stress or depression by eliminating the stressors you have control over. For example, you may not be able to quit a stressful job, but you can get that squeaky belt on your car fixed, or mow the grass so that your shoes don’t get wet on the way to your car in the morning. Reduce symptoms of depression by talking to someone about the way you feel.

Take care of your finances. Organize your money so that stacked up bills don’t weigh on your mind. If you are having a hard time making bill payments, ask friends and family to help you make a plan to positively impact your finances. You can also hire a financial advisor to give you advice. For example, make a budget and move to a cash system where you allocate a specified amount of each paycheck toward the different parts of your monthly obligations, and spend no more than that.

Eating to Feel Refreshed

Stay hydrated. No matter what you do to feel refreshed, nothing does as good a job of this as water. Every cell in your body needs water to function. When you give your body more fluids, you give it more energy. And if you withhold water from your body, it can’t work properly. Water is the key to feeling refreshed. Drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day, or half a gallon. To remind yourself to drink throughout the day, get a large reusable water bottle to carry around with you. A tall glass of ice cold water is one of the most refreshing things you do on when you’re outside on a hot day. Change up the flavor of your water to make it even more refreshing by adding lemon juice or letting fruit soak in the water to flavor it naturally.

Eat for your heart. In order to stay refreshed and energized in daily life, it is important for your heart to be functioning properly. Do things like control your portion size and choose foods carefully in order to boost your heart health. Eat fruits and vegetables, placing them into fun recipes if you don’t normally enjoy them. Choose whole grains whenever you have the opportunity. Limit saturated and trans fats whenever possible.

Consume foods that prevent diseases. Some foods prevent diseases, from heart disease to diabetes to obesity. You can eat these foods to help your body have more energy, which in turn helps you feel refreshed. A superfood like spinach is a good choice because superfoods are chock-full of nutrients with little carbs or fats. Consider working things like alfalfa sprouts, apples, avocado, and beets into your diet. Alfalfa sprouts are yummy on turkey sandwiches, apples are good all by themselves, avocados are delicious in a guacamole dip, and beets are tasty sliced into a salad or pickled.

Reduce processed sugar intake. Although sugar is fun to eat because it tastes good, it also causes blood sugar spikes that result in loss of energy. A better bet for feeling refreshed is to consume foods that provide sustained energy, like lean proteins and whole grains and fresh fruit. For example, when you make a choice between cake and melon at a party, go for the melon to truly feel refreshed.

Eat something fun now and then. Even though staying away from sugar is better for your health and will provided sustained energy (leading to longer periods of refreshing), it can also be refreshing to eat something that you enjoy, even if it isn’t necessarily healthy. Save treats for leisure times, when you don’t need to use a lot of energy.

Try new foods. Trying something new is always refreshing, even if it’s just a new dish. This is because new things fight boredom and force you to grow. The next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up an item you’ve never seen before, or sample something different off the menu the next time you’re out to eat. Trying new things also expands your capacity to enjoy more, as well as requiring you to be courageous. Realizing you have overcome a restriction in yourself can give you renewed strength, which is precisely what feeling refreshed means.