How I keep my energy up while super busy

For the first time in eight years, I’m treading the boards doing a play. Not only that, but I’m on the road with it, touring around the entire British Kingdom as well as Ireland.

Touring is gruelling, and this tour will be the longest I’ve ever done

In my youth, I just got on with it and didn’t worry about my energy levels, which were boundless. These days, it’s a different story. It’s not just the fact of performing on stage eight times a week, it’s travelling the length and breadth of the country on a weekly basis. The aim is always to get home on a Sunday and sleep in my own bed for a night or two, reconnect with family, and cuddle the dog. Then set off for the next venue. You can be in Scotland one week and Cornwall the next. Why have I done this to myself? The truth is, I love my work, and I like a challenge. But still… it meant I needed to prepare myself properly.

How I maintain my energy

1. Eating well

From the beginning of rehearsal, I went on a healthy eating regimen. Prior to kicking off rehearsals, I’d gained a few pounds, which I wanted to shift anyway, but I also wanted to maximise my energy levels. A few months earlier, my energy levels had been low after some stressful events, and I felt quite burnt out, but the tour motivated me to change this.

When you’re tired and burnt out you want to eat more sugar

Which is exactly what I’d been doing, hence the weight gain. In my quest for health, I began by cutting out grains, dairy, and sugar. For six weeks, I ate good-quality protein (eggs, chicken and fish), healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, avocados), and lots of vegetables. I cut out the starchier vegetables, such as potatoes. Even though I consider dairy to be healthful, cutting it out was key for me – and it worked. The weight shifted and my energy levels went back to normal.
Some of you who have been following Ageless for awhile, will recognise this as The In-Sync Diet that I wrote with nutritionist Fleur Borrelli. It turned out to be way ahead of it’s time.

Thank goodness, my energy was restored because the five weeks of rehearsals were intense. When we moved up to Manchester in preparation for our opening, we worked day and night every day for nearly two weeks. Like every other cast member, I did get tired, but I wasn’t burnt out like before and could handle it. Now my regime is less restrictive, but I’ll continue to eat as healthily as possible to ensure I keep my energy levels up. Now that I’ve started the tour, I use Sundays and Mondays at home to do food prep and take as much with me as I can carry. This saves time during the week, saves money, and ensures I eat healthy food.

2. Supplement regime

I’ve always used supplements to support my health. It’s hard to get all of our nutrients from our food these days, as the soil has become depleted and there are so many highly processed foods. Added to which, our bodies are dealing with more toxins than ever before. In preparation for the tour, I consulted a professional to help me with my supplement regimen. The idea was to ease some gut issues, give my mitochondria some help and boost energy. The combination of this plus the diet gave me great results.
Omega-3 fish oil capsules and a glass bottle on a beige background.© Getty Images
Supplements keep Glynis feeling well

I will also be taking a supply of supplements to keep me healthy during the winter while I tour. Some of the cast have already gone through one round of colds, and winter has barely begun. Being in a play is like being at school; if one person gets ill, we all fall like a deck of cards. I will therefore be adding quercetin to my regimen through the winter as it is both anti-viral and a powerful antioxidant. And at the first sign of a sniffle or sore throat, I’ll immediately start taking oregano oil, also a powerful anti-viral. I will also have vitamin C as well as D3 in my kit.
Three cut-outs of midlife women smiling at the camera against a dark pink background

3. Stress and sleep

Doing a play is stressful and somewhat terrifying. Standing on stage in front of a thousand people or more and being judged for it is not easy. I get very nervous, especially on the first night and for the first few weeks. This gives me butterflies, disrupts my sleep, and puts me in fight or flight mode most of the time. Sadly, these nerves seem to get worse with age.

I use the many techniques I’ve learned over the years to help calm down my system. First up are my breathing exercises for anxiety. I’ve used these daily for about eight years now. I’ve done a video on my YouTube channel and taught them to Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard on live TV when I appeared on This Morning. They work.

I always do a few rounds before I go to sleep, and I can feel my nervous system calm down. If I’m about to go on stage and am beside myself with nerves, a few rounds in my dressing room calms me right down.

I’ve also invested in a wonderful little device by Pulsetto that stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is responsible for signalling your brain to release calming neurotransmitters (such as serotonin). It activates your relaxation response so you can rest and digest. This device, which you wear around your neck for 10 minutes, has really improved my sleep and kept me feeling less stressed. It’s now a firm favourite in my ‘stress less” kit because sleep is the other crucial component in stress management.

4. Home comforts

I try to keep myself as comfortable as possible when travelling. At this stage of my life, I’m not into roughing it in any way at all. I travel with my own pillow, complete with a silk pillowcase. If you haven’t done the switch to silk yet, you seriously don’t know what you’re missing. No more waking up with crinkled wrinkles on your face. Silk keeps your face smooth and your hair shiny.

I have warm pyjamas, cosy sock slippers and a hot water bottle. I always get a place that comes with a kitchen and take as much food as I can carry, as mentioned above. This way I can eat as I would at home and avoid unhealthy takeaways. It’s also a place where I can chill all day and relax when I need to. I can also settle down to a day of writing or work as needed. I have my iPad downloaded with all my favourite shows, my computer, and my Kindle. I’m ready for anything.

5. Time off

This is an important one for me as I often tend to over-extend myself. I have other work to do as well as my play, including my Ageless website and YouTube channel, so it’s important for me to acknowledge when it’s just too much.

It’s good to have a little time off. I try and give myself at least one day a week where I don’t open my computer and just relax or have fun. This is just as crucial as everything else for well-being and stress levels. Let’s see if I can manage to actually do this!

In the meantime, I feel so privileged to be working in a job that I love and being invited by the press and onto TV to be interviewed about it. At the start of this year, I had no idea that this was how my year would end. My motto in recent years is to be open to all opportunities. Long may they come.