I Did an ‘Energy Audit’ of My Entire Day—What Was Actually Draining Me is Shocking

It might still be too early to announce a buzzword for 2026, but if we were pushed, we'd wager that the term 'energy' would be right up there. Whether it's the time of year, seasonal shifts or simply our stage in life, barely a day goes by right now without a friend commenting that she's feeling drained and depleted - regardless of how well-rested (or otherwise, as the case may be) she is.

Be it good or bad (or more than likely, somewhere in the middle), we're more tuned in than ever before to the nuance of how we're feeling - and the overwhelming sense is that we're tired. Even when we do achieve that elusive eight-hour shut-eye, many of us are struggling with sluggishness, fatigue, and a general malaise that can make even the simplest of tasks feel insurmountable.

Of course, there can be legitimate causes for feeling this way. Hormones, illness, stress and more can all take their toll on our mental and physical reserves, leaving our energy levels depleted - but I don't think I'm alone in feeling like I'm running on empty even when I'm working hard to reduce the impact of these everyday strains. You know the drill: I prioritise sleep, nutrition, exercise and downtime as much as I can - but still, there are days when I'm too exhausted for words.

It's clear there's more to this energy crisis (as opposed to the other, also very real energy crisis) than meets the eye, so in true journalistic fashion, I turned to our excellent MC UK experts for their take - both on what exactly is causing this lack of get-up-and-go and what we can do about it. Their answer? An 'energy audit'.

Keep scrolling for the lowdown, but in the meantime, you might also be interested in our guides to the best low-effort wellness habits, the importance of micro recovery and using friendship as a health tool - plus, find out how one Health Writer got on when she kept an everyday delights journal for a month, here.

Fed Up of Running On Empty, I Tried an ‘Energy Audit’ – and It's Made Me Calmer, More Focused and Less Frazzled

What is an energy audit?

If the concept of an energy audit is new to you, firstly - same, and secondly, prepare to be impressed. It's essentially a super simple hack to help you identify the aspects of your life that are draining, rather than fulfilling, you.

Now, it's unrealistic to operate on a fill-our-cup basis at all times - after all, there are (so many) things we need to do that aren't going to feel replenishing - but an energy audit is a great place to start thinking about where your energy is going on a daily basis.

"Energy isn’t just how motivated you feel," explains longevity expert and co-founder of BodyBio, Jess Kane. "Your body is literally producing energy all day long, largely through our mitochondria (parts of our cells that produce and provide energy to our organs), and that process requires resources.

"An energy audit is about asking yourself: what am I giving my body to produce energy, and what am I asking it to overcome? Look at sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, hydration and recovery, but also pay attention to your patterns. When do you feel clear and energised? When do you crash? What consistently happens before those crashes?"

The point here is to pay attention to yourself - something women, in particular, are notoriously poor at, as we're usually more concerned with the people around us.

"The purpose of an energy audit is to take notice," says career and confidence coach Dr Claire Kaye. "By this I mean paying attention to what is giving you energy, what is taking it away, and what that might be telling you."

What are the benefits of an energy audit?

So, why should we bother with an energy audit? Put simply, it's the first step towards really taking care of yourself - we're talking more than just some breathwork and a long bath once a week, here.

"Perhaps real self-care is not another routine, another wellness trend or another thing to optimise," muses Dr Kaye. "Perhaps it is understanding where your energy is going, recognising what is depleting it, and giving yourself permission to make small changes before running on empty becomes your normal."

1. It can help us avoid burnout

Burnout is a very real issue for many women, with research showing we are at greater risk of developing the classic signs of burnout (emotional exhaustion being top of the list) than our male counterparts.

While we're far from suggesting an energy audit would redress the balance, it might be a useful first step in identifying where we can make subtle changes to our routines to protect our mental health.

"What I see time and time again is that some of the most powerful shifts happen when you simply become aware of a pattern and allow it to sit with you for a while," shares Dr Kaye. "Over time, that awareness starts to influence the choices you make, the boundaries you set, the conversations you have and the things you stop tolerating."

2. It challenges our approach to rest

If you're anything like us, you may be conditioned to think that rest is something you have to earn - but in fact, your energy (quite literally) depends on it. And it won't be news to you that it's not easy to achieve.

“Being responsive to other people can feel caring, responsible and necessary for many women, but when being accessible becomes our default, being unavailable can start to feel like something we need to justify," shares clinical psychologist and Wellwoman ambassador, Dr Claire Plumby.

“You can be physically resting, but if part of your attention is still monitoring messages, anticipating what somebody might need or thinking about the next thing that needs doing, that may not feel like genuinely restorative downtime.

“Creating boundaries around our availability, and recognising that wanting time to ourselves is a valid reason to be unavailable, can help create important space for our own wellbeing.”

The upshot? Prioritising rest should restore and revive your energy, too.

3. It enhances self awareness and productivity

Dr Kaye believes that most women intuitively know where their energy leaks and drains are, but we're not quite giving ourselves the space to hear ourselves think. Engaging in an energy audit forces us to stop and take a hard look at what needs changing, and stops us from fighting our own biology.

An energy audit helps us to recognise what works best for us as individuals, rather than assuming we're all wired the same way.

"Instead of asking, 'Why can’t I make myself work like this?', try 'How do I actually work best?'," advises life and mindset coach Jo Irving. "For years, I thought I should get up early and get my work done first thing. Instead, I’d procrastinate, feel as though I’d wasted the morning and then feel bad about not being productive.

"I’ve since recognised that some of my best energy comes later in the day. I find it much easier to get into a flow state in the evening and can often produce better work in considerably less time. So, rather than continually fighting myself, where possible I structure my work around when I know I work best."

4. It can help structure the day

"An energy audit helps you stop spending your best hours on your worst tasks," shares Jane Ollis, medical biochemist and founder of SONA. "Most people torch their sharpest thinking on email at nine and then attempt the hard stuff at four, when there's nothing left in the drawer. Flip that, and you've won half the battle.

"However, here's the honest bit: an audit shows you the pattern; it won't fix it. If you're running on five hours' sleep, no amount of clever scheduling will save you."

5. It allows you grace

Constantly beating yourself up about not achieving enough in the day? An energy audit can help you cut yourself some (much-needed) slack.

"The biggest benefit is that you stop treating energy as something you have to manufacture through willpower," agrees Kane. "At BodyBio, we talk constantly about building the foundations of health. Your cells need the right raw materials and environment to function properly. You can’t consistently sleep five hours, under-eat, over-caffeinate, sit all day and live in a constant state of stress, then expect one supplement or biohack to fix your energy.

"An audit helps you figure out where your foundations may be breaking down."

How to conduct an energy audit

One of the best things about an energy audit is that, really, there's no set formula for doing it. What works for you will be individual, and it definitely shouldn't become yet another chore that makes you feel you've failed.

That being said, the experts have devised a few ways of conducting an energy audit that you may find helpful if you're struggling to know where to start. There are a couple that I'm keen to try, and they're quite different.

Firstly, Irving's approach appeals as it's simple and straightforward. "There will always be things we don’t particularly want to do, so this isn’t about avoiding anything uncomfortable," she notes. "It’s about becoming aware of what things cost you energetically."

She recommends looking at a normal week and asking:

• What gives me energy?
• What drains my energy?
• When do I naturally feel most focused or creative?
• Where do I get my energy back?
• Look beyond work. Think about tasks, meetings, exercise, your phone, environments, people and conversations.
• Notice what happens in your body, too. Put a hand over your heart or stomach and mentally go through the different parts of your day. What creates a feeling of heaviness or resistance? What feels lighter or energising?

Alternatively, you can do a deeper dive into your energy, as favoured by Dr Kaye:

• Take ten minutes, a notebook and a cup of tea. Draw three columns: people, tasks, thoughts.
• Under people, write down the names of the people you spend most time with. Then ask yourself: who gives me energy? Who drains it? Who leaves me feeling supported? Where am I over-giving? What boundary would help me protect my energy?
• Under tasks, write down everything currently taking up your time and attention. Then ask yourself: what energises me? What drains me? What could I delegate? What could I do less perfectly? What am I doing simply because I have always done it?
• Under thoughts, write down the things occupying most space in your head. Then ask yourself: what decision am I avoiding? What am I worrying about that I cannot control? What keeps replaying in my mind? What would create the greatest sense of relief if I addressed it?
• Once you have done all three sections, take a step back and have a proper look at what you have written. Then ask yourself: what is draining most of my energy right now? What gives me energy that I have stopped making time for? What is one small change I could make this week? What support would genuinely help me right now?

I did an energy audit of my entire day - and the outcome shocked me

How I approach the audit

Armed with my cup of tea, I'm ready and excited for the task ahead: making my energy audit list. Nothing excites me more than a blank page begging to be scribbled on, so it's safe to say that I can't wait to get cracking.

I talk myself out of buying a new notepad for the occasion - I already have so many, and honestly, it's just typical of me to try and procrastinate, so I'm strict with myself and make do. But I'm soon faced with my next challenge: it's been so long since I've sat and really thought about myself rather than the kids, the dog, my husband or my parents (the list goes on) that I actually struggle to engage with the process. Plus, there are so many other things I need to do....

Another (couple of) cups of tea later, and it's clear I can't avoid the hard work any longer, so I decide to ease myself in with Irving's method and work my way up to a more detailed list.

What I discover about my energy leaks

After a good few days of soul-searching and scribbling, I'm starting to get a clearer picture of how my weeks tend to take shape, and it makes for tricky reading. Aside from the usual tasks, I have to dig really deep to examine where my energy is going - and it's confronting.

Caregiving and chores

As a busy mum of three, of course my caregiving responsibilities are going to be a big part of where my energy goes - and while I wouldn't have it any other way, it's clear that I do need to rethink how much of this particular load I'm taking on.

There's lots of caring work (this week alone, I've organised and hosted my daughter's birthday party, had a playdate for my youngest, looked after a friend's child for the afternoon and made a birthday cake for another friend's husband - and that's in addition to my usual responsibilities) which I know helps to fill my cup, but in fact, it's also incredibly draining trying to be everything to everyone, all the time.

And the biggest hurdle is asking myself what support I could put in place to reduce my energy drains. It's totally outside my comfort zone to even admit that I need help, let alone vocalise asking for support - but this trial has done nothing if not show me that I need to get better at delegating.

With this in mind, I start with a few small concessions: on the day I'm commuting rather than working from home, I ask my husband to make the kids' packed lunches. Initially, he's not sure what to include, but the following week he does it without so much as batting an eyelid, and I feel slightly redundant.

My phone

Of course, you can't delegate everything, and I need to take a good, hard look at ringfencing my time more efficiently, starting with where I'm leaking a lot of energy: my phone. And it's not just the mindless scrolling (I've recently invested in a Brick, which has helped cut this down) - it's more the constant messages and influx of information. Three children at three different schools means my inbox is always overflowing, and while I try to stay on top of things, it's inevitable that I miss messages from time to time - something that enrages my children and stresses me out, in equal measure.

So, with this in mind, it's clear that I need a system for dealing with these. I decide to use an hour on a Friday evening to catch up on school-related messages/newsletters and more - in the hope that I haven't already missed too much. This means that the rest of the week feels more free, as I know I'll be responding on Friday - although I soon realise that I need to switch this to mid-week, as it means any responses I do manage to send won't be seen until the following week.

Likewise, rather than mindlessly grabbing my phone during my workday, I know I'll spend the first 15 minutes of my lunch catching up on urgent messages, leaving me free to concentrate on my morning's work - a godsend, quite frankly. While I already have notifications switched off (IYKYK), I'm still guilty of reaching for my device way too much.

People

Phone sorted, I move on to my next biggest drain: people.

"Constant notifications, switching between tasks, too many decisions, unfinished jobs, and never having uninterrupted time can all drain us, but one of the biggest energy leaks can be people," cautions Irving. "Pay attention to how you feel after certain interactions. Conversations where you feel you can’t get your point across, repeated conflict, feeling dismissed or squashed, or being around people where you don’t feel able to be yourself can be incredibly draining - particularly when those interactions happen regularly.

"Sometimes the conversation lasts 20 minutes, but you’re still replaying it two hours later. That’s part of its energetic cost too."

This one is tougher to address; I'm not going to lie. Ageing parents, in particular, are a tricky one: I want to support them, but I'm also spreading myself incredibly thin already. I decide that a twice-weekly phone call and once-a-week visit is all I can offer, right now - and have to be ok with that. Of course, I'm not entirely inflexible on this, and if I'm needed, I'll be there - but it's a good start.

Friendship-wise, I feel my balance is pretty good, as I prioritise spending good quality time with the people who enrich my life - most likely a lovely side effect of age, as I no longer feel any kind of compulsion to socialise with people I'm not friends with.

Thoughts

I've saved the toughest column for last: my thoughts. Naturally chaotic in nature, I have a lot of thoughts racing around my head all day, every day. And before you ask if I've tried mindfulness or meditation - I think we all know the answer to that.

So, rather than berate myself (yet again) for failing to control my erratic mind, I decide instead to channel my energy into journalling my thoughts - and this unexpectedly becomes the highlight of the challenge, for me. Previously, I've tried to do journalling 'right' (always either morning or evening, in a proper journal - you get the gist) but now, I simply have a blank page next to me as I work, ready for me to pour my million and one micro-thoughts onto - and, reader, it really helps to keep me focused: a huge win.

My verdict? I was surprised by my actual energy drains - the big ones weren't the ones I was expecting, and the changes I needed to make were also not as complex as I'd anticipated.

And the standout lesson? I need to calm down (not a surprise to anyone who knows me, but still).

"Don’t turn an energy audit into another thing you have to get right," cautions Irving. "Your energy will naturally change depending on sleep, stress, health, hormones, workload, relationships and what’s happening in your life."

TLDR? Your energy naturally fluctuates, so this process is about trying to work with it, rather than against it. By the Friday of this week, I am exhausted, mentally and physically. Usually, I'd rail against this, wanting to spend my precious free time with my family and/or friends. This week, though, I have the experts' advice ringing in my ears as I make myself a cup of (decaf) tea and take myself off to bed for an early night. Bliss.

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