How's your motor running?

Any woman knows what it is like to feel totally wiped out, completely exhausted and operating just under the red line, or in some cases well above that line.

There is always a reason or combination of reasons for the exhaustion. Most likely, we just don't realise or pay enough respect to what we are doing to our bodies.

A good way of comparing how you treat your body is to relate it to a car. So, food is our fuel, doctors or health professionals are the mechanics and sleep is like having to recharge your battery.

So, with that in mind would you expect your car to make a journey all the way to Cairns from Perth if you only half filled the tank with the cheapest poorest quality petrol available? If you never took your car for a service from the day you bought it, how long would you expect it to keep running before it broke down?

Our bodies are infinitely more complex than a car yet we abuse them beyond belief and then get annoyed or act surprised when our body breaks down and we get colds or even injured through training.

So here are 20 top tips to keep you on track and feeling full of energy:

- Ensure you get the right amount of calories per day.

- Ensure your food balance is correct and made up of the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins and essential fats.

- Drink at least two litres of water per day, more if you exercise.

- Eat small meals throughout the day instead of nothing all day then a huge meal at night when you least need the energy before going to bed.

- Ensure you get enough quality sleep every night. Preferably seven hours uninterrupted.

- Take part in at least 30 minutes of activity everyday. It all adds up: walking to the shops instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of the lift or cycling instead of driving, all make a difference.

- Avoid excessive tea and coffee because the caffeine causes energy peaks and troughs.

- Avoid cakes, biscuits and chocolate during the day as the high sugar content will cause energy peaks and troughs leaving you feeling wiped out.

- Bread can make a lot of people feel very tired shortly after eating, so try to cut down on sandwiches and see if that makes a difference.

- Eat the recommended five portions of vegetable and three portions of fruit per day.

- Try not to rely on alcohol as a means of unwinding of a night. It has very negative effects physically in terms of muscle recovery, weight gain and on sleep patterns. Or, if you can't give it up, try and have a glass of wine rather than the whole bottle!

- Try to start some sort of structured physical activity that gets you training about three times a week. Ideally this is on top of your 30 minutes of daily activity.

- Dedicate just a few minutes a day to doing some stretches. If your job involves sitting, using a computer or involves repetitive movements, muscles will tighten very quickly and this is often the cause of lower-back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain and more.

- Sit down and examine your workload. It could be the case you are trying to do more than you are capable of in terms of private life and work life.

- Appreciate any stress you are under and try to have time periods where you are not carrying problems around with you constantly. This is another advantage of the gym; for that couple of hours you don't think about work related problems.

- Consider having a therapeutic or sports massage once a fortnight. Again it helps keep tension out of the muscles and gives you time to yourself to switch off.

- A hobby is another really good escape route from stress. If you don't have time, you may have an unsustainable workload, which could result in illness.

- Sit down with your partner and / or business colleagues and look at time management. There are always ways of cutting workload by increasing communications and working together better.

- Plan frequent short breaks. Even if you just get in the car and decide to drive somewhere you have never been to before. The old saying, 'a change is as good as a rest' is true.

- Try not to put to things off. If you take action against something rather than delaying it you will get a lifting sense of achievement and a positive feel.

- Make a list of all the things that are bothering you and plan when you can sort them.