Does the stress of hard deadlines, impending load of upcoming projects and relentless flow of e-mails dominate your working hours? Do you find yourself stuck at your desk all day long working hard without any breaks? Chances are this lifestyle can take a huge toll on your physical and mental health. However, there are ways in which you can cope with your busy schedule and stay healthy at work.
1. No one can replace a healthy home-cooked meal and fresh fruits
A home-cooked meal is the most customized your meal can get. You and your family know what would benefit your health and appeal your taste buds at the same time. Additionally, if you have a scrumptious meal waiting for you, there would be less chances of you being drawn towards food from the local restaurant or the snacks that your co-worker brought. You can even carry fresh fruits and dry fruits as snacking items rather than having oily and unhealthy food that will only add to your chances of weight gain. If you do decide to have restaurant food, make sure to balance it out with a lot of salad filled with vegetables and sprouts.
Takeaway: A home-cooked meal and fresh fruits makes you feel light and energetic throughout the day reducing your chances of feeling lethargic in the afternoon, thus increasing your productivity.
2. Meditation relaxes your mind
In times of stress and looming deadlines, taking a few moments to breathe deeply go a long way in calming the mind. Just closing your eyes and focusing on your breath makes the impending work take a backseat. Once you have had a few moments to meditate, you will realize that you can focus even better at work and get the same work done in a shorter amount of time. You can even use apps like Headspace to know more about and practice meditation.
Takeaway: Practice meditation for an hour every morning if time permits. If not, even mindful breathing for five minutes at your desk or at lunch will help your mind to focus better.
3. Exercise to rejuvenate your mind, body and soul
It is often difficult to catch even a half hour to go to the gym before or after work. However taking the stairs, walking or cycling to work and walking for ten minutes after lunch are all feasible options you can try at your workplace. You can even host conference calls or calls with clients while you walk up and down your office corridor. This ensures that there is some amount of blood flow in your body even if you are not going to the gym or attending a yoga session. These few moments of exercise can start the pumping of blood to your brain and hence make you feel lighter and more productive. Additionally, it will alleviate setbacks such as back pain and neck strain.
Takeaway: Small bouts of activity at your workplace will help you avoid physical stiffness and increase productivity.
4. Organising your week drastically reduces the work load
Having your whole week planned ahead of you will help you understand what is on priority and needs to be finished first. It will keep you in control of your work and week as well. You can therefore recognise how busy your week looks and take up extra work accordingly. This will also allow you to impress your seniors at work when you are able to meet deadlines and take up additional work when your schedule allows it.
Takeaway: Schedule your week so you know what is on priority.
5. Hydrating yourself continuously reduces lethargy
It is a must to drink at least 2.5-3 litres of water every day. You can set goals for yourself at work in order to achieve this target. Carry a one litre bottle and attempt to finish it before lunch, refill it and finish it by 5 pm and refill it again to sustain through the rest of the day. This practice goes a long way in avoiding lethargy during post-lunch hours. You can even consume fruits rich in water such as oranges, apples and cucumbers.
Takeaway: Drink a lot of water to get rid of toxins and avoid lethargy through dehydration.
6. Sleep well
Sleeping well at night takes away all the stress. It regenerates and relaxes the mind and body. On an average, you need at least 8 hours of sleep. However this is simply an average. Depending on your body, fatigue levels, and many other factors, you might need more or less hours to achieve complete relaxation. Exercising can help you to sleep better while lack of it might make you feel restless at night. Lock out all distractions such as your laptop and your phone, draw the drapes to cut out the light and prepare yourself for a deep and restful sleep every night.
Takeaway: Sleeping well is without a doubt one of the most important steps to staying healthy and achieving your goals at work.
7. Using the Pomodoro helps you concentrate
In the Pomodoro technique, there is an intensive work period for 25 minutes followed by a small break of 5 minutes. This helps you take brief breaks in your work schedule which you can use to refresh yourself. You can take a walk, talk to your co-workers or even practice meditation. This will help increase your concentration and focus as well as reduce procrastination. You can use an online Pomodoro watch to keep a check on how long your work sessions last and how long your breaks last.
Takeaway: Use the Pomodoro technique to increase your attention span and finish more amount of work during the 25 minute intensive work period.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle can be a challenge with an 8 hour job. Make this process easier by following the tips above to stay healthy and work better!
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A healthy lifestyle boosts you to work better. If you are finding a healthy workplace, look for business centre in Hosur Road, Bengaluru or co-working space in Lower Parel, Mumbai.