Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Stop the Burn Out

How are you feeling lately? Energetic and jump out of bed, inspired to go to work? Or tired juggling too many things and exhausted. Yet, instead of stopping we just continue pushing, till we come to a dead halt.
  • Till you can’t get out of bed anymore
  • Till you feel so uninspired, you don’t know what to do
  • Till you don’t find meaning in your work
  • Till you are careless
  • Till there’s no ambition
  • Till you can’t push through the day anymore



Stop, take a break and introspect. 

You can take 2 months off  or realize sometimes doing a better job means not doing your job at all.

48% of Americans experienced increased stress over the past 5 years. So, if you are invested heavily in your work life, it also means we have to take measures to sustain it equally well. That can only mean considering vacations https://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/4-scientific-reasons-why-vacation-is-awesome-for-you.html so you can enjoy your job.

In your regular work life, find out what triggers your stress the most- is it your co-worker, the commute, the inability to grow in your job and then come up with a plan and figure it out. Being able to be happy in your job could prevent the burn out at the every start and then follow it up with vacations and positive work environment, creating your hyggae at work etc.

If you are looking for great tips to bring in the balance in your life, try these:
  • Ariana Huffingtons book- "The Sleep Revolution" and the website that allows you to find out articles about the balance and keeping you happy. 
  • If you need to sort out your finances, try this out 
  • If you need to sort out your life, look no further than Vishesh Lakhani’s – "Code of the Extraordinary Mind". 
  • See what your interests are and ensure you can keep it up at an extent even in your very busy life that brings in some peace. Meet similar minds by joining meetup.com
  • Physical movement is equally important to stop the burn out, try couple of times a week to start with 
  • Learn through lots of free resources on the web and boost your career. 
  • Find a mentor and ask for suggestion on how they handle it. Observe in your own organization or read up on what’s the best thing to do. 
To sum up, stop the glorification of busy and then burn out. Instead take the time to feel okay and not always on the rush. If possible try working from home, couple of times a month (no commute at least and perhaps even healthier choice of food), get into your zone and just enjoy the flow, create a routine and keep on adapting to it.

Being successful and being able to achieve your goal, also means taking care of yourself and your thought process.

(Pic courtesy: Google Images)

Destress and Focus with Jazz

Work is fulfilling for a lot of us, however with it comes the stress and the burn out.

Consider this: Jazz music can lower blood pressure by causing blood vessels to expand by 30% (This change in blood pressure is like loosing 30 lbs).

It incidentally helps you to get better sleep.  Studies shows that just 45 min of soft, slow music (60-80 BPM) like jazz, before bedtime results in better and longer night-time sleep as well as less dysfunction during the day:
• After 1 week, 26% were sleeping better.
• After 3 weeks, 35% were sleeping better.

After finding out about Jazz, I decided to implement it in my own life and see the results. My work is sometimes stressful and while I enjoy it... working parallel in a lot of things sometimes leaves me burned out. I realize that I am not being as effective in getting things done, because I am worried about how much is left to be done.

So, I tried 2 things at work:

  1. When I start to worry/stress/get irritated I immediately walk out to refill my water bottle, or get a coffee. read the newspaper or sometimes just walk around. That momentarily relief and taking me out of that zone seems to work positively on the mind. 
  2. I also played jazz over the web via ear phones and I did work better partially because I felt more relaxed. It helped me to the extent that I now use it almost regularly specially when I have things to deliver in a tight timeline. 

You wont know what works for you, till you try it out yourself. So, my suggestion is to give it a go and see whether this is something that will work for you.

All I can say is, its definitely worth a try.

(pic courtesy: Google Images)

Change your life: Rewire your brain

Success could be about innovation, about practice, about determination. One thing that will be the common denominator is how you wire your brain to get to your desired state of mind.

Good news is your brain changes with you or may be you change because your brain is constantly changing.

There’s a traditional saying that the mind takes the shape it rests upon; the modern update is that the brain takes the shape the mind rests upon.  For instance, if you regularly rest your mind upon worries, self criticism, and anger, then your brain will gradually take that shape – will develop neural structures and dynamics of anxiety, low sense of worth, and prickly reactivity to others.  On the other hand, if you regularly rest  your mind upon, for example noticing you’re all right right now, seeing the good in yourself and letting go…then your brain will gradually take the shape of calm strength, self confidence, and inner peace. (Source) 

“As your mind changes, your brain changes; and as your brain changes, your mind changes.” Hanson explains how neuroplasticity is accomplished:
  • Busy regions get more blood flow, since they need more oxygen and glucose.
  • The genes inside neurons get more or less active; for example, people who routinely relax have improved expression of genes that calm down stress reactions, making them more resilient.
  • Neural Connections that are relatively inactive wither away; its a kind of neural Darwanism, the survival of the busiest, use it or lose it.
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”  This saying from the work of Donald Hebb means that synapses – the connections between neurons – get more sensitive, plus new neurons grow, producing thicker neural layers.

It’s said that practice makes it easier for brain to highlight on the same function over and over again, making that part of the brain easier to access. That’s why it’s said cab drivers who need to memorize the city maps to get their license, have that part of their brain bigger than the rest.

Turns out more struggles and obstacles you have in learning, better your brain learns.

And if you are looking for inspiration to keep your new year’s resolution going, here’s a tip- physical exercise is good for the brain because it helps create new neurons.



To read similar articles- read Finding your Zone and How to Keep your Life in Control .

If you like visual representations, click here

(Pic courtesy: Pinterest) 


Free Flow Sunday

When routine gets hectic, try this out.

It gets it’s name from what I thought would be a good way to spend my Sunday. No rules, no commitments, no alarm- its free flow. I do what I want to do.

I noticed in trying to chase the next thing to get done throughout the week, I was simply exhausted, to the point I would get irritated very easily. My weekends as a busy working mom would mean endless things and errands to take care of. I never made the list, it simply got lost in more things to get done.

So I stopped. I started this as an experiment on myself to see if it could actually work. So, there’s no schedule for my Sundays which also means I mostly say to all invitations and meetings and brunches on Sunday. I want to keep the time open and available for me.

The way it works- I wake up without alarm and get up and so whatever I want to do. Sometimes I just spend drinking coffee in the balcony and water the plants. Some Sundays, I play with my son, sometimes it’s the gratitude journal followed by all morning being in bed and reading. I keep my whole week scheduled to perfection and this one day I just let it all go. The bed stays messy, the house not quite perfect, the lunch unplanned. Some days we will drive for a bite, some days I will whip up a fancy mean or just order in.

This also works because it’s Sunday and everyone’s available. Sometimes I will delegate work; sometimes I let everyone do what they want. It helps that my parents help as well with my son. So, anyone is free to get their own breakfast done, some days, someone will take the responsibility to make it- it's never me :) 

You get the idea... so how does it help?
  • Decompress- after a hectic week and stressing out, this day resets my system for Monday
  • Unschedule to schedule better- This allows me to just let everything go. The feeling of letting go is so powerful in not having hundred more things to do that Mondays are always better. That one day break is a real Sunday for me.
  • Me time- it allows me to live one day the way i want. Yes there are still certain things I will do, but mostly and as much as possible what I want to do.
  • Solitude helps- I am an introvert and yes i always need my me time. Its a must and when I loose it, it always creates more problems than solutions. I gather my thoughts on life, my career, things I want to do, places I want to travel and catch up with friends.
  • Asses life- I remember a friend who once told me, we are so focussed on running after the next hike, we forget what we have now and we never enjoy that. It stuck with me. I am not part of any race that day, I try to forgive and forget all wrong doings and try to breathe in more peace within myself.

So far, it has been working, I really look forward to Sundays. 

(Pic courtesy: Pinterest)

Getting off the Grid- You can save yourself

When the sun shines on you, you have a got a good day.

We are so busy and overwhelmed with work and life that we are always running around trying to sort out our to-do's. We have stopped smelling the roses.

And we pay the price for it.

Coping up to keep ourselves in the current workforce leads to around 56% with musculoskeletal symptoms. 22% newly diagnosed hypertension,10% had diabetes, 36% had dyslipidemia, 54% had depression, anxiety and insomnia, 40% had obesity. The stress score was higher in employees who developed diabetes, hypertension and depression. (Source)

Did you know that work stress has been categorized through a series of  stages.
  1. The honeymoon stage: Euphoric feeling if excitement, enthusiasm, challenges and pride on getting a new job. Dysfunctional processes include the depletion of energy reserves in coping and adapting to the new environment.
  2. The full throttle stage: Going full swing leads to a depletion of resources. Other symptoms include dissatisfaction, sleep disturbances, overeating, drinking or smoking.
  3. The chronic symptom stage: Development of chronic symptoms like physical illness, anger and depression.
  4. The crisis stage: Persistence of symptoms leads to disease, chronic backache, headache, high BP, insomnia, etc., would develop.
  5. Hitting the wall stage: No person can continue under strain for too long and one may reach the end of one's professional career. Burnout stress syndrome takes over.
  6. The opposite: Rust our stress syndrome occurs under extreme hypo stress. This is likely to occur when the gap between one’ capabilities and environmental demands becomes too wide.

We don’t realize the stress we are putting our bodies through until something goes wrong and we are spending our time more at the doctor’s lobby than in office or home.

According to the American Optometric Association, people who use computers daily at work or at home could suffer from computer vision syndrome  , which leaves them vulnerable to problems like dry eye, eyestrain, neck and backaches, light sensitivity and fatigue.

We are all aware of what happens. Rarely do we take the time to sit down and plan to change our lifestyle. I know it firsthand. I have moved between countries, thought myself as a go-getter, done well for myself with a full time job and a blog and hosting meet up group because networking is a good, right? I ate mostly healthy, exercised rarely and wondered if I would ever have the time to sit down with a cup of tea and read a novel? I didn’t and with motherhood, my workload went crazy. I had the help, however no one can take the stress of the mind to trying to juggling so many things. I felt guilty that I couldn’t write the blog, I was so exhausted by the end of the day. Small things piled up over the years till I was sitting in a doctors lobby recently did I realize there’s no meaning for all the ambition if I can’t balance my health along with it.

So, here are 5 steps you can consider:
  1. Move- there’s no alternative to moving your body and keeping it healthy. Don’t worry if you don’t have  a gym or a park nearby- just walk during lunch. If you can’t take longer breaks form life or work, try in small increments. I started using my office gym because once I landed home, I never had the time. I try walking around in office, taking stairs and a quick walk during lunch for like 10 minutes. They all add up and it helps- your mood and health 
  2. Meals- Try limiting takeout food, eating cookies or chips for lunch isn’t a good idea. Plan ahead, make a salad or a stir fry and just take it with you. Try a smoothie. What you put in your body matters, instead of a fizzy drink try coconut water. And this isn’t some words just typed in because I liked my burgers and fizzy drinks- it de-stressed me... till I figured out how much sugar I was putting in my body and zero nutrition for nothing. Eat healthy and once in a while indulge in your fav food.
  3. Take Breaks- don’t sit at a stretch for hours at work, I am guilty of it too, I am trying to change. Use a reminder, apps, alarm- anything that works for you, but take a break. Your eyes and body will thank you for it. Take breaks as in vacation, even if it means you are just sitting at home reading a good book.
  4. Stop Being Guilty- prioritize yourself. It’s okay to not finish that painting by the weekend, your well being matters the most. Instead just go out and play, the weathers on your side now.
  5. Create a Routine to Relax- unwind every day, end of day. When you work around the same routine every day, it gives the cue to your brain, it’s time to get to bed now or sleep. So, the first step of your routine will often get you relaxed like getting in your pj’s.

The most important of all, stop saying I don’t have time. It’s not about time it’s about priority. Nothing beats your health because if that’s not on your side, your career and ambition is in for a steep fall.

So, when overwhelmed GET OFF THE GRID. It's okay to postpone sometimes, its allright to say I will take care of myself first, it better to prevent, it's logical to switch of your digital belongings and accounts couple of times a week, try being a minimal and natural as possible and then go out and conquer the world. 

(Pic courtesy: Image 1, Image 2)