Wellness

Wellness at work – the reset

A sharp clear mind, physical energy and a positive mindset – if only we could have that all day every day. Here’s how to make it a reality…

Quick ways to recharge

1. Physical energy boosters:

To get a good night’s sleep, which is essential for brain function, take a magnesium supplement, or soak in a bath of magnesium flakes from the Better You magnesium range. Low levels of this mineral have been shown to affect your body’s ability to follow a natural sleep cycle. Also, get stretching: people who do yoga have been shown to have higher brain levels of GABA, a brain chemical essential to calm, but any kind of stretching exercise that also calms and deepens the breath can help.

2. Mental energy boosters:

Learn to spot and change negative thoughts or patterns of behaviour. Ask yourself ‘how can I do this better’ and you will create an ‘upward spiral’ according to Renée Elliott. Also, try a probiotic for the mind; about 90 per cent of your body’s serotonin, a neurotransmitter key to feeling calm and happy, is made in your gut, so healthy gut bacteria is key. Anna Magee recommends Zeniflore (£40 for 30 capsules) from Boots.

3. Emotional energy boosters:

Keep things in perspective – if you have a tendency to catastrophise, ask yourself if anything has ever turned out as badly as you thought it might. Flower essences work to support your emotional energy so keep a bottle of Bach Rescue Remedy in your drawer for when you feel it’s all too much.

‘In order to be brilliant you have to feel brilliant, which means taking care of yourself,’ says Renée Elliott, founder of Planet Organic and Beluga Bean Academy, business and life skills academy. ‘But it’s very counter intuitive for women to put themselves first. It’s something I find to be true across all age groups, because we are biologically programmed to care for others.’

Staying well, avoiding exhaustion and burnout requires thought and discipline about the three different types of energy: physical, mental and emotional. You might be doing all the right things for one of these, but if you don’t pay attention to the other two, you will inevitably end up out of balance.

‘At Beluga Bean I mentor primarily on business planning, but it’s always a whole person process, so for example, one module is 50% marketing and 50% taking care of self,’ says Elliott. ‘I want to know if you’re planning to have kids, to know about you personally, because you can’t separate the personal from your performance in business or at work.’

Boosting physical energy should be obvious: eat well, drink plenty of water, exercise regularly and get a good night’s sleep. But we all know that’s easier said than done, especially if you have a deadline looming, or a challenging work dilemma that has you reaching for sugary snacks, downing too many coffees or skipping your exercise class to stay late at the office.

‘I don’t want to suggest anything that causes more stress,’ says Elliott, ‘so I ask clients to pick one thing they want to improve and commit to that in a small way. Imagine if you make 10 simple changes to your diet over the course of a year, how much more healthily could you be eating?’

Understanding stress is key to managing it. ‘That jittery, racing heart and sweaty palms you get when you’re under stress are a primitive, natural reaction known as the stress response,’ says Anna Magee, editor of Healthista.com.  ‘It’s your body releasing hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol into your system which raise blood pressure and glucose into your muscles to help you fight or flee from an impending threat. In small doses, that’s a healthy thing, giving us impetus to fight an impending challenge. But when stress is ongoing and never relents, it can lead to a vast catalogue of health problems from acne to heart disease.’

Magee says it’s vital to manage stress daily to help calm the stress response and stop it from affecting your body functioning. She recommends learning the 5555 breath: take a breath five counts in, five out for five minutes, five times a day to regularly calm your nervous system. ‘You can use it in a crisis or as a regular stress management top up through the day,’ she says. 

When you find yourself constantly distracted at work, frequently losing focus and concentration, it’s time to address your mental energy. Practising mindfulness will help you to be fully present in the moment, and just a few minutes checking in with one of your senses is a start. To learn more about it, follow one of the guided meditations for work at Mindful.org, which also suggests starting your day – literally as soon as you wake up – with a breathing exercise like 5555 to reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which kicks in the moment you begin thinking about what lies ahead.

Encountering difficult people who push your buttons or negative colleagues can drain your emotional energy. When you think you might explode or send an angry email, stop and take a time out. Go for a walk or call a friend and offload first. You’ll be in a much calmer state to make an objective decision or considered response. It’s a good idea to check in on how you are feeling emotionally throughout the working day too, tracking your moods to find out when you are at your most productive, and identifying the situations or people that are wearing you down or leaving you feeling unsupported.  While you can’t necessarily change these things, you can change how you choose to respond to them – countering with positivity and a can-do attitude will always leave you with the upper hand.

Elliott recommends compiling a list of things that can help you to get back on top. ‘Be aware of when you are feeling stressed and catching yourself when you get off balance. Have a toolkit of things that can help you to re-centre yourself, whether it’s going for a run, having a lavender bath, or just going to bed.’

Or it could be focusing your energy on younger colleague. Giving back, not only feels good, but comes back to you later down the line, so why not Pay it Forward and invest time in helping someone on their way up the ladder. And remember the power of appreciation, as Renée Elliott says: ‘When I’m in gratitude I’m not in stress.’