For super busy people who count every minute, relaxation is a big challenge. Learning to relax is also something that everyone has to master, and each person has their own individual way of doing it, most often marked by overwork and overstress.
Are You Listening to Your Body’s Signals for Relaxation?
You have to know how to relax and the most important thing is to feel when it’s time to do it. Yes, you know when it is time to stop and go to rest, but you either do not listen to your behavior or you do not understand yourself very well. Both are gained through practice.
Listen to yourself and stop in time so you don’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion.
Interesting fact: in the end recovery from fatigue takes more time, it turns out that a few hours of overwork can cost you the next few days with reduced efficiency and low motivation.
Essential Tips for Creating Daily Moments of Relaxation
Studies show that regular work breaks help maintain high levels of concentration and productivity. Taking pauses can help restore mental resources, reduce fatigue, and improve the quality of work.
Scheduling short breaks between tasks or using techniques such as the Pomodoro Method can help optimize concentration and rest time.
- If you feel like you need to disengage and regroup, take an unplanned break for a few minutes.
- Change positions, such as standing up, dancing, walking, or doing a few fitness moves.
- During breaks, do your favorite activity, such as reading, drawing, or listening to music.
- Meditate or do breathing exercises to reduce stress and gain mental clarity.
- Spending time in nature during breaks can help you relax and regain your mental balance.
Discover the Power of Fuel Food
Snack on nutritious foods during breaks to boost your energy levels. Avoid junk food.
Recent studies suggests that a diet rich in fatty acids, antioxidants, carotenoids, vitamin E and choline may promote healthy brain aging and cognitive function.
Some examples of office-friendly snacks include almonds or walnuts for their healthy fats and vitamin E content, mixed berries for their antioxidant properties, and baby carrots with hummus for a boost of carotenoids. Dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage, green tea, and kale chips also provide a satisfying and nutritious option.
Sunflower seeds, spinach and feta stuffed mushrooms, and roasted chickpeas are additional snacks that offer a combination of these essential nutrients.
What Are the Benefits of Engaging in Sport Activities?
Sport activities that boost brain health and help to relax include a variety of physical exercises that not only enhance cognitive function but also promote relaxation and overall well-being.
Regular exercise provides more oxygen to the brain, improving intellectual performance, memory, reasoning, and concentration.
Table tennis, swimming, and dancing are excellent examples of sports that stimulate the brain through coordination, aerobic activity, and social interaction.
These activities have been shown to activate multiple areas of the brain, improve memory, reduce stress, and elevate mood. Exercise reduces stress levels, a common barrier to falling and staying asleep, promoting relaxation and better sleep onset.
Balancing Work and Life with Adequate Sleep
For now, no more effective method of relaxation has been invented than the one that nature has come up with. Besides, sleep is not only recreation, but also work with information, more precisely its processing.
- The recommended duration of sleep is 6-9 hours, but sleep is better measured in cycles, not hours and minutes. Gadgets and of course self-monitoring can help.
- It is very important to keep a regimen, but if there are failures, you must learn how to quickly restore it.
- It’s important to go to bed before 3 am to get enough melatonin for a good night’s sleep.
- You need to be in the mood for sleep, remove lights, do things that literally make you sleepy.
- A comfortable bed, airing the room before sleep, quiet (white noise, there are apps).
- Eating after 6 pm is not recommended, but if you go to bed late, you can eat something light protein at least 3 hours before bedtime.
- Caffeine, alcohol and nicotine affect sleep quality.
What’s Your Chronotype?
Chronotype is a genetic predisposition to sleep and wakefulness. There are many tests you can use to figure out yours, but I still recommend seeing a specialist, such as a somnologist.
For example, some people have a predisposition to get up and go to bed late, while others prefer an early bedtime and wakefulness routine.
These differences in chronotypes may be due to mutations in the genes of components of the molecular clock and its regulators, which affects the formation of sleep and wakefulness rhythms.
Improving Decision Making Through Better Sleep
During sleep, thought processes can be happening that can help solve problems.
The ability to put off solving a problem until the next day is called the “closing door effect.”
Exploring the Misconceptions of Relaxing through Intoxication
Intoxication is not a relaxation, it is an intoxicating stress on the body. Any type of intoxication represents premature brain aging and “borrowing health” from your body.
On a deep psychological level, any regular and intense intoxication speaks of
unrealized potential.
There is no such thing as a healthy dose of alcohol and high-functioning alcoholism is a widespread phenomenon. Alcohol is a socially approved antidepressant and a drug that continues to be at the top of the list in terms of the level of harm it causes. It is likely that in the near future they will figure out how to remove the toxins formed by alcohol consumption in the shortest possible time, there are already quite successful attempts.
Recently, there have also been many studies related to the positive therapeutic effects of psilocybin (depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD), ketamine (depression, bipolar disorder) and cannabiods (anxiety disorders, PTSD). But, all of these studies are only in their initial stages, so most commonly intoxication outside of specialist supervision leads to addiction and activation of psychosis or schizophrenia.
Sustainable consumption applies to all aspects of our lives, take care of yourself and your health.
No more satisfying state has ever been invented than a conscious state accessible to all, which is achieved through regular physical activity, food that is good for your brain, socially useful and meaningful activity and successful realization of your mission.
Vasilii Zakharov
This article provides valuable information for those of us who constantly feel depressed. Recognizing that everyone finds relaxation in different ways is crucial, and this article encourages us to explore what works best for our individual needs. This is a timely reminder that prioritizing relaxation, even in the midst of a busy schedule, is essential to our well-being.