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Monday, June 28, 2010Relax - It Will Help You Be More Effective
Between your endless work responsibilities, your kids' extracurricular activities, yourspouse's requests, and maybe also your aging parents, time to relax probably seems like an extravagant indulgence that ranks pretty low on your list of priorities.
But what if I told you that 10-20 minutes of real relaxation each day can make you more effective at work and elsewhere?
People who do take time to truly relax enjoy numerous effectiveness-boosting benefits, including:
- Decreased anxiety: stress reduces productivity, and less of it has the reverse effect.
- Better moods: far from being irrelevant, being in a good mood enhances your creativity, insight and capacity to innovate.
- Increased energy: people with high energy can accomplish more in less time, so this one is a no-brainer.
- Improved sleep: sleep deprivation is a brain impairment that leads to lesser decision-making ability and higher mistake rates. Improved sleep produces the opposite effect.
- Improved health: feeling ill definitely slows you down - whether it's through absenteeism or presenteeism. Strong health on the other hand helps you be alert, engaged, and effective.
All things considered, maybe a little R&R is worthy of your busy schedule, isn't it? And before you ask, no, TV watching does not qualify as "true relaxation"!
Curious to see if this can work for you? No need to be a meditation guru. Just try to find a quiet environment, get in a comfortable position and close your eyes. As you breathe deeply, focus on your breath or on letting go.
I suggest you try it for a few days, and see if it helps you feel better and work smarter!
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 12:07:11 PMTop
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Thursday, April 29, 2010Easiest Cancer Prevention Tip You'll Ever Hear!
I know, I know. You read my articles for my good tips on sleep, food, mood and exercise versus productivity, and cancer prevention does not exactly fit in my usual topics (although quite a productive thing to do just the same!). But this tip is so easy yet powerful, I felt it was my duty to pass it along.
Here are the punch lines issued from research by Nobel Prize Winner biochemist Dr. Otto Heinrich Warburg:
- Shallow breathing leads to stale air in our bodies, and stale air is fertile grounds for tumor cells to proliferate.
- Conversely, cancer cannot live in well-oxygenated cells.
What does
that mean to you concretely? It means that deep breathing is a good ally
in cancer prevention. In fact, you might want to take formal
breathing breaks a few times a day.
Strategy doesn't get any simpler than this, so let's try together: deep and full inhale through the nose - send this crisp and purifying air to your belly - hold it - and out through the mouth as if you were blowing your birthday candles. Repeat as often as you can.
For those interested in taking the breathing practice further, I recommend trying yoga (I had to add some exercise in there somewhere!). I personally practice yoga regularly, and find it truly beneficial on many levels!
Posted By: Marie-Josée Salvas Shaar @ 10:24:48 AMTop
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Monday, February 08, 2010Is Your Busyness Keeping You Up at Night?
I know, there aren't enough hours in the day, and you have too much to
do. If you find yourself shortening your night sleep to try and get more
done only to wake up in the middle of the night, this one is for you.
When you pack your daily schedule with one thing after another, your body
remains on high alert throughout the day. It produces stress hormones
which prompt your heart to beat quicker. As your blood circulates faster,
your body burns more energy, and you grow increasingly more tired.
Elevated levels of stress can also cause you to be more impatient,
irritable and insensitive to others, thus causing you to be even more depleted
by the end of the day. It can also erode connections between nerve cells
in your brain, thus not only causing grief today, but also in the future.
So
how can you fit a strategy that will break the cycle of depletion into your
busy day? Simple. Breathe deeply, trying to exhale for twice as
long as you inhale. Slow your breathing down by inhaling for 1 count,
exhaling for 2. Then inhale for 2, exhale for 4. Keep progressing
until you are inhaling for 5 and exhaling for 10, and do so 3 or 4 times.
Repeat the full exercise 2 or 3 times each day, more if you
can.
Taking a few long belly breaths will activate your parasympathetic system,
which is responsible for slowing down bodily processes (such as heart
rate). It will also pause your production of cortisol for a few minutes.
As you decrease your stress hormone levels, you'll be able to preserve more
energy throughout the day and sleep better at night.
Take it easy!
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Saturday, November 14, 2009How to Avoid Being Stuffed Like a Turkey on Thaksgiving Day
Do you tend to overeat at Thanksgiving dinner? Most of us
do. By a lot! We like to indulge, we feel we deserve it, and the
food reminds us of warm memories, so resisting just doesn't seem possible!
But then we feel stuffed, bloated, guilty, tired and the after-meal party just
isn't as enjoyable. Know the scenario?
If
you'd like to make things different this year, quit trying to resist.
Why? Because while you are telling yourself to stop eating, your brain
wiring for eating is activated, even if the verb don't precedes
it. That's why resisting something is really difficult. It increases tension,
uneasiness and dissonance. It requires a ton of self-regulation, which is
an internal resource of which we have a limited quantity. So when the
self-regulation runs out, we give up and dig in!
Instead, turn your focus to a positive and appealing alternative.
Thoughts like "I'm savoring family time" or "I really want to
make gratitude the main event tonight" will stimulate enjoyable behaviors
other than eating, thus helping you make smarter choices as you approach the
dining table. Better yet, it will help you focus on what really matters -
your family, and giving thanks.
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Wednesday, November 04, 2009Little Known Way to Avoid the Flu
Because a day in bed is not part of the game
plan...
There already aren't enough hours in a day, let alone being slowed down by a
cold. You've read a hundred times that you should wash your hands -
check. My previous newsletters have already mentioned that lack of sleep will impede
your immune function so you try to get enough Zs - check. You buy
probiotic yogurt because your doctor told you it is an ally in cold prevention
- check. What else can you do to avoid being the next victim of the swine
flu?
New research led by Sheldon Cohen, PhD has monitored a group of participants'
mood for a week before injecting the virus of the cold in their noses (sounds like fun, right?).
They then kept participants isolated in a completely sanitized hotel room for a
few days, and examined who developed the cold versus who didn't, as measured by
level of mucus produced and immune response activity.
Turns out that people who were most positive prior to being
infected were least likely
to develop the cold. Equally interesting, the less happy participants
were also more likely to report unfounded symptoms. In other words, the
better your psychological health, the better your objective and subjective
physical health.
So here's the easy strategy: research by Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, shows that
initiating random acts of kindness is an effective way to increase one's
happiness. For better results, try different ones on different days.
This is great news - and it deserves to be spread as quickly as the cold
itself! Since we know that emotions are contagious, I recommend you pass
it on: the more people around you lift their moods, the easier it will be for
you to do the same.
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Friday, October 23, 2009What Would You Do With An Extra Hour Today?
Did you know that changing just one simple habit could dramatically
increase the quality of life of the vast majority of American adults?
Not only would it perk up their mood, but it would also improve their health,
benefit their marriages and increase their work productivity.
Want to know what it is? Very simple.
TV watching is now the most common hobby in America and the number 1 predictor
of bedtime. In other words, it's what's keeping us up at night.
Literally and figuratively.
Yes, a ton of research over the past 30 years
shows that watching too much TV is associated with increased snacking, smoking
and drinking. It correlates with less physical and sexual activity.
People who watch more TV are more likely to be obese and to suffer from
hypercholesterolemia. They tend to engage in more social comparison and
to feel depressed more often. Their ability to concentrate is also
reduced. In short, people who watch too much TV are less satisfied with
their lives, and they have good reasons to be.
How Much Is Too Much?
According to the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), the maximum
number of hours per month of TV watching for ideal health is 30 - or an average
of one hour per day.
TV certainly serves a purpose, but if you are an avid watcher, here's my
question to you: is it really worth that full commitment? Are there no
other activities that would be worth your time? How about reading?
Walking? Calling distant friends and family members? Learning
something new? Building miniature airplanes with popsicle sticks?
Imagine all the possibilities: what could you do with an extra hour or 2 today?
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Monday, October 05, 2009Sleep Tight Tonight: 2 Strategies to Get More Zs
If you've been a reader of my newsletters for a while, you know that getting a full 7 to 8 hours of sleep
every day is important not only to your energy levels, but also to your memory,
mood, motivation, productivity and immune system. (For those of you who
may have missed the info, please see my article Beauty Sleep and Optimal Performance in the Balance & Fulfillment section under Full Articles).
Some of you may even have already read my top 6 tips for getting a good night's sleep (also in the article mentioned above). These suggestions work for most people most of the time, but
not for all people all the time.
So how can you get your full dose of shut eye if you are going through a
particularly stressful period and your mind can't stop racing at night?
Easy Strategies To Get More Zs:
1- Have a light night-time snack. But not just any
snack! You need a carbohydrate-rich, low glycemic index snack, such
as a whole grain toast, an apple, a peach or a small bowl of oatmeal.
Here's how it will help: carbs facilitate the production of serotonin in your
brain, and serotonin is responsible for sleep regulation, so carbs will help
prep you physiologically.
2- Try a sleep-inducing meditation. Not to worry, there's no need
for out-of-body or any other esoteric experiences. Just get in a
comfortable position, turn the lights off, maybe light up a candle and focus on
breathing deeply for a few minutes. For extra encouragement, play this
youtube video: Sleep Music. I recommend you
turn your computer screen off so it doesn't project bothering light while you
have your eyes closed. Focusing on nothing but your breath will help you
get ready for bedtime mentally.
Once mind and body agree that it's time to fall asleep peacefully, there should
be no stopping you! Try it out and let me know how it worked!
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Monday, July 27, 2009Think Quicker AND Be More Relaxed In Just 10 Minutes Per Day!
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| A recent study measured the recovery time needed for participants' heart rate to get back to normal after a stressful event. Results showed that those who looked at nature out a window recovered considerably faster than those who kept gazing around the office. Makes sense. Another study conducted in Europe found that individuals higher in vitamin D can process information quicker. You can get a good dose of vitamin D in salmon, tuna, fortified soymilk and fortified orange juice, or by taking a quick sun bath. Compound Benefits  A 10-minute walk will achieve both benefits at the same time - and more. Here's how:- 10 minutes in nature is enough to reduce your heart rate once you get back to the office. - 10 minutes in the sun will give you enough vitamin D to achieve quicker thinking. - Walking 10-minutes will also activate your bloodflow and breathing, thus bringing more oxygen to your body and brain. - Last but not least, exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress, while boosting the production of dopamine (the feel-good hormone). Previous editions of this newsletter have already explained the relationship between feeling good and working well, so your walk is definitely a step in the right direction! So all in all, that 10-minute break from the busyness of the office is not an indulgence. It's a time commitment worthy of making it to your day planner because it promises to improve your productivity. |
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Friday, June 26, 2009Tired? Take the Morning Test
Do you typically wake up so tired all you think about is that delicious moment when your head will fall back on your pillow at night? If so, your lack of sleep keeps you below optimal performance throughout the day. Slower learning, higher mistake rates and overall lower productivity most likely ensue.
But the work still needs to get done, so to compensate for lower productivity, you probably need to work longer hours. And at the end of another long, full and stressful day, you need and deserve to decompress before bed - it's TV and ice cream time. You end up going to bed later than you had planned and the next morning, again you dream of longer nights.
Sounds familiar? If so, it's time you take the Morning Test, a creation of my colleague David J. Pollay.
(The following text is an excerpt from David's blog and is used with his permission. Get to know David with the info at the bottom of this post!)
The Morning Test
Every day for one week write down everything that you do at night. Jot down what you eat for snacks, the TV shows you watch, the radio programs you listen to, the email you read, the sites you surf, and whatever else you may do.
Then immediately after waking up the next morning - and this is important - think about what you did the night before. Think about everything you did that still makes you happy, and what you think was a waste of time. Write it all down.
Do this for one week and see which activities are meaningful to you, and which ones you do by force of habit. Here's your opportunity: Replace those less helpful habits with activities that are gratifying to you.
The Benefits
Why is this important? It's because we're always wishing we had more time to do more of what we care about. This exercise helps us to choose at night what will serve us well the next day, and it also helps us achieve the important goals in our life.
Did you know that bedtime TV watching has been found to contribute to chronic sleep debt? Find out more on good sleep hygiene in my article Beauty Sleep and Optimal Performance.
David J. Pollay is the creator of The Law of the Garbage Truck™. Mr. Pollay writes the Monday Morning Momentum Blog each week. He is a syndicated columnist with the North Star Writers Group. Mr. Pollay's book, Beware of Garbage Trucks!™, is due out later this year.
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Thursday, June 04, 2009R - E - S - P - E - C - T ! (Or How to Say No and Be OK With It)
A
few weeks ago, I wrote about "Stop Doing Lists" and explained that to
get to the bottom of our "To Do List", you probably need to do away
with a few items. Quite a few of you emailed me that this was a great
suggestion, but that executing on it was quite difficult.
The biggest challenge in carrying out a "Stop Doing List" is often
the inability to say no. You might feel guilty, be afraid to disappoint
someone, want to avoid an argument or hope to attract another favor in the
future. Whatever the specific reason, the general theme behind your
reluctance to say no is that you think there is more at stake than your wasted
time.
What you forget to take into consideration is that there is also more at stake
than your time when you say yes! Consider these examples:
- When you capitulate and accept, you make other people's wishes more important
than your own - and they feel it. Adopting this strategy repeatedly can
lower your self-esteem - and others' respect.
-
We all want to feel in control. Each time you say yes when you really
mean no, you are giving up some of that control. Loss of control can lead to
stress, anxiety, even burnouts and depressions - all things you want to stay
away from.
- When we need something done, it is tempting to go to the person who is most
likely to comply. Saying yes all the time turns you into this
person. 'Yes-mans' are usually perceived as weak, no back-bone,
brown-nose individuals - not exactly what superiors consider promotion
candidates.
- If you had to choose between associating with someone who is efficient or
someone who won't say no, which would you pick? There usually is a
balancing act between the two. They rarely go hand-in-hand. Which
one would you rather be?
There are good reasons to muster the resolve to refuse some of the requests you
encounter each day. And there's no need to go about the refusal the harsh
way. Explaining why you are not the most qualified person and
recommending an alternative helper, suggesting a trade-off in commitments, giving
directions on how the inquirer can do it herself, or even just offering moral
support and empathy can all alleviate the negative feelings associated with
saying no.
That being said, I'm certainly not supporting a selfish, only-do-what-pays-off
attitude. Quite the contrary. I'm offering you suggestions on how
to reclaim balance in your life. I want you to feel empowered to be your
best possible self for your own benefit and for your loved ones.
Important Note: The ideas contained
in this newsletter are adapted from The Mind Gym - Give Me Time, Time Warner
Books.
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