After years of listening to podcasts, videos and documentaries from world known leaders and some of the worlds most successful people - they all have one thing in common and it is routine and discipline.
So here are 6 tips to help create a healthy work-life balance.
Prioritise Sleep
Sleep is a key ingredient to providing balance in our lives. Not only is it great for physical health, but also healthy brain function, emotional wellbeing, and our performance & safety throughout the day.
Sure, our body can perform with minimal hours of sleep however, sleep is time for your body to relax & recharge and without it we are seriously jeopardising our overall health and performance throughout the day, month, year etc.
Sleep doesn’t look the same for everybody. Some need 6 hours, some of us 8-9, so its important to find what works best for you and prioritise this.
I personally use an app to assist in monitoring my sleep – called Sleep Cycle. I have found over years of monitoring - my personal best sleep for deep sleep, productivity and balance throughout the day is 8-8.5 hours.
Movement
Getting our bodies moving at some point throughout the day provides us with a chemical release of dopamine and endorphins in our brain to make us feel happy. Not only is out brain flooding us with feel-good chemicals, movement also assists our brain get rid of chemicals that make you feel stressed or anxious.
So whether its 15 minutes of stretching in the morning, a workout at the gym, a run or even a walk before or after work, we can improve our mood and wellbeing which then assists us in our performance, mood and resilience at work.
Nutritional Meals
I know this is one often spoke about however, food is fuel which plays a major part in our emotions, performance, and overall wellbeing.
Not only does the food we eat fills us with fuel for performance and stamina but different foods give us different types of fuel. For example: a bowl of pasta gives us a hit of energy instantly however, it leaves us wanting more food more often, compared to a bowl of veggies giving us a slow burn of fuel & energy.
Studies have shown that there is a link between the gut & the brain which means what we eat plays a direct impact on our brain and mood.
So what we feed our bodies is so much more important than we know.
Intermittent Fasting
This goes along the lines of the previous point - ‘nutritional meals’ but intermittent fasting is not just a ‘weight loss tool’, it is so much more than that.
Intermittent fasting is a Bio Hack. Over time of consistent fasting(16, 18, 20, 24 hours etc), your body goes into a state of ‘ketosis’ which basically means your body starts burning stored fat for fuel rather than sugar directly from your previously eaten meal. This aids in more consistent energy, performance & stamina throughout the day and a better sleep at night(provided you eat your last meal 3 hrs before bed).
I personally LOVE intermittent fasting and it is something I have implemented on and off over the last 2 years. It really does give me the energy and drive I want throughout the day and fasting leaves me feeling light and motivated to achieve my goals.
Recharge
Another word for self-love.
Recharging is one of the most important things I have realised over the years which assists in equilibrium. This means allocating time within your day and week to do things that bring you more energy and balance, such as meditation, yoga, journaling, reading, burning sage, applying essential oils, running yourself a bath with Epsom salts or whatever it may be for you.
These things we make time for help us unwind and slips us into the para sympathetic system element of our nervous system which is essential for rest and recharging.
Avoid Blue Light 2+ hours Before Bed
Blue light plays a huge part in our quality of sleep. Blue light is most common artificial light, it is similar to the sun, it tells our body its daytime, whereas the night sky is a natural red light which tells us it’s time to start winding down for sleep.
So, with saying that, it means that the more blue light we consume within that time before bed, the more unproductive sleep we will have. It will take our bodies longer to wind down into a deep sleep.
A lot of the items surrounding us are made from blue light, such as our phones, our tv’s, our light bulbs, etc. So, these items are really important to limit within those 1-3 hours before bed.
This also leads to the importance of sleeping in a room that is fully dark whilst you are sleeping as this will also help your body drop into the deep sleep, rather than confusing it with light.
Preparing your body before sleep is super important. Even doing certain tasks before bed such as checking a notification, sending an important email or turning on a bright light can cause the body to release cortisol in the body and make it harder to have a productive night’s sleep and to wake up feeling well rested and energized.
