Work & life

• Start your day with a nutritious breakfast full of energy. 
• Avoid short-term “power suppliers” like coffee, energy drinks and chocolate bars. You’ll be better off with wholesome snacks such as fruit, vegetables, nuts and yoghurt. Drink enough water to maintain your concentration.
• During your lunch break, do without sausage and chips at the snack bar. The low performance is pre-programmed with high-fat meals. Choose dishes that will sustainably supply you with nutrients and fibre.
• Wholemeal breads with cheese, raw vegetables and fruit are ideal for your business trip. They can be prepared without effort and packed safely for transport.
• Consume your food conscientiously and not during the hustle and bustle of working at your desk. 

• Even if stress cannot always be avoided, be careful with yourself and listen to your body. Frequent lack of power, irritability, sleep disorders, nervousness and physical complaints such as dizziness, circulatory disorders, stomach problems and back pain are warning signals for a prolonged overstrain caused by stress.
• Possible ways to achieve more tranquillity and balance can be walking, reading and sports. However, relaxation techniques such as autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation also help to reduce inner restlessness, tension and anxiety.
• Take a breather in the office at the open window, for example, or take a walk during your lunch break. Get some exercise with short stretching exercises at your workplace, or climb the stairs instead of using the lift.

Relaxation exercises have a targeted effect and are easy to use. They help to reduce inner restlessness, tension and fears and to bring about conscious relaxation, step-by-step.

Mindfulness exercises: You are mindful when you are aware of all the things in and around you that have no real value for you. This increases your ability to consciously differentiate yourself from requirements, e.g. to politely say “no” or to postpone a task until later. Mindfulness leads to more self-determination in life and consequently to less stress and feelings of powerlessness.

One recognised method, for example, is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), developed by the American molecular biologist Jon Kabat–Zinn. It is based on Buddhist roots, but is also detached from religious faiths. For example, you concentrate on breathing and on individual muscle movements associated with it, such as lifting and lowering the abdominal wall. Meditation also helps you to become more attentive in everyday life.

Autogenous training – during autogenic training, you relax your psyche first (“autogenic”) and consequently your body automatically. A group leader, a CD recording or you yourself in thoughts say formulas and sentences that suggest certain feelings. For instance – “My right arm is heavy” or “My right arm is pleasantly warm”. In this way, you go step-by-step through your whole body. With regular practice, the suggestions reach your unconscious, are converted into nerve impulses of the vegetative nervous system and influence body functions such as heartbeat, respiration, stomach-intestine activity, the blood circulation of muscles & skin and heat balance.

Progressive muscle relaxation – with this method you first relax the body and then the psyche. You go step-by-step through your body and tighten specific muscle parts, hold the tension for a few seconds, let go when you exhale and then let the relaxation take effect for up to 60 seconds.

There are, of course, many other relaxation procedures such as

• breathing therapy
• biofeedback
• Feldenkrais
• yoga and 
• qigong

Tips – find out what suits you best – and then incorporate a daily exercise into your everyday life.
 

• Check your career goals: What motivates you and what are your goals? Do you want more professional success, social recognition, maybe a higher income? Or more independence and satisfaction? If you answer these questions honestly, you can then set the right priorities.
• Take a close look at your current activity: Is your job still the right one? Was it never the right job, or have the circumstances changed? Do you enjoy your work? Satisfying your own needs doesn’t have to take place exclusively in your private life. If possible, try to learn like your work! To drag yourself into the office every morning with negative feelings will create sheer stress for you in the long run. Is there perhaps a training opportunity for you or a job that would suit you better?
• Take a break for a minute and pay tribute to your own achievements: Have you completed a task and reached a milestone for today? Then it’s time – and important – to recognise and appreciate your own performance. Sit back and take a deep breath. Think again about the activity you just finished – and then say goodbye to it with a long exhalation. Now you can turn your attention to the next task.

• Don’t stay late in your office or factory on normal working days: Nothing provides more balance than spending the evening with your family or friends or devoting yourself to other things that you enjoy.
• Take good care of yourself at work too: A small break at an open window works wonders! And a short walk is great at lunchtime. Stretching exercises are ideal for forgetting your workplace from time to time – and they even work well when you’re sitting down.
• Enjoy your lunch – best of all without stress and hustle & bustle. For example, avoid eating fast at your desk in front of your monitor
• Stay calm! Stress and overload situations are part of everyday working life, but you can make it much better by saying to yourself, “When this is finished, I’m going to get my balance back!” It’s very important that you implement this plan promptly as soon as the stress situation no longer exists.