Ten tips to practice every day for returning to work strong and happy.

Stay in touch with our optimum health and wellness advisor & CEO Niamh Buffini. Health advice you can count on.

What works for others may not work for you, and what’s considered a miracle potion one day might be disproved the next. Research is constantly evolving, which is why it is usually best to focus on the basics. Straightforward routines run rings around complexity everyday.

Follow our ten tips while transitioning back to work, ‘happy and here.’

1. Thought of going back to the office has you stressed? Try the 6-4-7 breathing exercise.

Try this for 5 minutes. Breathe in for six counts, hold for four counts, and exhale for 7 counts. In order to rest and allow your digestion system to work properly, we must slow down our breathing to relax and calm down. The more you can relax, the more it benefits blood pressure, heart health, and anxiety levels.

2. Eat meals with three colors.

Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and enzymes. Eat at least three on your lunch or dinner plate every day. All of these in their natural form, help support the performance of our bodies.

3. The simpler the goal, the better.

Choose one goal and outline what it will take to get there. If you have too many goals, your intentions can become cluttered and divided. To create positive change we must take massive action, doing this one by one will allow us to see it happen one at a time. As change happens, it allows us move to the next goal seamlessly.

4. You’re never too fit for the basics.

We all need to practice good movement habits as our lives change once again, becoming more ‘work life’ active will have an effect on our basic movement. We all have certain dysfunctions that creep into the equation daily. Revisiting your foundational movement skills, you can address any problems and reduce the risk of injury.

5. Match your recovery to your workout.

Recovery matters more. When choosing a recovery strategy that accounts for the type of stress placed on your system, when you may strain your system in a variety of ways, you stress yourself as your body tolerates load and gravity.

A.    Recovery for after metabolic workout - prioritize nutrition in recovery to replace used energy.

B.     Recovery for the Neural system – prioritize lying or sleeping to reboot the nervous system needs complete brain and physical shutdown.

C.     Recovery for mechanical stress – prioritize with self-massage and soft-tissue work (Rolling)

6. Pinpoint your motivation.

When you’re motivated by something significant to your life, you tend to stick to it. In other words, exercising because you’re expected to is not motivating. If you exercise because it means something to you — maybe it allows you to go on more adventures with friends or be more present with your grandchildren — you’re more likely to stay consistent.

7. Put sleep before screen time.

Whether it’s because you’re staying up late to work or have a burning need to scroll through social media, it’s easy to push sleep to the bottom of your priority list. Sometimes you can’t avoid a lack of sleep because life happens, but there are some things you can control. Establish a bedtime routine that works for you. Maybe it’s ditching tech to read a book. Perhaps it’s a five-minute meditation, or maybe you’d fancy a bath and a podcast to wind down.

8. Get vitamins and minerals from food first.

Allow for a range of vitamin and mineral intake through food, taking them in tablet form ‘fills a gap’, but does not replace fruits and vegetables. Eating fatty fish and foods that provide a good source of fiber, enzymes, and probiotics. The combination promotes steady energy and heart health, improves brain function, and helps your body stay satisfied and optimize nutrient absorption.

9. Think better movement over bigger muscles.

Developing muscles without proper movement is a bad idea. We would love to have a 6 pack and bulging biceps, but we can loose the ability to move our muscle groups effectively, potentially causing injury. Prioritize proper movement, and then you can start to increase reps and load.

10. Take a minute.

Before going back to the workplace or changing up your routine, take that extra time with your family to enjoy quality time together.