Struggling to get through the day? You’re not alone. Constant fatigue among UK workers is much more common than you might think. So how can we combat it?
Keep Hydrated: Aim to try and drink 2 litres of water per day. This sounds like a lot but can easily be achieved by keeping a bottle of water close by to sip regularly throughout the day. If you’re not used to drinking this much, set yourself small goals over a few weeks, slowly building your intake up. You can also try alternating each tea or coffee with a glass of water. This will not only help you to achieve your two litre goal, but also aids in offsetting the diuretic affects of tea and coffee.
Watch Your Caffeine Intake: Try not to drink caffeinated drinks after lunchtime as afternoon consumption can still affect you into the evening and disturb your sleep. If you enjoy hot drinks at work, try to swap to decaffeinated drinks or herbal teas and see if this change helps you to nod off easier in the evening.
Try to Keep Moving Throughout the Day: Movement and physical activity keep your blood flowing which helps to improve concentration and relieves stress and anxiety. Simple activities such as stretching, taking the stairs and walking over to chat to a colleague instead of sending an email, can all help you to keep active over the day.
Snack Regularly: Keep energy levels up and blood sugar balanced by regularly snacking on healthy foods, rather than leaving yourself hungry until your next meal. If you are less hungry at lunch time, you will likely have a lighter lunch, which will combat the post-lunch slump. Nuts and fruit are good options to reach for when you begin to feel peckish as they are full of fibre and omegas to aid digestion and help concentration. Try to avoid sugary treats as the initial energy boost wears off quickly and the sugar crash can end up making you feel worse.
Use The Pomodoro Technique: This technique helps you to break your workload down into manageable chunks and allows you a five minute refresher break for every 25 minutes of work completed. This can help to improve concentration and productivity and avoid mental fatigue.
Watch Your Posture: Bad posture can lead to pain in the neck, back, shoulders and hips. Pains and aches can cause fatigue and bad posture can affect your concentration and productivity. If you need help to achieve a better posture, take a look at an ergonomic chair to help you into the correct sitting position.
Try incorporating some or all of these tips into your work day and see how much improvement is made to your levels of fatigue.
[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ title=”1″ description=”1″ submit=”Sign up”]