PRODUCTIVITY

How to Recharge Yourself in 3 Simple Steps

Breathe. Drink. Move.

People with kids have often experienced this scenario — you come home late from office after a long day at work, with boring meetings, a demanding boss and an unsupportive team. You are tired, stressed out and irritated. You desperately want to spend a few quiet minutes, sipping wine and watching Netflix.

Just then, your 3-year-old comes running and demands you to get up and help her with her colouring book. Or your 10-year-old boy wants help with his homework. Children have the energy of a hurricane, and it isn’t easy to put them off.

The truth is, you DO want to play with your children, but you are too tired.

The result — you are annoyed at your lack of energy, and frustrated with the guilt, gnawing at your heart.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had the energy?

But damn the office, the demanding work environment, the deadlines etc. etc.

I can tell you a million ways to have high energy even after a day’s hard work, but it wouldn’t help — you don’t think it is YOU who needs to do something — you want your office to make sure that your work-life balance is taken care off, or your spouse needs to be more supportive — or the govt. needs to do something … or …

It’s your mind and your body, and only you can make the change.

The three simple steps given below will help you recharge quickly:

But will only work if you accept that it’s something in your control.

Step 1: Breathe Deeply

Evolutionary biology explains our fight, flight or freeze responses to a threat. When a sabre tooth tiger was chasing our ancestors, their bodies learnt to stop digestion, create tunnel vision, shut down the immune system and send all the blood to the limbs. Rapid shallow breathing helped us run like hell and hopefully — survive for one more day.

We are working with a stone-age brain in a high technology world.

Our brain perceives everything, from a hundred unread emails to Trump’s tweets as threats. Snarling traffic, frenzied newsreaders, screaming bosses and even the broken coffee machine send us into a fight, flight, freeze response, and we end up with chronic shallow breathing all day. We become continuously oxygen-deprived and as a result, feel tiredness and fatigue.

Is there a silver lining to all this?

Fortunately yes. Just like perceived threat causes shallow breathing, deliberate deep breathing sends a signal to our brain that the danger has passed. Our body relaxes, and as more oxygen floods our body and brain, we feel energized. Just six deep belly breaths can recharge you for an hour.

What do I do?

Learn diaphragmatic breathing. Hers is how:

1. Sit comfortably on a chair or couch
2. Relax your body, particularly your shoulders
3. Breathe through your nose while counting slowly to four
4. Make sure your chest remains still while your stomach expands
5. Hold for a count of four
6. Now breathe out for a count of four

Whenever you have a few seconds break, anytime during the day, practise the diaphragmatic breathing technique.

Practice the diaphragmatic breathing technique for a few minutes just after reaching home and you will be in a good shape to handle your supercharged children.

Step 2: Drink Water

We reach for coffee, soda or energy drinks when we feel tired. For most of us, coffee starts the day and gets us through most of it until we have had just too much caffeine and we switch to beer or wine to calm us down.

Doctors have been telling us for long that drinks such as coffee, soda or even wine or beer, actually dehydrate us.

So what’s wrong with getting a bit dehydrated?

It’s our brain that takes the hit. Our body is 60% water, but our brain is 75% water. Proper hydration is essential for the optimal functioning of our brain.

Being dehydrated by just 2% impairs performance in tasks that require attention, psychomotor, and immediate memory skills, as well as assessment of the subjective state

— Ana Adan, Journal of American College of Nutrition

I don’t want to give up coffee.

There is no need to give up your favourite drinks. You can enjoy your drinks for taste, aroma and whatever that appeals to you. But don’t rely on them to recharge your tired mind and body.

What do I do?

Simple, drink more water. Here is how:

• Use habit stacking — just before you take a sip of your coffee, drink a glass of water. If you are making your coffee, fill the cup with water and drink it before pouring in your coffee. If you are getting your coffee at a cafe, ask for a glass of water. Most cafes will serve you water for free.
• Pour two glasses of water — help your family members or friends drink more water. Pour yourself a glass and one more for someone you care. Ask them to the same for you. Your children will be happy to serve you a glass of water if they know that it will charge you up.

Get in the door and first, walk to the kitchen and drink a glass of water. You’ll feel better in a few minutes.

Step 3: Move Your Body

This is not about exercise for fitness or health, this is a quick fix for your brain.

When we are tired, exercise is the last thing we want to do. Instead, we want to lie down on the couch and relax, or maybe even take a nap. But that’s not going to help us avoid a guilt trip for not playing with our children.

Our brain is a chemical factory and releases hormones to help us deal with various situations we encounter. We go through the day wrestling with perceived threats, and our brain floods our body with adrenalin and cortisol to help us deal with them.

Our brain does have countermeasures to help us calm down, feel relaxed and happy. But we move from one stressful situation — our office, to another — our home.

Our homes should feel safe and peaceful, but more often than not, we see our spouses, children and chores as threats and continue with our adrenalin and cortisol chemistry. We need to switch to happy chemicals such as endorphins, dopamine, serotonin etc.

So, how do we trick our brain into releasing endorphins?

Regular exercise keeps our hormone levels in balance, but here we are talking about a shot in the arm when we need it. As little as 30 seconds of high-intensity movement switches your brain chemistry.

As your heart rate increases during exercise, blood flow to the brain increases. As blood flow increases, your brain is exposed to more oxygen and nutrients.

When you exercise, your body releases chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins in your brain that make you feel happy. Not only is your brain dumping out feel-good chemicals, but exercise also helps your brain get rid of chemicals that make you feel stressed and anxious.

— Elizabeth A. Weaver II, Hilary H. Doyle

What do I do?

Here are some simple exercises to get your blood flowing:

• Jumping jacks — for 30 seconds, do as many as you can, take a few seconds break and repeat
• Jogging — go around the block. If you don’t want to go outdoors, jog in place for a minute
• Hop around with your children — this will get your heart pumping and get your children to tire out a bit as well
• Walk a few stops — if you use public transport, get off a few stops before your destination and take a fast walk home.

Make it a point to get your heart pumping for a few minutes as you reach home.

Summary

Recharge yourself anytime with these three steps:

1. Breathe Deeply Learn more: What Is Diaphragmatic Breathing?
2. Drink water Learn more: Water And Brain Function
3. Move your body Learn more: 6 Ways Exercise Can Boost Your Brain Health

I am eager to hear your story of dealing with tiredness and fatigue. What’s your secret formula for a quick recharge?

Thanks for reading!