The modern pace of life dictates its own rules and forces you to solve a huge number of problems at the same time. This rhythm sucks out all your vital energy, and at the end of the working day you have only one desire: to go to bed, wrap yourself in a blanket and finally get a good night’s sleep.
Have you ever thought that the quality of rest not only determines our ability to recuperate, but also the quality of life?
After all rest is not just getting away from work. Its main task is restoration of vitality and energy. It is important to understand that working until you lose your pulse is an absolutely meaningless activity that no one needs, since labor productivity without rest drops, and redoing it later is a waste of time and effort. Back in the days of the USSR, in a book on the scientific organization of labor, the need for timely rest was formulated in this way: “The leader who burns at work, without sparing himself, is a pest who delays the final victory of communist labor.” And those who might apply the word “workaholic” to themselves should remember that rest is your responsibility both to yourself and to your loved ones.
For effective rest it is necessary. According to researchers, by simply associating work with something negative, stressful and responsible, and rest with something pleasant, relaxed and free, we drive ourselves into a hole of endless fatigue, since we are initially tuned in to what we ultimately get .
But everything is relative. If you talk to a young mother who has returned from maternity leave, you will hear that for her work is relaxation, since it is limited to 8-hour working hours, and mother is a 24-hour concept.
As the saying goes, “if you can’t change a situation, change your attitude towards it.” If you feel negative about your job, try to change the way you look at it. Think about who and how you benefit during your workday. Agree, if you have it, it means someone is paying you money for it. And just like that wages don't give it to anyone. Therefore, your work is important to someone.
It's even easier to find meaning in a job for which you don't get paid. After all, if there was no need for it, no one would do it. And where there is a need, there will certainly be meaning.
It is well known that the best vacation is change of activity. So why not take this advice?
If you are human intellectual work, most of their working time is spent solving complex problems, active rest will be effective, a little exercise stress. Sports activities, outdoor recreation, walking, going to a club or billiards are suitable. But what you definitely shouldn’t do is stay at home and spend time watching TV. If you don’t want to leave the house, you can start cleaning. Both useful and effective.
If your work involves emotional labor If you have to communicate a lot during the day with different people, then the best rest would be to reduce communication. Walking in the park, forest, and cycling are effective. You can engage in active recreation in nature - rafting on rivers, riding a yacht, hunting or fishing. You can do physical labor in your garden.
But for people physical labor In terms of relaxation, household chores will be optimal, the solution of which will require some mental effort, which does not at all eliminate the need for active recreation. These could be walks fresh air, fishing.
Where can you find the energy for active recreation when you are so tired at work? The following rule will help: you need to rest before you feel tired. Of course, rest also requires considerable energy expenditure. But where can you get it if you are overtired? It is very important to distribute your working time in such a way that you have pauses for short breaks (follow the rules of time management). After all, it is much easier to relieve minor fatigue than to get rid of severe fatigue.
The most correct rest consists of alternating between relaxation and tension.. If you cannot force yourself to go in for sports after a hard day at work, first rest a little, relax, go for a massage, and only after that start physical exercise.
This rule can also be used when planning work. If you alternate periods of tension and relaxation, you will not feel tired at all at the end of the working day.
Of course, each field of activity has its own rules. After intense preparation for a competition, an athlete needs at least 48 hours to recover. But after strong mental stress, oddly enough, 2 times more! Therefore, evaluate your workload and do not forget about this rule.
Remember: our body is subject to the influence of biorhythms, periods of activity are sharply replaced by periods of inactivity. After hard work, recessions occur at intervals of 50–90 minutes. It follows that It’s better to take six 10-minute breaks during the day than one hour. This will not only avoid fatigue, but also increase productivity.
To timely determine the moment of rest, you need to listen to yourself. When you realize that just a little more and fatigue will set in, take a short rest. No wonder the Chinese have a tradition of taking an afternoon nap. A rested employee is more effective than his tired, exhausted colleague.
During these ten-minute breaks, changing the type of activity is effective. If you think that you can close the report and read the news on the same computer as a recreation, then you are greatly mistaken. It’s better to go outside for a while and breathe some air.
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It is no secret that in our society it is customary, albeit unspoken, to brand solo travelers with descriptions of “lonely”, “sociopathic”, “unsociable”. Even shawarma is sometimes embarrassing to eat alone. In Paris. In a Michelin star restaurant.
But, despite the stereotypes, Lately Traveling alone is becoming more and more fashionable. We are in website, relying on the Quora and Reddit forums, found out what is so special about them and why everyone should experience such an experience.
1. You will see yourself in a new light.
As the classic said, if you want to test a friend, take him to the mountains. This rule can also work in the opposite direction: if you want to know yourself, go on a trip alone.
It sounds unromantic, but the logic here is simple: leaving the comfort zone introduces a person into an environment of self-knowledge. If you are lost in an unfamiliar city with a group of friends, friends will create a safe atmosphere in which responsibility and panic can be transferred to others.
Loneliness leaves no choice: you have to gather your courage and figure everything out on your own. This is the key moment in which the “other” qualities of a person are revealed: courage, generosity, sudden extroversion, cowardice, and so on. Such acquaintance usually cannot disappear without a trace - this is a fact.
2. Single player always gets more
The more people in the company, the longer the debate about where to go lasts. And a solo traveler is always selfish. And this is the case when the concept of selfishness does not have a negative connotation. So why not sometimes use this side of vice?
If you want, you can eat kebab, or if you want, you can sleep in the park. Long live freedom!
3. Homo orientus will awaken in you - a person who orients himself
Building a trip route, transfer connections, choosing accommodation - all this will somehow make you feel like a travel logistician. Even if you bought a trip from a tour operator, you still need to not get lost at the airport, you know. And terrain orientation, even with GPS maps, will make you a real a traveler, not a simple tourist, which follows an active friend or local guide.
P.S. You can acquire other unexpected talents, for example, becoming a camera self-timer master.
4. This is a great opportunity to get involved in an adventure
You can get into a good mess even in company, you say. True, but it’s more fun alone - there’s more adrenaline! Turn onto the wrong street, miss the train, check into the wrong hotel - and the premise of a good adventure film is guaranteed. The further development of the plot is already in your hands: if you perceive failures as heavenly punishment, you can get an absurd tragicomedy, and if you consider everything as a fun intercultural quest, you can get a good road movie.
5. There is a risk of infection with a foreign culture
When traveling alone, you can wear an invisibility cloak. In this case, for example, a criminal court officer might jump from Mickey to Snow White at Disneyland. No one will condemn him, because, firstly, not a single soul will know about it, and secondly, everyone will understand that this is simply a recharge necessary for a person, an attempt to escape into a reality in which he does not need to adjust his image to the local environment.
Have you ever traveled alone? Would you like to try it?
Drink green tea: Herbal tea has an excellent relaxing effect. Green tea is a source of L-theanine, which helps relieve anger. Boil water, brew tea, and take a soothing sip—it only takes a couple of minutes.
Chocolate bar: A few pieces of dark chocolate will help relieve stress and improve your mood. Dark chocolate regulates levels of the stress hormone cortisol and stabilizes metabolism, but keep in mind that it is not advisable to abuse it.
Remember about breathing: Is there an easier way to relax? Slow, deep breathing can help reduce arterial pressure and heart rate. For a change, try pranayama breathing. This yogic technique involves breathing through one nostril and then the other, and is used to reduce anxiety.
Try progressive relaxation: Are you tense? Use progressive relaxation to learn how to relax in any environment. This method consists of step-by-step training in selective tension and relaxation of certain types of muscles.
Count back: Yes, this method is known to everyone, but it really works. Try counting forward and backward several times. Your brain won't have time to worry if it's busy with numbers.
Close your eyes: If you can, then everything is fine. Just isolate yourself from the noise of the office or the chaos of the street behind the protection of tightly closed eyelids. This is an easy way to restore calm and focus.
Body relaxation
Give yourself a hand massage: Of course, you will not be able to use the services of a professional massage therapist at your workplace. But it’s quite possible to do it yourself. This will be especially useful for people who spend a lot of time in front of the keyboard. But if you have a little more than five minutes, then it’s quite possible.
Try acupressure: Acupressure is acupressure that owes its origins to ancient Chinese medicine. This method is less painful and completely safe, while being universally applicable and easily accessible to anyone.
Ride a tennis ball: Take off your shoes and roll a regular tennis ball with your feet. This makes for a great impromptu foot massage. This is especially nice if you have to wear high heels.
Get wet cold water wrists: If you feel like this, then go to the toilet and just wet your wrists and the area behind your earlobes with cold water. This will help you quickly calm down and relieve tension.
New environment
Be alone: Not everyone needs a cabin in the woods, but five minutes of solitude will help you gather your thoughts and clear your head.
Create a Zen zone for yourself: Find or create a special place for yourself to relax. This is a place where no one and nothing will disturb you. Maybe it will be comfortable armchair in the hall or a secluded bench in the courtyard - the main thing is that you associate it with peace and relaxation.
Look out the window: If you constantly look at the TV screen or monitor, then five minutes of contemplation real life Looking outside can really clear your mind.
Get organized: The daily clutter around you can be much more strong reason for more irritation than you think. The chaos on your desk is often a reflection of the chaos in your head. Remove all that is unnecessary, put in order what is necessary, and you will see how beneficial it will be for you.
Exercises
Stretching: Does this word bring to mind an image of a gym and graceful gymnasts in the splits? This is not at all necessary - you can stretch without even getting up from your workplace. Try to stretch well up and to the sides, various rotations of the body, tilts, or, for example,.
Yoga: Many people think that yoga is very difficult and not entirely suitable for a noisy city. However . Yoga is a great way to take control of not only your body, but also your mind.
Cozy home
In the tireless struggle for material well-being and financial stability, many Russians forget about their psychological and physical health. They ignore the body's alarm signals, work beyond their limits, do not take required vacations, spend weekends, at best, in front of the TV or computer monitor, and at worst, completing work tasks. Before judging the importance of work, the value of money, it is worth paying attention to the essence of modern folk wisdom: “Many have lost their health in attempts to make a fortune, and then lost their fortune in attempts to regain their former health.”
For those who cannot independently determine the level of their emotional and physical tension and at the same time be as objective as possible, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the signs of excessive stress, which creates increased risks of deterioration in health.
Three things make a poor man rich: courtesy, consideration and trust in others.
Indications for immediate relaxation therapy
Decreased performance. Feelings of psychological discomfort at work can manifest themselves in different ways. You should pay attention to your mental and physical state if you begin to notice that:
- Increasingly, you put off important things until the deadline and lose your former enthusiasm for performing professional tasks;
- You feel very tired towards the end of the work week and become depressed on Mondays;
- You begin to avoid making important decisions at work and notice professional irresponsibility and optionality;
- You do not want to solve the tasks assigned by your superiors creatively.
Deterioration of the emotional background. Physical fatigue, complete loss of enthusiasm and gambling desire for success in the professional field are often accompanied by emotional discomfort. Many people, having noticed signs of emotional instability, turn to psychologists, but to solve these problems it is enough to conduct just a few relaxation sessions at home. These body signals include:
- Loss of satisfaction after completing any important tasks;
- Irritability, aggression towards minor failures;
- Negative attitude towards the future;
- Lack of self-confidence, constant doubts about the right choice;
- With slight stress, you feel an anxious state, which is accompanied by increased heart rate, sweating, and headache;
Antisocial behavior. An increased level of tension and stress causes unbearable discomfort in people's society. If your behavior is similar to the one described below, urgently conduct several sessions of relaxation therapy.
- You avoid communicating with friends and relatives, even in your free time;
- You are uncomfortable with casual conversations in public places;
- You feel irritated by such insignificant and previously non-negative things as the intonation of the interlocutor’s voice, gestures, etc.;
- You have stopped paying attention to your favorite hobbies and hobbies that involve any communication or the participation of other people.
If you find more than three of the descriptions listed below that apply to you, you should immediately take anti-stress measures. Psychologists have developed several methods of targeted influence on a person’s emotional and physical state, which represent professional advice on restoring vitality available at home, or ways to have a good rest.
Exercises to relieve physical stress
Physiological stress factors have an underestimated impact on the general and emotional state of the body. Before moving on to spiritual rest, you should reduce physical stress.
These easy-to-do exercises will help you get rid of muscle tension, which usually accompanies stress:
- Sit in the most comfortable position for you(sitting or lying down), on a chair, sofa or on the floor, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that you feel as comfortable as possible. Then do the following: sequentially tighten the muscles of the legs, buttocks, abdomen, chest, back, arms, neck and face as you exhale and then relax the muscles of the whole body as you inhale. Repeat several times;
- Do some muscle stretching exercises. These could be ordinary pull-ups, but longer, or specialized yoga exercises;
- With the help of rhythmic breathing you can also get rid of constant muscle tension. It is enough to lie on your back and slowly inhale for a count of one, two, three, then hold your breath, again mentally counting to three and exhale also slowly. While performing this exercise, you should imagine the image of a huge broom sweeping all thoughts out of your head. Having achieved a high degree of relaxation, unprepared people can fall asleep for 10 - 15 minutes.
Nuances of relaxation therapy at home
During home relaxation sessions, take care in advance to eliminate possible irritating factors, for example, choose a suitable time of day when no one is home, create a special zone in advance, turn off noisy electrical appliances, mobile phone, computer, light scented candles instead of a lamp.
Pay special attention to the regularity of spiritual and physical relaxation sessions. In case of acute stress, they should take place at least four times a week, and in the best case – daily. The duration of therapy affects its effectiveness, so it should not exceed three hours and last at least 20 minutes.
Contraindications to relaxation methods at the physiological level: disturbances in the functioning of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, pregnancy. After consultation with a doctor, exercises can be adjusted individually.
Spiritual filling of the body
Eliminating the consequences of stress reflection at the physiological level is akin to eliminating the symptoms of a disease while ignoring the main focus of the disease. To avoid repeated stress, you should develop your own system of spiritual relaxation.
Emotional fatigue is treated using the “reverse” principle. Through your own observations, find the cause of stress. Because of psychological characteristics personality, inclinations towards introversion or extroversion, different ideas about psychological comfort are difficult to distinguish solely the right reasons the emergence of spiritual emptiness and emotional tension. These can be completely opposite things, for example, for some people stress is caused by monotonous monotonous work, while others suffer from the obligation to think creatively and often make important decisions, someone may not be able to withstand excessive solitude, and for others, excess communication becomes unbearable .
Spiritual rest can consist of two opposite areas: getting rid of and getting rid of any information, or saturating it with new information, charged with positive emotions. Since psychologists avoid specifics in this matter, you must rely on your own feelings.
In the first case, you should provide yourself with a secluded, quiet place in the house where you can enjoy peace and quiet. It is important to arrange daily spiritual therapy sessions in a well-ventilated area, without the risk of being disturbed. Preventative rest: listen to silence for 10 minutes a day. And in a targeted impact on the restoration of the psyche good remedy will become a solitary hobby that develops fine motor skills.
If there is a lack of information or positive emotions, you should communicate as much as possible with people who are optimistic, eliminate idleness completely, look for sources of fresh information that is interesting to you, read books, magazines or newspapers, take up a new hobby that would require you to be creative and active .
After a couple of weeks of using this method, you will feel a return of strength, fullness of vital energy and emotional calm.
Alex Sujeong-Kim Pan, an American psychologist and artificial intelligence researcher who works as a consultant in Silicon Valley and a visiting researcher at Stanford University, knows a lot about this. Soojung-Kim Pan's latest book is called Rest and is about how to rest to be more effective at work.
It would seem that what’s so difficult here is not to work, and everyone knows how to do it. However, things with rest are a little more complicated.
Before you can relax, you need to overcome at least two powerful factors of resistance: external and internal. On the one hand, the idea of a modern successful person implies that he is constantly busy, and for many it is inconvenient to deviate from the “party line”. On the other hand, even when we find ourselves on a legitimate vacation, we often simply do not know how to get out of a neurotic state and allow ourselves to relax.
Don't burn out at work
Alex Soojung-Kim Pan talks about the reasons that prompted him to write a book on this topic. After 15 years of working in Silicon Valley, he began to feel burnt out. It was no longer possible to cope with tasks as efficiently as before. What is the first thing an active person does in such a situation? Strives to fit as many tasks into the working day as possible. Sujong-Kim Pan did the same, but it did not bring any results - the work only became harder. But during a sabbatical in Cambridge, reflecting and taking a leisurely walk every day, he discovered that he was able to accomplish more useful things than during his “real” work, and most importantly, it brought more pleasure.
This got Alex Soojeong-Kim Pang thinking about how unfair we treat vacations today by counting 80 hours. working week the main means of achieving success. Giant companies in the area high technology creates the perception that if you don't work that many hours every week, you're a slacker. However, recently there has been an understanding that rest is not only pleasant, but also useful for completing work tasks.
Alex Soojung-Kim Pan talks about her book.
Companies such as Basecamp and Treehouse have begun to eliminate the practice of evening correspondence on current projects and reduce the length of the working day. A hundred years ago, Henry Ford showed that you can be productive 8 hours a day instead of 10. And these modern companies are proving that we don't have to be online 24/7.
Holidays and work in different countries
In Europe, holidays have historically been longer and working hours have been shorter than in the United States, where a more powerful focus on technological development has been taken. In European countries, many stores are closed on Saturdays and Sundays or are open only in the first half of the day. Today, when discussing work culture, Americans tend to admit that Europe was right about something. Sujeong-Kim Pan notes that Mexico and South Korea, which have longer working days than Scandinavia and France and even Germany, have lower productivity rates.
But in Japan there is a whole phenomenon of death from overwork - karoshi. The workload in Japan is very high - while working on large projects, Japanese employees simply do not have time to return home and use the services of capsule hotels located near business centers. As a rule, the causes of death for overworking Japanese are heart attacks, strokes, as well as sudden exacerbations of chronic diseases due to stress. In 2000, overvoltage caused the death of then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. During his two years in office, he took only three days off and worked at least 12 hours a day.
In short, due to the inability to rest, we face, at a minimum, fatigue and decreased efficiency, and at maximum, Japanese-style karoshi. Here are some tips to help avoid this outcome, given by Alex Soojung-Kim Pan.
1. Look up to the greats
According to him, many famous scientists, public figures and artists “dedicated their lives, not days and evenings,” to their work. Studying their daily lives, one notices the following: the work that we consider most important to their legacy (for example, writing “the main novel of a generation”) they did only a few hours a day. The rest of the time they traveled, met and corresponded with friends, and indulged in many other pleasant activities.
This is what Charles Darwin's working day looked like, for example. Every day from eight in the morning he worked in his office for an hour and a half. At 9:30 I started reading the morning mail and answering letters. At 10:30 he returned to more serious work, sometimes going to greenhouses or to an enclosure with animals, where he conducted observations and conducted experiments. At noon, Darwin announced with satisfaction: “I have done today Good work” and went for a long walk along his favorite path leading from his estate Down House, located near London. When he returned, he answered a few more letters and retired to sleep. Then he walked around the neighborhood again and returned to his office to join his family for dinner at 5:30 p.m. That's the whole working day.
On this schedule, Darwin wrote 19 essays, including On the Origin of Species, a book that still influences, if not provokes controversy, our perception of man and nature.
John Lubbock, a British public figure and researcher who seemed to be involved in everything under the sun (his track record includes politics, banking, archeology, biology, literary creativity), promoted relaxation. As a politician, he gave the British extra days of national holidays (Bank Holidays) in 1871. While doing business, Lubbock divided his day into half-hour blocks and constantly switched his attention. After finances, he could well reflect on the problem of parthenogenesis in biology. He also spent a lot of time outdoors, playing cricket and golf.
Sujeong-Kim Pan notes that both Darwin and John Lubbock had something in common: they both lived life to the fullest, did not focus on one type of activity and at the same time left a significant legacy.
2. Have an active holiday
Rest, according to Suzhong-Kim Pan, is more than just the absence of work. Many of the most relaxing and rewarding types of recreation (that is, those that make us feel truly rested) are active. Physical exercise, a walk or a favorite hobby will do more for you than watching TV on the couch.
Relaxing, just lying on the couch, is also sometimes simply necessary. By the way, doing nothing is also a difficult task, close to meditative practice. As a rule, we replace “nothing” with background viewing of TV shows, mindless wandering around the house and unproductive actions. So you still need to be able to engage in genuine idleness. This activity gives inner peace, while active recreation gives more new ideas.
In terms of relaxation, Sujong-Kim Pan suggests following the Greeks, who valued sports activities to the same extent as wise conversations at feasts. The classical Greek model, which implies harmony of body and mind, is still considered by many to be the most successful.
3. Get good sleep
If at work you are advised to forget about sleep, it is better to approach such work with caution. For some time the body can exist in a mode of constant tension, but soon this resource will run out. Sleep helps us solve problems that we think about while awake. That is why they say “the morning is wiser than the evening” and “sleep with this thought.” We would not recommend relying entirely on folk wisdom, but in this case there are sound ideas hidden behind it. During sleep, the brain sorts information and creates lasting memories.
In the pre-electrification era, people got up early and went to bed early. It was more profitable to work during daylight hours, otherwise you wouldn’t have enough candles. Now conditions have changed, and with them our circadian rhythms have changed. However, our body still perceives bright white light (such as that coming from computer screens and smartphones) as a signal to be awake. That is why, for a good night’s rest, it is recommended to part with gadgets half an hour to an hour before bedtime.
4. Don't wait for inspiration
Alex Soojung-Kim Pan says that while working on the book, he completely changed his attitude towards creativity. Previously, it was similar to romantic ideas in the spirit of the 19th century - as if creativity is some kind of force from above that takes possession of a person spontaneously, and we can only wait by the sea for the weather (or rather, the muse). Over time, Sujeong-Kim Pan concluded that people with long creative lives simply start working, and then inspiration comes. If you do this every day, you can call on the muse constantly, at the time you need.
The proposal to “rest more” in order to be like Darwin can cause a natural feeling of protest. A modern resident of Russia has to work hard to achieve something - or even just to make ends meet. Especially if you are a student with two part-time jobs, a single working mother, or have received a rare and complex specialty in which it is difficult to realize your potential and receive a decent salary. Nevertheless, we all rest regularly, and it is in our power to make this rest less passive and more active.
Work that truly deserves the respect of other people does not exist separately from the person doing it.
Successful intellectual and creative activity is a product of the efforts of the individual. It is precisely for the development of personality that productive rest is needed - that is, active pastime, reflection, sports, self-development and communication with inspiring people. All this becomes fuel for our intellect and is converted into the movement of creative forces. During your vacation, you do not work - but at the same time, you collect luggage that will definitely be useful for work.
