How Work Can Take a Toll on Your Health
Work can be a means of accomplishing big life goals (or, at least, providing the means to accomplish big life goals). However, your work life can also take a major toll on your mental and physical health! Here are a few ways you may see work negatively impacting your life, and ways to improve those negative effects!
Stress
Stress can stem from multiple points of your work life. For one, deadlines and pressures from accomplishing work tasks to a high quality can increase stress levels significantly. Knowing that a person or a project’s outcome relies on your efforts induces a heavy “perfectionist” anxiety. Furthermore, the amount of time you spend at work takes you away from other elements of your life, like family and friend relationships, hobbies, and personal goals or self-care. The less time you are able to spend on these rewarding, relaxing activities, the less relief you can find! It is important to find a healthy balance between work and social life balance, so that you are able to vent some of that unhealthy work stress through positive, productive outlets.
Back Problems
Doing any one thing for hours on end will put some substantial strain on your body! Your back is especially susceptible to being overstrained or under stretched throughout the day, leaving it sore and cramped by day’s end. You can help your back out by implementing routine stretching through your work day. Improving your back’s strength will also help it be able to maintain the positions or muscle tension it is sure to sustain, regardless of your occupation. If you are experiencing particularly bad back pain, consider physical therapy! Physical therapy uses a number of techniques to restore your functioning. This can save you a ton of residual pain and problems outside of your work life.
Poor Diet
Busy schedules often mean that a healthy diet is, unfortunately, put on the back burner. It is easier and faster to just stick to, well, fast food! However, this means that your body that needs to work hard is not getting the nutritional boosts it needs to perform its best. Poor food decisions leave your body unenergized and more prone to illness and stress! Take the time to meal prep at the beginning of the week, meals that are quick for you to put together or grab on the go, but that provide those essential macro and micronutrients you need for the best productivity possible.
Don’t let this core part of your life become a reason your life feels overly exhaustive, stressful, or even painful! Prioritize taking care of yourself, and you will find that your work life is subsequently improved also.
Read this next: The Downsides to Being Self-Employed
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