Mind-Body Health

For most professionals, the feeling of burnout is a familiar one. The energy that once filled your workday slowly trickles away. You notice your efficiency slip but cannot find the inspiration to regain it. The fatigue settles into your body. You can feel it in your back, your temples. Even if you entered your profession with lofty inspirations and a sense of fulfillment, you notice your inner dialogue around your job becoming increasingly negative. Experiencing burnout isn’t a reflection on you or your professional worthiness. It’s a consequence of a culture that encourages people to put work ahead of their personal needs. According to a recent trends report from the American Psychological Association, burnout and work-related stress are at an all-time high. That’s why it’s never been more important for professionals to practice mindfulness.

Our daily habits can largely influence how we feel and how we move through our lives. Our state of mind is a culmination of these daily choices, and we have the power to make small decisions every day to benefit our mental and emotional well-being.

When we’re trying to cultivate holistic well-being, we must consider what impact our work and workplaces are having on our lives. It’s no secret that a vast majority of our days are spent in work environments. Whether you work from home or commute to another location, you will likely see a pattern that shows space at the very beginning and very end of your day, reserved for life, and all the space between full of work duties. Looking at how much time you spend working over the course of your life, it may become clear that work plays a significant role in your overall health and well-being.

The evening is a time to prioritize grounding and inviting our focus and energy inward. It can feel hard to transition from a busy and stimulating day into the evening hours. This energy is often carried with us into the nighttime, affecting our sleep and ability to relax and restore. The yin energy of the evening invites us to spend time in quiet, connecting with ourselves and releasing and grounding the energy and mental noise we have accumulated throughout the day.

Anger can be an intense emotional experience that often feels inexplicable. It can arise out of nowhere for something seemingly irrational and can feel hard to get a hold of. Experiencing anger persistently is usually a sign of stuck and unexpressed emotion. These emotions may have nothing to do with anger, but when experiences like sadness, shame, and frustration are held in the body, they can manifest as anger in our day-to-day lives.

Shorter workouts have taken over the at-home exercise space with everything from online yoga to Pilates to cardio classes being pared down to shorter increments. For many, this switch-up has been welcomed with open arms, making it even easier to get a workout into a jam-packed day. But, time isn’t the only reason why this workout trend has grown in popularity — it’s the efficacy of a shorter workout that makes it even more appealing.

Quality sleep plays an important role in physical and mental health. Chronic sleep insufficiency increases risk factors for nearly every major disease. Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control nearly one-third of Americans are habitually sleep-deprived. Prioritizing sufficient, quality rest may be the single biggest step that you can take to stave off disease and promote wellbeing.

Aquí hay un cuestionario con una sola pregunta: ¿Para tener un cuerpo sano, que es más deseable, estar en forma físicamente o estar libre de depresión? La respuesta correcta es estar libre de depresión. La depresión está relacionada con la falta de sueño, la fatiga, la disminución de la inmunidad, la susceptibilidad a las infecciones, los ataques cardíacos prematuros y más. Pero la mayoría de la gente tiene la costumbre de acercarse a sus cuerpos sólo físicamente.

They say laughter is the best medicine and while that is certainly true for our mental health — laughing releases endorphins, which can boost the mood! — it’s also wildly true for our physical health. Laughing requires more oxygen intake so, in a way, it’s like its own form of breathwork. It can also even help temporarily relieve pain. But, perhaps one of the most interesting things about laughter is how it can help the body detox.

For nearly three years we have endured levels of stress, uncertainty, and fear in unprecedented amounts. We quickly became familiar with mask mandates, sheltering in place, social distancing, and a new virtual life. As we’ve familiarized ourselves with these new terms that shape the way we live, we’ve settled into entirely new ways of being.