7 types of health to recharge in 2021
Every activity you do requires energy. And most of that energy is not merely physical. — Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a marathon, and it is not yet over. Furthermore, there are many who believe that the system shocks of the past year may result in long lasting changes to the way organizations and people live and work. In this moment, with 2020 behind us, many of us may be feeling the burn of what has been described as pandemic fatigue. Studies have shown that months of protracted home isolation, social separation, uncertainty, continuous overuse of electronic devices, and the political and economic stresses of the past year have left many people feeling restless, irritable, anxious, lacking in energy, or even depressed (UCHealth, Oct 30, 2020).
What steps can we take to ensure that we ourselves, our families, our friends, our teams, and our communities have the energy and resilience needed to get through this next phase of the global pandemic? What lessons can we take from the last year, on how to live well and stay healthy in challenging times, and in the years ahead?
If life were a video game, there would be 7 health bars
Medical doctor and public speaker Saundra Dalton-Smith gave a TED talk in early 2019 in which she observed that our health is not just physical, but also mental, emotional, spiritual, social, sensory, and creative. In order to maintain a healthy and productive lifestyle, Dalton-Smith argues that we need a more holistic approach to rest, one that emphasizes not just sleep, but a nurturing of the multiple facets of our well being.
According to Dalton-Smith, each type of activity or work we do expends a certain amount of energy. As with physical fitness routines, we train ourselves in each of these areas of health through exercise and develop strength and endurance through regular vigorous activity. But just as physical workouts require periods of rest to heal and build muscle, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, sensory, and creative exercise also require periods of relief to avoid burnout and fatigue which may hinder performance and growth. The more active we are in each of these areas, the more rest is needed to recharge.
Dalton-Smith’s talk was given prior to the pandemic, but it seems all the more relevant today. With all of the changes this past year, what aspects of our overall health and wellbeing may we have neglected? Let’s take a moment to reflect on our experiences of the last year, and how Dalton-Smith’s 7 types of rest can be applied to avoid pandemic fatigue in the year ahead.
Physical Rest
The shift to working from home presents challenges for two kinds of physical rest: passive rest (sleep habits) and active rest (fitness, stretching, posture, and body circulation).
- Establish sleep boundaries, block out your calendar and devices
While remote working affords more flexibility in schedule, it has also meant a blurring of the boundaries between work time and home time. Research in April of 2020 showed that people tended on average to work longer hours, with more work happening in mornings and evenings than before the pandemic (Economist, Nov 24, 2020). Studies have shown that excessive screen time, especially later in the evening can have a detrimental impact on sleep. With more and more communication being done by video conference and always on instant messaging tools, it is all the more important to manage time effectively.
This isn’t always easy, especially when working with global teams across different time zones, but it is important to establish boundaries and a consistent sleep routine, and to stick to it. Build a sleep schedule which works and block out periods each day on your outlook calendar when you will be offline. Turn off devices when going to bed, and set them aside. During those offline periods, make full use of “Do Not Disturb” functions on messaging tools, and give yourself permission to say “No” to meeting invites which occur when you should be sleeping.
2. Establish an easy and convenient light exercise routine from home
Making workouts easy and close to home and blocking them out on your calendar can help avoid the trap of a sedentary life during home isolation. With access to gyms, pools, and many other indoor exercise facilities closed, it is easy to let physical activity fall to the wayside. But long hours of stationary activity in front of a computer can lead to poor circulation, posture, and ultimately fatigue. Creating a simple and easy way to get light exercise in or around the home enables you to fit it into your daily schedule. Schedule a regular time to take a walk, run, do light workout at home, or attend an online yoga class.
3. A glass of water is nature’s “stand up and stretch” timer
Set reminders to take short breaks to stand up from your chair, take deep breaths, and stretch your legs. Step away from your desk for a moment, or even step outside for a minute to stretch. A great natural timer I have found is simply to keep a bottle of water at your desk throughout the day while working. Drinking water ensures that your body stays hydrated, and it acts as a natural timer to force you to get up to use the restroom — bathroom breaks ensure that you have intermittent breaks from long periods of focused work to stand up and maintain circulation.
Mental Rest
The over-dependence on electronic devices during home isolation has led to massive spikes in screen time. Research suggests that people in lockdown consumed on average 60% more media content than before (Nielsen, March 16, 2020). Over time, this prolonged continuous inflow of information can result in mental fatigue.
4. Schedule mental quiet time to unplug from screens
Take time to disconnect from your work, and schedule quiet periods without screen media or information content. Plan for moments when you will set your phone aside, remove your headphones and earbuds, and enjoy a moment of pure silence. Find a quiet space in your home, or take a moment to step outside without your devices.
5. “A change of work is rest” — use low energy chores as mental breaks
My grandmother used to say that “a change of work is rest.” When feeling overwhelmed by to-do lists, sometimes it can be useful to identify those tasks which require little mental effort, and use those tasks as moments of respite from more mentally draining work. Empty your mind while doing the dishes or folding laundry, tasks that don’t require much thought, but which are more manual and tactile, using your hands. Sometimes easy manual work can be relaxing and allow time for mental recharge.
6. Create a playlist of relaxing music or nature sounds
Quite often it can be tempting to multitask by listening to the radio or news while working, but this can often lead to an accelerated drain on mental activity. Resist the temptation to turn on the news while working, and instead play background music or relaxing white noise like meditative or nature sounds.
Emotional Rest
Emotional stress and anxiety has also increased significantly during the pandemic. Economic pressures, uncertainty, social unrest, and the overwhelming abundance of divisive news and social media noise during the recent election cycle have compounded negative stresses. Emotional fatigue can occur when we are unable to express our emotions, or feel encumbered by a negative emotional environment.
7. Take time for healthy 1 on 1 conversations
Emotional rest means letting down your guard and feeling comfortable to be yourself and speaking freely. In the past year, social separation has made face to face connections with friends and family more difficult. Find time to connect with people with whom you can be yourself, uninhibited by formality. Connect socially via video conference or phone conversations.
8. Turn off or time box social media and news consumption
When the news media is having a negative effect on your emotions, turn off social media and news notifications, and limit consumption of current events to a scheduled time box. Take a moment to breathe, and focus on the positive and what is real and present in the space around you.
Spiritual Rest
Whether you are religious or not, the COVID pandemic has presented challenges for spiritual connections. For those who attend a place of worship, gatherings have become restricted. Furthermore connections to the larger community have also become more limited.
9. Incorporate prayer or meditation into mental or emotional rest
Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, a focus on self-guided prayer, meditation, or reflection can have restorative benefits, and can be combined with mental and emotional rest as well.
10. Seek to help others in your community
Support causes you believe in, find small ways to make the world a happier and better place in your household, in your community, and in the world around you.
Social Rest
An overabundance of online meetings can often be draining. Although online meetings are a form of social interaction, they can often have a forced, formal aspect with the sole focus of absorbing and communicating information in a group setting. A protracted period of ongoing meetings for hours and weeks on end can be taxing on even the most comfortable of communicators. Social rest seeks to restore social energy by enabling connections in a more personal and genuine manner.
11. Find your tribe, connect face to face with friends and colleagues
Social rest can mean different things to different people. For me, social rest comes when I find a group of people whom I feel very comfortable with and can connect with. Ideally, on the job, I hope to work with people whom I can also be friends with, and genuinely be myself with. This implies fostering a culture of openness, trust and respect, and support for one another. Sometimes social recharge can mean finding your tribe, whether that’s somebody outside of work or on your team with whom you feel comfortable and can connect to in an uninhibited way.
12. Find time for social activities at home and virtually with others
At home and in the workplace, seek opportunities to build a culture that can have fun together as well as producing great work together. At times, social rest calls for a break from the formality of online work meetings, and connecting in a less formal setting. In a socially distanced situation, this can take the form of virtual happy hours, virtual walks or yoga sessions, playing a remote game of Gloomhaven or a trivia night.
Sensory Rest
Somewhat related to mental exhaustion, sensory exhaustion often occurs when we are inundated with too much continuous visual and auditory stimulation. The widespread prevalence of screens, and the continuous unrelenting connectivity to our devices can lead to physiological effects of eye strain and neck tension.
13. Turn off your devices, embrace silence
For knowledge workers who spend a great deal of time looking into screens and with headphones on, sensory rest means unplugging from electronic devices. Plan for scheduled breaks from your computer, phone, and headphones. This can happen in concert with scheduled physical rest like taking a walk, or short breaks throughout the day, or during quiet time or other mental, creative, or spiritual moments of rest. Within the home, create a quiet meditative space apart from the noise and distractions of daily activity.
Creative Rest
Creative energy may often need a recharge. In creative professions, we have all experienced times when the creative juices are flowing, and other times when we are in need of inspiration. Whether you are actively involved in creative work for your job or not, we all use creative energy in our everyday lives, and sometimes this needs a recharge.
14. Build inspiration into your workspace
With all of the time spent in our home offices, there is an opportunity to transform our spaces into places of both comfort and inspiration. Surround yourself with art or images of things or music that you love, that inspire you, or make you happy. When unable to travel, bring the world into your own space.
15. Schedule time to reconnect with nature
Sometimes what is needed when engaged in focused creative work is to step away from the project and to let go of the problem at hand for a moment. Take a walk. Allow for the unexpected. Relinquish control and return to a blank canvas. Schedule time to get out of the workspace and reconnect with nature.
