Monday, August 01, 2016

How taking up a hobby can reduce workplace stress?

Over the last decade, the workplace evolved into a fast-paced and competitive environment that urban professionals just love and hate at the same time. People work to live, but with the current setup of the world, where money is king, materialism is in and technology runs everything, stress is inevitable. More so with work-related stress. We are all in a rat-race to do more, earn more, have more and experience more.

From here, our question stems. How do we battle work-related stress?

There are short-term fixes when it comes to overcoming stress, a weekend getaway, an extravagant night out, a binge-eat session; these band-aid solutions may be effective at first, but do it over and over again… you’ll get used to it that it doesn’t quite take the stress off anymore, worse, it might take its toll, on your budget.

To reduce work-related stress, it is highly recommended to find a hobby. Now, there are some hobbies that might cost a lot to maintain, but there are also those that you can do with things that you already have, at the comfort of your home, with maybe a little help from trusty ‘ole Google. Some of these hobbies include gardening, crafting, games, cooking, volunteering, or fitness classes. There are limitless choices, based on your interests and preferences.

Now, how exactly do these hobbies combat stress?

Stress is often caused by things that overwhelm us. In the workplace setting, it could be a routine task, a tough project or a difficult boss. We get overwhelmed because these things seem or actually are beyond our control. That’s where hobbies come in. With hobbies, whether you start out as a total newbie or you’ve been doing it before, a sense of growth and achievement each time you progress within the realm of your hobby is felt and better appreciated because you do not work with pressure, or expectations. You do hobbies at your own pace, and if you don’t feel like doing it anymore, no one will hound you for it.

Hobbies also keeps your mind off of the pressure you experience in the workplace, and may serve as a temporary comfort.

Hobbies, even if not as physically challenging, keeps us healthy, as it makes us feel good – and a happy body is a healthy body.

Time passes quickly while doing a hobby you are particularly interested in, and if you’re really enjoying it, you even lose track of the time. Remember: Time wasted doing something that you love and makes you happy is actually time gained.


Thursday, July 28, 2016

Breakfast

Breakfast is our body's initial fuel for the day. It jumpstarts our brain and bodily functions so that we can perform well for our daily activities. This is vital as it sets our mood as we take on the next 16 waking hours or so of our busy lives.

It has also been widely circulated that breakfast eaters are less likely to suffer obesity. When you eat your breakfast early on, your metabolism kicks in. Metabolism as we all know, slows down as we age and is the culprit of weight gain as we get older, if we work on firing up our metabolism, it stays active, thus keeping it from being sedentary and causing us to get bigger.

Eating breakfast also keeps you from starving mid-day. When you are so starved, the tendency of you reaching out for that sweet treat or sodium packed snack is quite higher. Breakfasts keeps you fueled enough for the first 3 - 5 hours of your day so that you will not decide on suddenly binge-eating 2 hours into your day.

While merely eating breakfast is the first step to health, we must also choose carefully what we put on our plates for breakfasts. It is said that having fruits and protein for breakfasts is preferred for weight loss. However, having a balanced breakfast of about 400 calories with the basic macro nutrients - carbs, protein and fats, and addition of useful fiber and sugar is a sure way to start the day right.