Wellness & Personal Performance Made Easy: Part 1

I wrote this series of articles for HR Zone.

During the last 15 years of delivering wellness solutions to businesses, two things have become very clear. 

1. The improvements that people would like to make to their wellbeing are usually very simple; the most popular including the desire to get fitter, increase energy levels, lose weight, sleep better and experience an improved sense of balance in life. 
2. There’s an endless array of challenges, issues and reasons why people struggle to achieve these seemingly simple wellness objectives.

So to help individuals navigate their way around daily challenges to peak wellbeing and reach a healthy, happy lifestyle quickly and effectively, this three-part series will highlight fast and easy success strategies relating to personal fitness, excellent energy levels, healthy eating and great sleep.

By the end of the sequence of articles, you’ll be able to fast-track any wellbeing changes you’re considering personally and you’ll also be in a position to share the information with colleagues, family and friends. 

So, here's the first installment of targeted tips for quality sleep, fantastic fitness and creating a food routine that works for you, all directed towards optimum personal performance and a calming sense of balance and control in life.

Good sleep enhances the quality and enjoyment of everything you do

It’s tempting to steal time from sleep in order to pack more into the day, but one should always be mindful of the quality of what you do as well as the quantity of things on your list.  At some point, skipping sleep can create a situation where although we do more, we might end up achieving less. The ideal situation is to establish a sleep routine that leaves you rested, recharged and refreshed ready for a day of being effective and productive. You’re far more likely to enjoy a busy routine of work, family, friends and hobbies if you’re well rested. Plus, if you enjoy life more, you’ll sleep better and so the virtuous circle continues.

Routine is key: choose a bedtime and a wake time

You probably have a rough idea of how much sleep leaves you feeling refreshed so set yourself a time by which you’d like to be asleep in the evening, and a time to wake up in the morning based on leaving yourself the right number of sleep hours between the two times. Experiment over a few nights until you establish the optimum times for you.

Establish what’s going on with your food routine

In the midst of a busy life, making progressive improvements to your current approach to healthy eating is likely to be easier than attempting to change everything about your food routine all in one go. For best results, target your efforts carefully. Begin by keeping a food diary for at least three days. Simple notes will be fine – the content, timing and quantity of what you eat and drink – and this will help you identify and make the most effective changes right away.

Decide what to stop, start or continue

Clearly identify what meals, snacks or food products you will be removing from your current routine, what you’ll be adding to your routine that’s not currently there, and what you’ll continue with. For the latter group, be specific about which of these things you’ll be having more of, what you’ll have less of, and what will continue at their current level of consumption. For example, you may identify that you’d like to drink more water, drink less coffee, eat more fruit or vegetables and decrease your portion sizes. Some elements of your food routine will be fine for content and quantity so you can continue with these, although you may wish to experiment with the timing of various meals or snacks and see what routine provides you with the most consistent energy and focus.

Be very clear on how much time you need for exercise

Time is precious so decide how much of it you'd like to spend on exercise each week. You might be pleasantly surprised by how little time staying fit will require. Most people need just two to four hours a week but many are put off exercise completely by the idea that they need much more. Don’t stress about carving out loads of time for exercise that you might not actually need.

Think quality, not quantity, and refine your approach based on results

Remember the most important thing is to maintain regularity with activity and make the best use of the exercise time you do have available. The easiest way to establish how much time you’ll need is by being clear on your objectives and identifying how long you’d like to take to realise them. Based on this information, devise a plan of what exercise you’ll do each week and schedule specific days and times for your activities. Roll out your plan and then review the time you require based on your weekly progress. If you’re looking for faster results, modify your plan slightly, changing either the number of workouts per week, the duration of your workouts or the intensity of your activity. 

Read more on this article...

Great Wellbeing Results: Not Just for Summer

Most people would agree that taking care of your wellbeing is easier in the summer.  The weather is better, days are longer and it seems as though there are more accessible options to help you look after yourself.  

Outdoor exercise and fun social activities make getting moving easier; there seems to be a greater variety of healthy food choices and these appear more appealing in the summer; and there are more holidays during the summer which, combined with the lack of pressure from Christmas or Easter commitments, helps to put everyone in a more relaxed frame of mind than at other times of the year.  Holidays also serve to provide deadlines for wellbeing objectives, particularly losing weight and toning up for the beach, and they add much-needed balance to life.

Looking and feeling great during the summer months is fantastic – we’re not going to argue with that.  But what about the rest of the year?  

What if everyone could experience the health, energy, vitality, confidence and satisfaction they enjoy during summer and carry this with them through every month of the year?  Now that’s an exciting prospect and that’s why today we're beginning a series of top tips to guarantee all year round wellbeing results.

Create a structure for your healthy living year

Many people keep their wellbeing on track during spring and summer with events, races and charity fitness activities.  There aren’t so many of these during Autumn and Winter.  They do exist however, so make a schedule of the events that will help you stay on track all year round, rather than just during peak race season.

You can also set yourself some challenges to keep you going from October to April.  These challenges needn't necessarily be organised events but could be as simple as setting yourself a daily steps target or exercising a set number of times each week.  You can make challenges social to add some extra accountability and chances are that if you stay on track with your exercise, you’ll make better choices with your food, and then quality sleep and successful stress management will also follow.

Plan your exercise calendar

For many people getting active during the summer is a pleasure rather than a chore.  They run or cycle outside, play tennis, softball or netball and generally get a bit more social with their exercise, even if this is as simple as walking with friends or colleagues.  When Autumn approaches these same people tend to migrate back towards exercising alone in the gym - or at least intending to.  

But think about it.  If you really enjoy outdoor and social activities, there’s a limit to how inspired you’ll be at the prospect of indoor and solo activities.  So, during the summer months, give some thought to how you can maintain at least an element of outdoor training and / or social exercise during the rest of the year.

Set monthly targets

Sketch out your wellbeing year on a seasonal planner.  Write out your priorities in each area of wellbeing so that you are crystal clear on what you need to do to feel great and perform well all year round.  Summer targets are relatively easy - most people want to look good for their holiday.  An Autumn target could be to build resilience for what is usually a busy period, and Winter can be all about managing your energy through Christmas and shorter days.  Springtime targets to begin making progress early and save some of the effort closer to summer usually work well.

Healthy eating: not just a warm weather option

You may find it easier to eat lighter meals, make healthier choices and avoid comfort foods during May, June, July and August so make notes of what constitutes your best healthy eating routine for Summer.  Now extend your notes to cover the rest of the year, writing down specifically where you may need to flex some of your successful summer options.  Fruit may be substituted by vegetables, salads by soups and buffets by stews.  This type of planning makes your annual healthy eating routine far more proactive and likely to succeed.

Seasonal sleep

Your sleep routine might shift a little during summer and winter but a clear understanding of how much sleep you prefer for different seasons, and any variation in your bedtime and waking times through the year, will help you plan to get the sleep you need, when you need it. If you sleep better at certain times of the year than at other times, think about why this might be and aim to replicate the routines that lead to good sleep and implement them all year round.  

Image by Flickr: Jeffrey

Read more on this article...

More Simple Lifestyle Changes That Really Work

Following some positive comments on our blog last Friday, Lifestyle changes: keep it simple, enjoy success, we thought it would be worth sharing some more simple changes that have led to workshop participants feeling better and performing more effectively.

There's also a couple of comments to begin with on why it's worth making wellbeing workshops and lifestyle coaching resources available to staff - they really do make a difference.

'Such positive feedback with people really taking your advice on board which is great to hear.'

'Things are going well thanks! I found the sessions with you very helpful and I’m still ploughing on.'

'Fitness is going extremely well, since our meeting I forced myself to do 2 x 30min sessions that week, the following week I did 5 x 30min sessions, and I'm keeping to a good routine with the cardio.   Time to see family has improved – I've planned a couple of dates in to see people .  Energy levels feel loads better which is improving my work and I genuinely believe it's because of a better work-life balance.  Thanks for all your help.'

'Going quite well so far… now cycling to work and diet has improved.'

'I was lazy while on vacation 10 days in June. Other than that I do follow up on my commitments and continued with Yoga as well as swimming. I also stayed away from chocolate, which works better than expected!'

'My sleep routine has changed and works surprisingly well.'

'I'm running 4 times a week and I have  significantly reduced the coffee consumption. I replace with green tea and regular hydration with water.'

'A few extra runs, and more water.'

Read more on this article...

Is Healthy Living for Lent or for Life?

Almost one week into the period of lent and how are you doing?

Today is day 7 of the 40 days during which many people aim to give up something, typically something they like and enjoy.

Last year I wrote a blog about how to make giving something up easier:

4 Top tips for making lifestyle changes

Something else to think about is whether or not the things you try to give up or alter in your food routine are for lent of forever.

The reason people choose to give something up for lent is that they feel their consumption of the item in question, whether it be coffee, chocolate, cake or alcohol, is out of balance with where they'd like it to be, and they want to prove they can live without this thing in their life so they set out to avoid it completely for 40 days.

But while it might be useful to set a challenge like this and complete it, do the changes we make for 40 days have any lasting impact?  Sometimes they do, but more often than not we return to the patterns of eating we were familiar with before lent began.

Would it not be better to moderate consumption of your chosen 'vices' in the long-term and avoid 40 days of feeling deprived and 325 days of feeling guilty because you've overindulged?

Here's a 3-step plan for ensuring balance and enjoyment of your food routine in the short, medium and long-term:

1) If you feel something is out of balance in your routine, keep notes on how much you're eating and drinking, and how often
2) Decide what would be a more desirable balance in relation to your health, energy and lifestyle priorities
3) Be specific about the timing and quantity of this revised balance.  Understand what items you'll be eating, when you'll be eating them and how much of each item you'll be consuming.

Choosing in advance what you'd like the balance of your food routine to look like is much easier than trying to second guess yourself in the middle of a busy day.  If you have a clear plan, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to follow.  Every decision on food and drink that you currently make can be put in the context of your chosen plan which will save you time and energy.

Read more on this article...