How many weeks, months or years could you regain if you hadn’t wasted time stressing, worrying about stress and creating more stress? People are sometimes hardwired to repeat anxiety or fear with needless mental repetition. It is part of our evolutionary history to survive. That’s why we don’t actually stop working after hours. You are still thinking in your head after work – repeating the stress and pressure. We have no idea how to leave work at work.
The importance of regular stress breaks
The problem is that stress shuts down the “play” function in your brain. When your body “thinks” you’re in a life-or-death situation, the fight-or-flight response doesn’t want you thinking about having fun.
Fortunately, there is the study of work recovery to help us get out of this rut. According to researchers in this little-known area of organizational psychology, the key is psychological detachment from one’s job when not working.
The science behind this is that by taking your mind off of things that put you under tension, stress and fatigue, by regularly participating in restorative activities, you will be more productive overall. This may sound too good to be true, but in practice it means that taking a break from work to relax and have fun is not a sign of weakening. On the contrary, in fact! They are essential for maintaining productivity, health and a balanced life.
If you want to be more productive, studies over the past century show that taking breaks is key. Short, consistent rest periods reduce fatigue and allow you to work longer at a higher level. A Cornell University study found that productivity increased by 13% when employees were reminded to take breaks.
Most people have trouble getting off task and feeling confident about it. They are taught to derive their value from what they accomplish, but that is only a fraction of their identity. The fact is that output requires energy – input in the form of life, curiosity, learning, fun, practice, and attention. All this serves as fuel for performance.
There is no discussion of physiology
The physical laws that guide our bodies are hard to ignore. The exertion/recovery model tells us that we need to rest to replenish the energy we have lost through stress and work. Our bodies are designed to do this naturally, at least when given the opportunity through our sympathetic nervous system. If we don’t give ourselves time to rest, it will cost us dearly in the end. According to some experts, you can’t stay at your job for long – no more than three hours. The time-on-task effect is called this. Over time, attention fades and the brain needs to shut down to rest.
The same restart is especially needed after work. The body and mind cannot turn off the battle stations and restore nutrients and energy sources to return to baseline levels if tension and stress are not reduced. Otherwise, you run the risk of experiencing the after-effects of a survival situation – increased heart rate and blood pressure, impaired digestion, increased bad cholesterol, and suppressed immune system – all of which can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and other negative side effects.
The rehabilitation procedure is essentially proactive relaxation. Instead of worrying, scrolling or vegetating on autopilot, take time away from work to do things that relax the mind and restore energy. You can take a break every few hours by going for a walk or exercising during lunch; you can also engage in activities such as participating in experiences you enjoy on weekends and taking advantage of vacations.
The key is to be positive and to have a strategy
Sabine Sonnentag and her colleagues conducted research and found that when people don’t disconnect from their work after their shift is over, the stress of the day lingers. This often leads to fatigue, negative emotions (stress, bad mood), and poor sleep quality. They wake up the next morning feeling just as bad as when they went to bed – which prepares them for yet another stressful day at work, unless they find a way to recover.
Charging and refueling are critical, not optional features. However, they are difficult to accomplish unless you take the initiative to plan for them. Downtime is often ad hoc. Maybe you’ll take a break today, or go out with a buddy next week. Make time for work recovery options and schedule them in your calendar and planner. Take them as seriously as your task list at work.
There are several categories of recovery strategies you can choose from to help you relax in your free time.
Relaxation strategies
The goal is to reduce stress, muscle tension and overexertion through exercises that release preoccupations. Progressive muscle relaxation, a powerful method of tightening and relaxing different muscle groups in the body that takes about 15 minutes, is a fantastic approach for this.
The goal of mindfulness meditation is to focus the mind intently on a task or a sentence, achieving deep peace and reduced stress. Not only that, but it also inhibits the survival question center of the brain – you know, all those negative what-ifs constantly nagging at us.
If you find it difficult to relax your mind through regular methods, try something else, such as listening to music that lifts your mood, taking a walk outdoors, or doing some yoga stretches.
Strategies for physical activity
Lifting weights, running, or cycling are all great methods to get out of your head. Physical activities such as lifting weights at the gym, jogging or cycling divert attention away from the thought factory and into the realm of action. Aerobic activity is particularly effective in freeing your mind. It also produces endorphins that create a calm and happy state of mind.
Mastery strategies
starting a new hobby or learning a skill not related to work is often one of the first things to go away when we get busy with our careers. However, this is a big mistake. According to brain scientist Gregory Berns, novelty and challenge are what we need for long-term satisfaction – both of which can be found in equal measure by taking up hobbies and learning new skills. Not only will you find these experiences enjoyable, but they will give you something better in the long run. Mastery activities satisfy one of your most important psychological needs, the competency need, making them one of the most powerful methods for reducing stress.
Of course, you won’t be very good at this new pastime at first. Many people would therefore shy away from trying something new. You’d feel silly if you were a klutz during salsa dancing or if a 12-year-old beat you as an adult during an orienteering event. Once you get over the learning curve, you may discover a hobby that can make your week eight hours more enjoyable.
Besides, if you have a hobby or talent that you excel at outside of work, that can be an escape when things get tough at the office. Your self-esteem remains intact even if something bad happens during the workday because your identity is not limited to your job.
You must set aside guilt, busyness and especially work-related thoughts to use effective work recovery tactics. You can do this by becoming more aware of your negative thoughts as they occur and reminding yourself that they are only ideas. Thoughts are not real; only the experience is real.
If you find it difficult to break away from negative thoughts, know that you are not alone, but that there is scientific evidence that can help you. In a study of burnout among medical personnel, Dutch researcher Jan de Jong. subjects to change their default work thoughts by continuing to repeat this text to themselves:
“After work I put aside all thoughts of work.
After work, I put aside all the emotions of work.
After work, I put aside all physical effort.”
