Spend some time planning ahead and avoid crazy, panic-stricken mornings.
Plan your wardrobe
It may sound boring but having some idea of what you’re going to wear will go a long way towards eliminating those panic-stricken, heart attack-inducing moments when, 10 minutes before you’re due to leave home, you’re still tearing through your wardrobe in “I have nothing to wear” confusion.
Fashion stylish Retha Jurgens suggests you start by taking a couple of hours to clear out your wardrobe: “You may stand in front of your wardrobe and see a sea of black — which can instantly dull your mood. A wardrobe clear-out is likely to unearth long forgotten splashes of colour — a favourite pair of shaoes, a blouse or a long-forgotten dress — all of which act as instant mood-lifters. Now that you have all these undiscovered gems at hand, you can plan each day’s outfit.
Streeeetch
“Some forms of stretching can promote deep, even and effective breathing, which can help clear the mind of negative, stressful thoughts. On the physiological level, an improved blood supply to the muscles reduces the accumulation of toxins — and thus fatigue. Also, longer muscles are more relaxed than shorter muscles, hence flexibility promotes physical relaxation,” says Tanya Wyatt, personal trainer and author of Stretch Routines, health through flexibility (Struik).
A brilliant all-over energiser and a great way to start the day is with yoga’s Sun Salutation. It takes about 10 minutes and is best done first thing in the morning.
Break into breakfast
Skipping breakfast to save time will derail all your slim-down plans and leave you feeling fat and grumpy. Going too long without eating causes your body to switch into energy-conservation mode, meaning you burn kilojoules at a slower rate. One study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women consumed 420 more kilojoules during the day when they didn’t eat breakfast than they did when they ate cereal.
If you don’t have time to sit down to cereal, grab an apple, a banana or an energy bar and eat it in the car or on the bus. It doesn’t take a huge breakfast to kick-start the metabolism.
Get glowing
The quickest way to feel good is to look good. Use a tinted moisturiser and a dash of bronzer (instead of moisturiser, plus foundation, plus blusher) to give you a glowing, healthy look in an instant, suggests Shape beauty editor Elsa Kruger. Have eyebrows and lashes tinted so your eyes are defined, even sans make-up. Now take a long, admiring glance in the mirror and smile!
Take a nap
If you’re sleep deprived you are more likely to be distracted and irritable, and will experience more stress the next day. Sleep deprivation also results in shortened tempers, lowered motivation and slower reflexes, therefore impaired performance and an increase in accidents and mistakes.
“Studies have shown that an afternoon nap of anything between three and 30 minutes actually substantially increases productivity,” says GP Dr Christiaan Geldenhuys, author of Sleep smart, get a life (Rollerbird Press).
“You can either spend the later afternoon hours drowsy at your desk, or take a short nap and be revitalised for the rest of the afternoon. Research has shown that people who regularly take 30-minute naps after lunch score better on stress tests. Their risk for heart disease is also greatly reduced, and the naps seem to strengthen their ability to pay close attention to details and to make critical decisions,” adds Dr Geldenhuys.
If your office environment doesn’t encourage power-nap downtime, it’s time to lobby for it!
Broaden your horizons
Get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning and take a power walk around your neighbourhood or along the nearest green belt. Take time to absorb your surroundings. Nature may be the answer to real inner self-refurbishment, says Johannesburg mind/body healer and physiotherapist, Sue Fuller-Good. “All the answers we need on how to make our lives work brilliantly exist in nature”.
We tend to underestimate the extent to which what we do is habitual rather than set in stone, reflecting mental “default settings”, say the authors of The Mind Gym (Time Warner). By uncovering more of the options that are available, it is easier to escape our current habits or “settings”.
Comments