Sleep
Sleep is one of the basic human needs. We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, and our health, energy level, and overall life satisfaction depend on its quality.1
- Habit is sleep’s best friend. The first step is to make consistency a priority.
- Pick up a bedtime and wake time, which you can stick to, and which will allow you to have sufficient time of sleep.
- To find out how many hours of sleep you need, you can keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks.
- After waking up in the morning, write down when you went to bed, how long it took you to fall asleep (just an estimation), how long were you awake during the night, and when you woke up in the morning to get up from the bed.
- Calculate your average sleep duration per night and add approximately 30 minutes to define the ideal time of your new “sleep window”. Most of the adult population needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
The most important and challenging part is to stick to the new sleep schedule, ideally during both working days and free days. You may find it hard to adjust to this new sleep schedule at the beginning – it´s normal. If it is not possible to follow your new sleep routine seven days a week, at least four days a week is likely to make some difference!
Exercise
Physical activity is necessary for both our physical and mental health. Taking care of your body affects your overall well-being and it is important for reducing the risk of burn-out.
Regular exercise leads to improved overall well-being and quality of life, it can increase your energy and mood, improve concentration, sleep and decrease stress and depression symptoms.
Just 30 minutes of exercise per day can lead to improved well-being.4
Tips and recommendation
- Get your body moving this week!
- Pick three days that you will spend getting your body moving with at least 30 minutes of exercise.
- Set aside a location and time (or you can write it in your calendar). This isn’t supposed to be a marathon-level of activity, it’s just about get your body moving a bit more than usual.
- Try to find an activity that you do or you’d like to try, it can be for instance, running, dancing, doing yoga, exercising, swimming or just walking. The most important is to create a routine that works for you and be sure to take a moment to notice how much better you feel after getting some exercise in.