The mid-day slump is a problem for thousands of office workers. You can treat your fatigue with energy drinks. However, energy drinks are only a temporary fix.

This article will address common reasons that you could be fatigued. Reflect on whether these habits have become part of your lifestyle. If you have high energy, you will be able to perform better, deal with stress better, and be happier at work.

Smoking

Thousands of warnings alert us that smoking causes cancer. We often miss how smoking impacts our daily lifestyle.

According to Dr. Michael Roizen MD, smoking causes our arteries to dilate to only 50% of people of those who were never exposed to tobacco smoke. When the arteries to your muscles can’t dilate, the muscles feel acutely tired and sore. Therefore, you cannot do as much.

If you are taking a mid-day smoke break, stop! While smoking creates an immediate energy boost, it does not create sustainable energy that gets you through the work day.

Over Stressed

Have you ever had a difficult problem that you poured all your energy into solving?

Managing stress can be draining. WebMD claims that stress activates your sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system creates a high energy boost to deal with the problem. The body quickly crashes preventing sustainable energy.

How to Control Your Stress Levels

• Improve Time Management Skills
• Seek Counseling
• Say “No” When Possible
• Take Personal Time
• Plan Tasks Ahead

Excessive Coffee Intake

Do you drink coffee throughout the day for energy? The habit could be making you more tired. Excessive coffee makes you dehydrated, which causes fatigue.

Studies by MayoClinic show that four cups of coffee per day is safe for adults. If you are chronically tired, stick to one cup of coffee in the morning. Keep a water bottle next to you filled with water. Make it a goal to finish the water by the end of the day.

Poor Diet

When we get busy, we often eat the fastest thing that we can find. That meal is usually unhealthy. Unfortunately, if you are eating foods that are high in sugar and simple carbs, you will probably crash after an hour. Snack on nutrient dense foods to help you maintain energy throughout the day.

Follow these healthy eating tips to provide you with sustained energy;

• Snack on protein and fiber rich foods
• Remove the energy drinks and replace them with water
• Balance your plate with protein, complex carbohydrates, and fruits and vegetables.
• Eat small meals with nutrient dense snacks

Never Saying “No”

Do you ever feel mentally drained when you are overwhelmed with responsibilities? If you feel yourself hitting a wall then start saying “no”.

“No” if you are too busy. “No” if the project will keep you in the office until late at night. There will be times when your job position requires you to say “yes” to overwhelming projects. However, recognize when you can say “no”. This will help you decrease stress that causes fatigue.

Glued to the Computer

Sitting long hours at the computer is not just bad for your back and waist line. Staring at a computer screen can cause mental fatigue that leaves us unmotivated at the end of the day.

Excessive computer work can cause Chronic Fatigue, a disease where you suffer from tiredness for over six months. More than 500,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Computers and smartphones are linked to eye fatigue because you blink less when using a digital device. Blinking naturally refreshes the eyes. Electronic device users blink half as often as normal.

Step away from your computer every hour to avoid Chronic Fatigue. Standing can also reenergize you to get your job done.

Happiness is a choice. However, as deadline approach we can feel pressure and stress that makes happiness feel like a pipedream. Under busy conditions, it’s important to focus on achieving greater mental health. The following tips can help you stay happy at work:

Do Something You Love Every Day

Sure, you might love your job. However, work does not replace a hobby or family time.

Americans employed full time work an average of 47 hours per week which equates to 6 days per week. They also do not take all of their mandated time off. The average American receives 15 days off per year but only uses 14.

You need to make time for the things that you love to stay happy at work. This could be yoga, mountain biking, golf, knitting, or taking your kids to the park.

Stay Out of Work Place Drama

Nothing like a little “he said, she said” to bring you down at work! Gossiping is high school and should stop when you are fifteen.

Work place drama is also destructive to your professional reputation. Your coworkers might start to recruit you to take sides or talk badly behind your back. Gossip is a recipe for unhappiness at work.

How to Avoid Work Place Drama

• Save the venting for outside of the office
• Wait to reply to emails that feel like attacks to avoid scorching replies
• Never assume negative intent

Have a Clear Idea of Expectations

Employers hire employees that help their company make money. Clarify what your employer expects from you to achieve what they need. This reduces stress from unclear end goals.

Don’t Overcommit

Have you ever felt pressure from not meeting job expectations? Avoid this by not overcommitting.

For example, your boss might be looking for someone to lead a project. This position could help you get a promotion. However, you are already loaded with tasks and working 50 hours per week. This is not the time to accept the position! Wait until you can perform to the best of your abilities.

Help a Co-Worker

Have you ever felt happier after helping another person? Altruists are more likely to be committed to their work and not quit their job.

“Being motivated to help and believing your work makes a difference is associated with greater happiness in our analysis,” claims Donald Moynihan, professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Moynihan found a link between happiness and altruism in the workplace between 49 countries.

Take 10 minutes to help with a difficult project to increase your happiness levels for the entire week.

Think of 3 Good Things that Happened

When we focus on the negative, we will find the negative. Negativity can be a difficult pattern to break. Instead of focusing on your coworker’s rude comment or pile of work, reflect on three things that you are thankful for. Doing so, can improve your mood and make work more enjoyable.

Sleep More

Have you ever gotten a poor night’s sleep and woken up cranky and anxious? Your body needs sleep, just like air and water.

Signs that you aren’t sleeping enough:

• Yawning
• Irritability
• Daytime fatigue

Increase your amount of sleep to 7-9 hours per night if you are suffering with these symptoms. A well-rested brain is a happier brain.

Everyone strives for a job that they love. However, even our dream careers develop workplace fears. If we become focused on our fears, we can lose creativity, productivity, and develop stress. It’s important to address our concerns. Fear could start impacting your job performance.

The Fear of Being Fired

Whether you love or hate your job, we all have a fear of getting fired.

How will we support our family? Will we be able to find another job? Will our new job make pay enough to support our lifestyle?

As a Recruiter, I help find you jobs that fit your skills where you can feel secure. Nevertheless, if you are scared of being fired, here are a few tips for you to help you overcome your fears.

How-To Overcome Your Fear of Being Fired

Firstly, assess your work situation. Is there a legitimate reason that you should be afraid of being fired? Some signs could be your boss being critical of your work, you are no longer asked to attend important meeting or your workload subsides.

If you can’t find any reason, ask your manager for feedback on your work. Explain to your boss that you want to perform at the best of your abilities. Your boss will probably be impressed by your initiative.

The Fear of Not Receiving the Promotion that You Deserve

Everyone starts at the bottom of the ladder in their career. With hard work, you can increase your position to manager, supervisor, or even CEO. Almost everyone who dreams of climbing the ladder, fears that the “other guy” will get the promotion.

As a recruiter, I help employees find companies that have potential for growth.

How-To Overcome the Fear of Not Receiving the Promotion that You Deserve

Make it difficult for the organization to replace you. Always go through trainings to improve your job skills. Participate in brainstorming sessions. Be innovative! Be willing to help out in other areas and possibly get cross trained in those areas. It makes you more valuable to the company and your boss.

The Fear of Inadequacy

We can easily feel inadequate when our tasks begin to pile. We feel overwhelmed and question whether we can handle our workload.

At some point, someone will discover that we are incompetent.

This chronic self-doubt causes stress which decreases our productivity.

How-To Overcome the Fear of Inadequacy

Inadequacy can often develop from lack of communication. If you do not know what your boss wants then you are more likely to feel that you cannot complete the job well. Start by attaining a clear vision.

Ask your boss, “what would success look like in this project?” You can work confidently now that you know the company’s vision.

The Fear of Not Fitting In

Everyone wants to be liked. Fitting in creates a more comfortable and fun workplace. However, if fitting in is an obsession, you might not value yourself.

How-To Overcome the Fear of Not Fitting In

Start by being friendly to everyone. You will probably receive a positive response which will boost your confidence. After you boost your confidence, participate in brainstorming sessions. Impacting the office can also increase the chance of a promotion or raise.

Memorial Day is this weekend! This means, it is a three-day weekend for many of us. As you launch into summer it is important to develop a great work/life balance. A healthy balance helps you to spend more time doing the activities that you love.

The following tips can help you build a balance to enjoy your summer while working productively:

Schedule Your Day

We often fail to schedule our day or modify our schedules when we get distracted. To work efficiently, create a schedule (every day!) and stick to it. This could cut hours of work.

Tips to Schedule Your Day

1. Morning Ritual – Create a routine that makes you feel best throughout the day. Get up half an hour early to exercise or meditate. Eat a healthy breakfast.
2. Plan Your Daily Tasks- You can save time if you have a plan for the day. Know what tasks are a priority and create a Google Calendar to organize your day.
3. Plan Your Meetings in the Afternoon – Get the important tasks finished in the morning and save the afternoon for meetings and important phone calls.

Stay Healthy

Do you often miss your kid’s summer baseball games or concerts in the park from working long hours? Maintaining a healthy body can help you cope with work’s pressures to prevent working more than 40 hours per week.

Tips to Stay Physically Healthy

• Eat Healthy
• Avoid Stimulants
• Exercise Regularly
• Get Plenty of Sleep

Unplug After Work

Most of us are connected to our smartphones. We even use our phones as alarm clocks. However, when we are connected to our devices, it can prevent us from being present with our friends and family.

After you leave work, put your phone to the side. If you can’t ditch your phone, turn off email notifications and put it on silent while you go on the mountain bike, golf game, or hike with your family.

Do not answer work calls after you leave the office. Your friends and family will appreciate your presence.

Delegate Your Tasks

We often take responsibility for tasks “just to get it done” or “because we can”. Eventually, accepting too much responsibility leads to burnout. You will then get stressed, tired, and overwhelmed.

It’s okay to delegate tasks. Hire a contractor to avoid the costs of a full-time employee or for temporary projects. You can hire contractors online from websites such as Fiverr and Upwork. And if you are in Regulatory Affairs or Quality in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can help you find contract help as well.

Take a Vacation

It’s summer! Have some fun! Go on that much needed vacation. A vacation helps you feel refreshed.
Encourage your employees to take a vacation also. Your employees will be more well-rested and energized to enjoy their work. Happy employees generate a productive company.

Stress can cause us to get distracted with negative thoughts, which impacts our work and personal lives. It’s important to find a way to overcome your negative thoughts to maintain healthy relationships, productivity, and attitudes.

Learn how to stop your negative thoughts at work with the following tips:

The First Step: Recognize Your Negative Thinking

The first step is to recognize your negative thinking. If you cannot recognize negative thoughts, you will not be able to fix the problem.

It could be as simple as someone not wiping down the table in the break room, getting called into another meeting when you have piles of work, or a customer complaint. Discover your triggers.

Changing Your Negative Thinking

Positive Self-Talk

Now that you recognize your stressors, use positive self-talk when the thought goes through your head.

Positive self-talk is not deception. Internal messages can evolve stressful situations into opportunities.

To achieve positive self-talk, write down a few messages that you can tell yourself, such as:

• Stop
• Get out of my head

Or something more colorful!

Get Around Positivity

Your environment will affect your mindset. Surround yourself with positive people. If your friends are dragging you down then decrease time spent with them. If you work in a negative work environment then you may consider changing jobs. As a Specialty Recruiter, I can help employees in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry find jobs that provide a supportive and healthy work environment.

Focus on the End Result

Accomplishing a goal can be frustrating. Keep the end result in mind to overcome hurdles that slow the process.

Why are you going through this process?

How will it help your company?

Drop the Expectations

If we have high expectations, we will often be disappointed when our plan falters. Be flexible with your plan. For example, you may have to work with a co-worker unexpectedly. Recognize that they bring different knowledge that could benefit the project.

Create a Heathy Morning Routine

Your morning routine can affect the rest of your day. Start your day with healthy choices to prevent negative thoughts. The following are a few practices that you could fit into your morning to achieve a more positive day.

• Stop hitting the snooze button
• Yoga or meditation
• Healthy breakfast
• Drink a glass of lemon water

Every creative brain experiences occasional lulls. Losing creativity can be discouraging and can make solving some of your work problems more difficult. Before you give up, try the following tips to boost your creativity:

Collaborate with Others

Two minds are better than one when you want to foster innovative thinking. This prevents you from circling through the same ideas.

Be open minded to another person’s perspective. Teams often contribute valuable feedback.

Go for a Walk

A short walking break could save you hours of brainstorming and increase the quality of your work.

According to a study co-authored by Marily Oppezzo, a Stanford doctoral graduate in educational psychology, and Daniel Schwartz, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education, shows that creative thinking improves while a person is walking and shortly thereafter. Creative output increased by 60 percent.

Meditate

To get creative, we need to reach our subconscious. Meditation is a powerful tool to quiet the logical mind. You can then awaken your subconscious which helps you uncover new ideas.

Improve Your Mood

An optimistic mind is more open to new experiences and situations. When you are negative, your brain becomes more analytical and narrowly focused.

How-To Improve Mood

• Get some sun
• Force a smile
• Listen to music
• Write down the positive things in your life

Unplug

Your best ideas probably do not come when you are sitting in front of a computer. More likely, you are hiking, skiing, journaling, baking, or doing another activity that you love.

In fact, excessive screen time can damage your brain. According to Psychology Today, “excessive screen time is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions involving emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control.”

Step away from the screen to get inspired and document it on the computer later.

A healthy work environment is important to your team and can be achieved fairly easily. It boosts productivity and happiness and increases employee retention. If you have not created a healthy workplace, then it is time to make that effort, especially in this tight market for talent. Learn what creates a healthy workplace and start making improvements for the future of your company.

Offer Rewards and Incentives for Superior Performance

Rewarding employee performance is strategic. You must offer desirable incentives that fit the company’s budget. If strategized correctly, rewards can lead to a more motivated and positive team.

There are many types of benefits that you can offer employees. This includes bonuses, gift cards, and event tickets. You may choose to reward an entire team or specific team member for achieving a goal.

See 20 Techniques for Acknowledging Your Employee’s Good Work for more ideas on rewards and incentives.

Choose Stimulating Paint Colors

The workplace can have a big impact on attitude, and colors can profoundly affect productivity. Angela Wright is a world-renowned color psychologist. She developed the scientifically tested color-affect system. According to Wright’s research, the intensity of a color determines whether it is stimulating or soothing. More saturated colors are best for the office place.

Wright’s theory states that blue is connected to the mind, green to balance, yellow to emotion, and red to body.

The most obvious answer to a productive work place would be blue. However, you might want to incorporate green trim to create balance.

Offer Stand-Up Desks

Stand up desks have become part of many company’s employee wellness programs. For example, Google provides standup desks for all employees. Facebook also has more than 250 employees using standup desks. Even I use a flexible desk to allow sitting or standing.

Research by Texas A&M Health Science Service Center concludes that employees in a call center are 46% more productive when using a standup desk.

Benefits of Standup Desk

• Improves Focus
• Increases Energy
• Reduces Back Pain

Be Flexible on Timing

Different people are more productive during various parts of the day. Some people perform better with a morning workout. Others get in early but need a 1.5 lunch break to renew their day. If your company’s processes allow flexibility with timing, give it to your employees. It also helps attract people that may have a longer commute when hiring.

Allow a 2-hour window for morning arrival. You can also allow extended lunch breaks. Figure out what is right for the company and be as flexible as possible to your employee’s lifestyles.

Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively within a company is essential. The skill prevents misunderstandings, which leads to errors and missed deadlines.

In our digital age, companies often communicate over email, text, and phone. Do not underestimate the significance of meetings to prevent confusion.

Tips to Communicate Well

• Practice Active Listening
• Use Strong Eye Contact
• Explain Tasks and Provide Detailed Handout or meeting agenda with time targets
• Speak in a Friendly Tone
• Be Open-Minded to Other Opinions
• Accept and Encourage Feedback

Improve the Lighting

Studies show that office lighting can play a role in employee productivity.

“Effectively lit and attractive environments enhance your image, help you recruit and retain high-value employees, and increase the total value of your facility.” Philips Systems

To effectively light your office, incorporate natural light. If your workspace does not have windows then use broad spectrum lightbulbs. Broad spectrum produces the most similar affect as natural light.

With 2018 approaching, many people are inspired to create health related New Year’s resolutions. If you are an office worker, you may sit at a computer for hours at a time. Eventually this can take a toll on your body.

According to Microsoft, the current amount of jobs today that require a computer is over 50% with an estimated growth of 77% by 2020.

If you are among that statistic, you could be facing serious joint and back pain, weight gain, or fatigue. Make your 2018 New Year’s resolution to improve your health at work to improve your quality of life.

Use a Stand-Up Desk

Sitting too much can be detrimental for your health. Stand up desks allow you to mount your computer to a standing platform so you work in adjustable settings. Standing while you work has various physical and mental health benefits. I’ve recently started using a stand up desk and do tend to get more done when I’m standing vs sitting. Plus I do feel like I have more energy.

Benefits of Stand-Up Desks

• Lowers your risk of weight gain and obesity
• Improves mood and energy levels
• Reduces back pain

Drink More Water

Increasing your H2O intake seems simple but has many health benefits. Roughly 60 percent of your body is made of water. It helps with the transportation of nutrients, digestion of food, and regulation of body temperature.
Water can also be very beneficial for weight loss. When you consume water, you can feel fuller therefore consume fewer calories. Try keeping a water bottle next to you everyday at work. You may also want to flavor your water with lime or lemon.

Take Periodic Walks

Your body was made to move. Consistent walks fight fatigue, chronic diseases, and weight gain. Dr. Mercola recommends to avoid sitting for more than 50 minute increments.

Specialized cardio equipment has also been created for office workers. Cyclers might enjoy the Stamina Mini Exercise Bike which allows you to workout your lower body from your desk chair.

Bring Healthy Lunches

You are what you eat. I am sure that you have heard it before. However, it can be easy to resort to unhealthy snacks while working. Your coworkers might also bring snacks to the office and the company parties rarely have healthy options. Eventually, you have gained 10, 15, or even 30 pounds.

Bring your own lunches and snacks to work so you do not feel pressured by the sugar in the break room. See these healthy lunch ideas from Eating Well Magazine.

Bike or Walk to Work

We live in a rushed society. Slow down and take the extra time to walk or bike to work for your health. That might not be an option if you have a long commute, but try to carve out some time for a walk during your day or a bike ride when you get home.

Benefits of Walking or Biking to Work

• It’s efficient. Not only are you commuting to work but also exercising.
• It’s cheap. You don’t pay any gas or parking when you commute on foot.
• It’s healthy. If you are heading to an office job then you will most likely be sitting for hours. Start your day with exercise by commuting to work.
• It’s environmentally friendly. Biking and walking does not pollute the atmosphere like an automobile.

Make your health a priority in 2018! Your body deserves it.