Work Life balance

“Fitness In today’s fast-paced world”, maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life can often feel like a daunting task. However, integrating physical activity into both spheres is not only achievable but crucial for overall well-being. Here’s a beginner’s guide to mastering work-life fitness, ensuring you stay active both on and off the clock:

Schedule Regular Breaks:

Incorporate short breaks throughout your workday to stretch, walk around, or perform desk exercises. These intervals help in reducing sedentary behavior and boosting productivity.

2. Commute Mindfully:

Whether driving or using public transport, find ways to incorporate physical activity into your commute. Consider walking or cycling to work if feasible, or park farther away to add extra steps to your day.

3. Choose Active Meetings:

Instead of always sitting down for meetings, opt for walking meetings when possible. Walking not only promotes physical activity but also stimulates creativity and engagement.

4. Create a Home Workout Routine:

Evenings or weekends can be ideal for more structured exercise routines. Design a home workout plan that includes cardiovascular exercises, strength training, and flexibility exercises to cater to different fitness goals.

5. Set Realistic Goals:

Start small and gradually increase the intensity and duration of your physical activities. Setting achievable goals will help you stay motivated and committed to your fitness journey.

6. Prioritize Sleep:

Adequate sleep is essential for recovery and overall health. Establish a bedtime routine and ensure you get enough rest to support your active lifestyle.

7. Explore Active Hobbies:

Incorporate activities you enjoy into your leisure time, such as hiking, dancing, gardening, or playing a sport. This not only keeps you active but also makes fitness an enjoyable part of your daily life.

8. Sneak in Extra Movement:

Throughout your work day, look for reasons to stand up and move. Walk while you are on the phone, or take five minutes every hour to get up and walk through each room in your house. Walking has been shown to improve mood, stimulate creativity, and enhance focus, making it an all-around win for your health and productivity.

9.Use What You Have:

No fancy gym equipment in your home? No problem. Sit-ups, push-ups, yoga, and many other types of exercise can be done with no equipment at all. Walking (or running) requires nothing more than a pair of sneakers. And simple household items such as a bag of sugar, cans of soup or a bottle of laundry detergent can be used as weights if you’re starting out with strength training.

10.Get moving with a podcast or audiobook:

Love listening to a good podcast or audiobook? Exercise or do some kind of physical activity while you listen! Why not take a walk or run / jog around the block as you crack the case with your fave true crime podcasters, or do some gentle stretching or yoga while you listen to the latest book of the month selection.

11.Garden on the move:

Unleash your inner green thumb and plant a garden. Whether you decide to plant flowers or food, tending to your garden takes a lot of physical effort. From bending, stooping, digging, and upkeep, you’re sure to work up a sweat as you make your garden grow.

By implementing these strategies, you can effectively integrate physical activity into both your work and personal life, promoting a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Remember, work-life fitness is not about perfection but about making consistent efforts to prioritize your well-being amidst daily responsibilities. Start today and reap the benefits of a more active and fulfilling life.

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Importance of Magnesium for Sleep.

I wanted to shine the spotlight on magnesium today. It’s a really important mineral and one that is ready for the taking in our diets.

How can we make sure we eat enough magnesium though and is it a case of more is better?

We’ll look at magnesium and sleep, but also it’s many other roles. We have about 30g of magnesium in our body – most of this is in bones, followed by muscle and soft tissue with only 1% found in our fluids as an electrolyte where it helps to control fluid balance.

Are we eating enough magnesium?

Diet and nutrition survey data shows most women in their 40s and 50s eat enough. This is at a population level though, so it’s important to consider needs and intakes on an individual level. Younger adults are doing worse on the magnesium front with around 20% of people in their 20s falling short.

What do we need magnesium for?

Its roles within the body include: Hundreds of metabolic pathways, including releasing energy from our food. Muscle contraction and blood clotting. Nerve transmission. Formation of strong bones and teeth Immune function Beating of heart muscle Supporting psychological function Although there are no official legal health claims that can be made around magnesium and sleep, it is frequently touted as a sleep aid because of its role in muscle relaxation. So, let’s look at this in more detail.

What does the research tell us about magnesium, diet and sleep?

Magnesium plays a role in activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the one associated with ‘resting and digesting’. This Includes supporting the regulation of melatonin which guides sleep/ wake cycles in body. A recent systematic review looking at all the evidence in this area compiled results from 9 studies and over 7000 people. Observational studies show a positive link between higher magnesium intakes and blood and urine levels of magnesium being associated with better sleep quality. These sorts of studies can’t prove a causal link though, so let’s look to the gold standard randomised controlled trials for those answers…

One trial showed 500mg Magnesium supplementation increased sleep time and efficiency when compared to placebo. Other trials were a bit inconsistent and couldn’t show statistical significance. Back in the real world, statistical significance might not mean much though, as within all studies there will be people right across the spectrum, some of whom find benefit and some who won’t. There’s enough of a sniff here I think, to consider magnesium supplementation alongside a broader nutritional and holistic approach. For some, they could prove to be a helpful piece of the sleep puzzle. My ethos is always to look at food first. There are many reasons for this, not least because food always brings with it non-nutritive compounds called phytochemicals which protect our bodies at a cellular level, and as it stands at the moment, we can’t bottle those or put them in a pill effectively. How to get magnesium from your diet. Our requirement is around 300mg per day. Each food serve will give us about a fifth of this.

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency will not be obvious and whilst intakes are certainly lower than they should be for many and therefore far from optimal, full-blown deficiency would be considered rare, especially if someone has a varied diet. Rich sources include dark green leafy veg such as spinach, kale and broccoli. It also found in abundance in nuts and seeds and wholegrains. Just one of the many reasons it’s not a good idea to shun carbohydrates all together, especially in the evening. As an aside, carbohydrates release insulin which helps with the transport of the amino acid tryptophan across the blood, brain barrier. Once inside the brain it is used to make serotonin, which in turn converts to melatonin – the hormone we need for sleep. For clarity on carbs and how you can navigate this food group to support your health download my free ebook on Gaining Clarity with Carbs. Meat and dairy contain less magnesium, and you won’t find much of it in refined carbs which have had the nutrient-rich outer layers removed.